Survival - Koolade, Masta Ace

I was born in the beast’s belly

Running through the streets smelly

Daytime, summer hot like a fleece skully

Running 'round, no shirt on, throwing dirt bombs

Chasing little girls that had skirts on

If we wasn’t on the block then we going swimming

Public pool, feeling the butts of grown women

Little shorties trying to stroke ass

Swam in our shoes cause on the bottom was broke glass

On two hand touch I had a nice team

After the game, nana threw down money for ice cream

Yup, and Good Humor had the best stock

Some days I had to chase the truck to the next block

And if we got in a fight, you might get it

I was quick to pick up some shit and hit a nigga wit it

It didn’t matter, either bottle or stick, or a half a brick

I look back and I laugh at the shit

I had four different fights with the same guy

I won two, lost one and one was a tie

We always kept score like that

It was raw like that

I kinda wish now was more like that

It’s funny how the hood make you, it could break you

If your mind ain’t strong enough then it could take you

I used to wish that I could rise above it

I’d love it

But I was too young to understand the size of it

They say the name of the game is «survival»

Open the door I’m alive on arrival

And when I’m in I ain’t trying to leave

You don’t know what I’m trying to achieve

I’m trying to breathe

(Just breathe) Just breathe

Uh huh, just breathe

By the time I hit the age of 16 I wanted major cream

On the block, trying to shine like a laser beam

If you had the Gucci frames then the coochie came

It was all about the cats that had designer names

I couldn’t get the shit that some got

I didn’t sell crack rock, I didn’t have a wicked jump shot

I was known for rapping, keeping it popping

Finally I got a summer job, sweeping and mopping

Bringing home like four and some change was so strange

No more wearing them jeans with no names

I started dressing trying to out flash

So Fresh and So Clean clean like I was Outkast

A couple friends had another route

If they thought she had money on her, they’d knock your mother out

I had to see we wasn’t kids now

Same cats that played on the block with was doing bids now

From the past up until the present

To growing up and reaching adulthood from an adolescent

I see them 20 inch rims, I understand why you got those

Riding through Brooklyn, hitting potholes

It’s just a way to tell yourself that you finally made it

Don’t give a damn if the rest of the world kind of hate it

Nobody understand the wild type of shit we facing

And all we had to do to rise above the situation

They don’t understand the platinum chains and ice rings

They don’t realize we never had no nice things

I’ll always remember, how I started out though

Don’t ever forget, how it was without doe

This feels good like a swim in the gym

Representing for my women and men, feel me again