The Night Before

(album: The End Of The Beginning... - 2002)

[Verse 1]
Now some claim gangsta rap's the CNN of the streets
But it's used as an excuse to pretend over beats
So I'ma lend my speech to all within my reach
To tell what really goes on from cells to the streets
Now in LA as you know there's a war going on
And it's been going on since before I was born
Though the undisputed origin has yet to be formed
It all used to boil down to the red and the blue
But that got fucked up as the many led the few
Now there's bloods killing bloods and crips killing crips
That's niggas killing niggas they play kickball with
It ain't as simple as it was way back in '86
Let me give an example of some ol' MURS shit
My sect of mid-city is living on the edge
Cuz there's four gangs at war and none of them wear red
Any new car or face could mean bloodshed
Which led to the other night, I'm in my girl's Bug, right
I'm bout to hit the block to see who's chilling on the spot outside
When I put it in park, the homey got a SK aimed at my ride
So I step out slowly, 'body no one fear
He yells, that's Murs I see his beard from here
But I told this whole story just to make things clear
So it don't seem weird when I tell ya this here

[Chorus x2]
Last night I almost got shot on my block
Not the block where I live at, the block where I chill at
Where I keep it real at, and used to pack steel
At times I feel it's the spot I'll get killed at

[Verse 2]
Now in the entertainment industry they have sweeps weeks
But it's Thursday in my hood when they sweep them streets
A whole fleet of the task that they simply call CRASH
That's Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums
If anyone should ask what the acronym reflects
Put into effect to try to keep the gangs in check
Now they're just another gang out banging they set
Known for stirring up some shit when your hood is at peace
The only pig I know dying to create beef
But let me get on with my story so that all of y'all can peep
Once again I'm on my block right, known as Cloverdale
Playing 2K2 while I'm talking on my cell well
While I'm inside eyes glued to the screen
CRASH rolls on my homies with the Thursday routine
What's your name, where you going, where you been, where you from
We say the same thing while they just play dumb
We don't gang-bang we got J-O-B's
Still they make 'em turn around and get down on they knees
Me, I'm screaming in the house I just won by three
So when I run out on the porch to tell the homies come and see
I see 'em on the ground and I'm like, god damn
Plus I got this black Nextel phone in my hand
They both yell freeze, guns aimed at me
And even though I drop my phone it's plain to see

[Chorus]

[Verse 3]
It was a 2 month tour that ended in Japan
So the first day back I had to spend it with my fam
That night I was going down to holler at my folks
Have a few beers, smoke, and share a few jokes so
To the block I bail but when I got to the dale
Everybody's on the porch looking distraught as hell
They start to tell me on how some fools from the other side
just tried to kill T, he don't fuck with nobody
Just be minding his biz
So you have to understand what an explosive situation this Terry thing is
My nigga never gang-banged a day in his life so
Fucking with him is not a way to earn stripes
But a way to get wiped off the motherfucking planet
I don't claim to be a killer with a heart made of granite
But try to kill my best friend and it's on goddammit
I had the big homey roll me over to my place
So I could pick up this nine I kept just in case
of some shit like this, a box of hollow-tips
I slipped back to the block with the heat in my hand
We sat up in the house loading guns, making plans
They asked me was it stolen, and why I never told 'em
Nobody in the hood ever knew that I was holding
I told 'em I forgot but I did it on purpose
So they wouldn't ask to borrow it to go and do dirt with
Now we locked and loaded and about to hit the streets
When we look to the corner there's a Jeep trying to creep
With its headlights off, we all leap for cover
They start to let off now how does this sound?
When I hit the deck, my pistol hits the ground
So the homey picked it up and let off a couple rounds
After that went down I knew I might get clowned
So I shook to the crib to take a shower and lay down
The next morning woke up, rolled out of bed
I called my girl up and this is what I said

[Chorus]