Mistakes

(album: The 3rd World - 2008)

(Yes I did... I made a mistake... yes I did)

Huh..ya know living this type a life
makes you grow up faster than you'd expect to sometimes...
fuck around and be in your late twenties...
feelin like a old man and shit...
yeah for real son... let em know

It's hard to breath and hard to run when your lung's blackened
Coughing up blood like what the fuck happened
Raising my risk of cancer's the answer homie
But after drinking something there's nothing like puffing a bogie
Now I can blame the same product placement in movies,
Or the commercials, or Scarface in a jacuzzi
But now I'm living it
Damn I should a never took that first cigarette

(I made a mistake)

I fucked up, like your girl was riding on top of me
I should of took her to trial and never copped a plea
But this ain't a Christian nation motherfucka please
America never taught me to turn the other cheek
Cause I'm from Harlem, the north of Manhattan
We knock niggas out and make em bounce like Ricky Hatton
But wildin on the corner got me turned back from the Canadian border

(I made a mistake)

I knew she was a virgin, when I first met her
Rockin stockings and poppin out of the catholic school sweater
Mom told her she could do better than a criminal
Seventeen year-old psychotic, trying to be lyrical
I never meant to break her heart or fuck up her life
But I was careless, instead of treating her right
I seen her again at some club strippin and wondered
If I could have made her life different

(I made a mistake... yes I did...)

[Tech talking over the beat:]
Damn shortie, you got me on some singin the blues shit...
but you gotta stop looking backwards and remember to look ahead...
this is for all my dudes on patrol in the desert right now... for real

(I made a mistake)

Yeah..yeah... I joined the army looking for money to go to college
But they ain't pay me a quarter of what they fucking promised
Extended my tour, treating me like a sucker
That's the reason officers get fragged motherfucker
Don't give me speeches on how you respect and you love me
But no body armor in a lightly armored humvee?!
My family's lonely and you want me to reenlist for 30 grand homie?

(I made a mistake)

When I was young I got signed to a record label
The deal looked so good when it was on the table
It paid for my cable, cribs, cars and jewelry
The studios, the women there's nothing they wouldn't do for me
Except stop screwing me for publishing and royalties
How the fuck are you my dawg, when there's no loyalty?
Word to the street
I should've gone independent like Immortal Technique

(I made a mistake)

Some people learn from mistakes and don't repeat them
Others try to block the memories and just delete them
But I keep em as a reminder they not killing me
And I thank God for teaching me humility
Son, remember when you fight to be free
To see things how they are and not how you like em to be
Cause even when the world is falling on top of me
Pessimism is an emotion, not a philosophy
Knowing what's wrong doesn't imply that you right
And its another, when you suffer to apply it in life
But I'm no rookie
And I'm never gonna make the same mistake twice pussy