Can I Live II

(album: Reasonable Doubt - 1996)

Yeah, is y'all niggas finished, yo?
Is y'all niggas finished?
Got your little radio play, your little BDS, huh
You finished nigga? Huh huh, y'all finished
Can I live, huh
Can I live, yo, you're being stingy with the fucking music again yo

Yo, yo, yo I blacks out, I pulls the MAC out
Scream "What's that about?", then I clap out
I get my plot on and my drop on, through the rotten
Don't even hate on those who hate me, I got Pac on
Feeling it (feeling it), chickens are ice grilling it
Cops pulling it over, Jigga react militant
Speed off, officer told me turn the beat off
I turned it a level higher, then return the devil's fire
I'm raised different, react in situations niggas lay stiff in
Rookies blame it on the age difference
My subliminal flows, create criminal odes
Sing along if y'all with me, 'til the end of the road
I'm cynical, when in the view of the public
And this is because, I'm defensive when I'm in interviews
The percentage who don't understand, is higher than the percentage who do
Check yourself, what percentage is you?

Can I live, for all my niggas with all white Air Force Ones
And black guns, stack ones yo
Can I live, for all my chicks pigeon-toed
Stand bowlegged like a bulldog, know what I mean, huh?
Can I live, to all the cee-lo champs
Two green dice and one red stop the bank and roll, heads, yo
Can I live, to all my niggas who drink Hennessy straight
Cop mixtapes and sell weight, niggas

I got the Feds sending me letters, 'cause I'm schooling the youth
But they can't lock me down, 'cause my tool is the truth
Yeah I sold drugs for a living, that's a given
Why is it? Why don't y'all try to visit the neighborhoods, I live in?
My mind been through hell, my neighborhood is crime central
Where cops lock you up more than try to defend you
I push you to the limit when I'm needing the wealth
And all I see is life cycle just repeating itself
Ran into shorty bopping down the ave
On his way to clocking math then
He proceeded to show me a block of slab and said

Ayo there's money out there I just got to have
When I catch up to these fiends I'ma knock 'em on their ass
Not to brag, sometimes I look at my life and laugh
How I think about school and it taught me not to grab
When I backed out, let one out, let the barrel turn
Holler at you faggots that it's my block to burn
That credit you dead it
I know heads getting annoyed and knew all
About a dope fiend before reading Donald Goines
Flipping boy and, using the right cut
One thing that's fucked up is bad dope that I can't pump
This slab gotta re-up and re-bag
Blend it in with the raw, bubble it fast cop more
Once I get it I got it I lock it, nobody pop shit
Selling twenties on my block, bitch, on some blacktop shit
What you want nigga? What you want nigga?
What you want, what you want nigga?

Can I live
To all my niggas that hold coke in their bubble coat
Trying to win with the construction Timbs yo
Can I live
Yo USA, all my chicks that strip
Boos go to the store with the doobie pins still in
All my chicks with the credit card scams
Two kids, one job, and no man
All my chicks getting that washing set with their welfare check
Ha ha, all the mamis dame un beso, alright
All my niggas rocking them fitted caps
Trying to get at this rap, know what I mean
All my cats with open cases, big cars, and no license
I like that shit, I see y'all
All my niggas that say pause after they say some fucked up shit
Hahahahaha, rock on and uh, Jigga shit, Roc-A-Fella forever yo
Uh, Major Coins, yeah, uh-huh
Memph Bleek nigga, uh-huh uh