When I grow up, I'ma be a superstar

Ah, ha, alright, baby They don't know how it feels

(When you're out on your own, yeah)

(And you're lookin' for that home)

They don't know what it feels

(When the world's on your shoulder)

(And your baby, gotta be a soldier) Yo, I was born in the projects, with roaches and rats

And our credentials were our, nines and gats

Stay the hell out the hood read the welcomin' mats

I remember them days, it was hard bein' black Welfare checks and government cheese

Take your family in portrait, everybody smile say cheese

And it's a wonder how I kept my head from goin' under

Sun don't shine where there's, lightning and thunder Some got ways, some got means

But still, we all just got hopes and dreams

The two blend together like dope and fiends

Cope with teens, has that new gangster lean Everybody just wanna be a ghetto star

Fly cribs and drivin' them big cars

That's all Mr.President, hear the voice of the youth

I don't lie, I speak the truth They don't know how it feels

(When you a single mother)

(And don't have that significant other)

They don't know what it feels

(To be in the ghetto)

(And your life be in slow a mo') Been around the world a couple times with the refugees

From the boot of Italy to the land of Pawnee

Fell in love a couple times on the London Bridge

Fast cars, fast life, that's how I wanted to live What a crusade, one of my great escapades

Cut many hearts, like the game of spades

But nuttin' was as fatal when they blew the World Trade

Now we at war momma, tradin' lives for grenades Send in the troops, here comes the brigades

American resolve and our hearts'll never fade

I know you somewhere out there chillin' in the shades

But I hate to be the one to rain on your parade See, God is merciful and God bless his children

That's how we gonna reconstruct them buildings

So stop the killings, we runnin' out of graves

In the land of the free and the home of the brave They don't know how it feels

(To hear our babies cry)

(And watch our mothers die)

They don't know, what it feels

(To see our brothers in prison)

(While they losin' their religion) These, eyes of mines are like, camera lens

Loved by many but stabbed by my friends

Is this the end? Some may cry out loud

But I won't worry, we gonna make it now The ghetto fed up but they won't break us down

It's an eye for an eye, what goes around comes around

Do *** for my peeps who couldn't speak

Survival of the fittest, what happens to the weak? They either in between, above or beneath

Tryin' to play me like a scrub in a passenger seat

Racial profile to say the least

There won't be no peace in the belly of the beast, c'mon But we gonna make it through baby

Even though the world is so crazy

And if they ask you, tell 'em it's pain times three

'Cause it's a million of them kids stressin' just like me, baby They don't know how it feels

(To see us go to war)

(And see the people free for no more)

They don't know what it feels

(To be a black man in America)

(And feel like they're comin' to get'cha) They don't know how it feels

(To work for minimum wage)

(As your life starts to fade)

They don't know, what it feels

(To be down to your last buck)

(And no one really gives a mother, ha)