Yo.. three-hundred and sixty-five days a year

We preoccupy self to find life's true meaning

We indulge irrelevant contradiction

Contradiction which steps up growth

Live life each day like it could be your last

[Verse One]

Yo.. I'm from a place where some mothers sell they babies for crack

Where young cats buy gats, shoot and never look back

Where the whites live with the whites, and the blacks live with the blacks

But somehow we unite, through the culture of rap

I'm from Brooklyn, word to the Dodgers, Russian massages

Where thugs bust guns, and sons are raised without they fathers

We do away with has-beens, rock the latest fashion

The rule's never rat - what you want to know, or who's askin

Just some habits of highly effective MC's

Y'all is pussy rap, my speech made you weak in the knees

But talk's cheap, I'm straight from the streets

I'm action-oriented when I'm screamin KILL CORRUPT POLICE

I read books, reap intelligence to compromise my bad looks

I roam with God-bodies and crooks

But when I rest my head at night, I'm just happy that I made it

Cause someone could take your life, be it my friends or my neighbors

Whether, you police or a thug on the streets

Whether, you look for beef or you livin in peace

Whether, you back down or you stand strong bold

Yo we never know what tomorrow gon' hold

[Chorus: *sung*]

We can live today, but we're not promised tomorrow

We can pass away, say goodbye to yesterday

We can live today, but we're not promised tomorrow

We can pass away, say goodbye to yesterday

[Verse Two]

It's either me or you in this world cause I be tryin to cope

I'm lookin for answers, but still I'm comin up broke

They supply the (?) tops, smack, the guns and the coke

Who shot Lennon and Malcolm X, one in his throat

I'm an old soul that hold but probably young as the Pope

Reincarnated as a prophet through a symbol of hope

I move through the projects, lights, rhythm and smoke

Idiom quotes, somebody said religion's a joke

Buried my man at 18, the cancer took him in months

He died before he lived, but once gone I felt touched

My old earth followed in '91, 6 months apart

Project stress, blackouts, and walks in the park

People change, cause when I look back I feel strange

Goin through old flicks, our days numbered, turnin the page

I can't go back, we learn to live with hate and respect

A tale from the heart prevail through the pain and regret

Whether, you police or a thug on the streets

Whether, you look for beef or you livin in peace

Whether, you back down or you stand strong bold

Yo we never know what tomorrow gon' hold

[Chorus]

{*singer ad libs to fade*}