Caught in the Hustle

Lyrics

[Verse 1] They say the odds against me are crooked and impossible Like I was born with a hole in my heart as an obstacle And left to die by the doctors in the children's hospital But I'll never lose hope, success is psychological The world is volatile and the street is my education Shapin' the nation like the blueprint of a Mason While Shawshank record deals get you raped on occasion So I'm focused on my economic situation I'm like the little kids on TV that dig through the trash I hustle regardless of the way you talk shit and laugh A lot of niggas drop science, but they don't know the math 'Cause they mind is narrower than the righteous path It's funny how on the block, niggas'll kill you for cash But never raise the gun to cry out, "Freedom at last!" The Cold War's over, but the world is still gettin' colder Atlas walkin' through the projects with the hood on my shoulders I would like to raise my children to grow to be soldiers But then a general will decide when their life would be over So I work hard until my personality's split Like the Black Panthers into the Bloods and the Crips They said I'd never be shit, but now I sit and reminisce Like Yeshua ben Yusef flippin' through Genesis Ignorance is venomous, and it murders the soul Spreadin' like a virus, runnin' rampant, out of control [Chorus] So if I should ever fall and get caught in the hustle Let 'em know that I died while I fought in the struggle From the hoodrats to rich kids lost in the bubble Spray paint it on the streets and in the subway tunnels Write it down and remember that we never gave in The mind of a child is where the revolution begins So if the solution has never been to look in yourself How is it that you expect to find it anywhere else? [Verse 2] Immortal Technique in the streets, back on the hustle 'Cause three strikes will get you life for stuffin' cracks in a duffle Upstate, behind steel gates, attacked in a scuffle Razor blades stuck on the side of pencils hacked through your muscle But the emptiness is what bleeds you to death when it cuts you And it's the lawyers, not the inmates schemin' to fuck you Tryna fight the system from inside eventually corrupts you But that's what you get when you put a corporation above you And it's the people that love you that seem to hurt you the most Sometimes when they die, you find yourself cursin' their ghost But you make success, nobody delivers your fate Sometimes you give and you take Since prehistoric vertebrates Crawled out of the lakes and that's the truth about life More to do with the ghetto than your car, rims or your ice 'Cause even though we survived through the struggle that made us We still look at ourselves through the eyes of people that hate us But I'ma make it regardless of the trumped-up charges And semi-automatic barrages that empty the cartridge Post-traumatically scar kids that try to be brave 'Cause niggas backstab each other just to try to get paid Turn cannibal like knights during The Crusades Afraid of responsibility, addicted to greed Beatin' their girl, purposefully losin' the seed As if we bound to the destiny we used to receive [Chorus] So if I should ever fall and get caught in the hustle Let 'em know that I died while I fought in the struggle From the hoodrats to rich kids lost in the bubble Spray paint it on the streets and in the subway tunnels Write it down and remember that we never gave in The mind of a child is where the revolution begins So if the solution has never been to look in yourself How is it that you expect to find it anywhere else? [Bridge/Outro] I used to wonder why people don't believe in theyself And then I saw the way they portrayed us to everyone else They cursed us to only see the worst in ourselves Blind to the fact the whole time we were hurtin' ourselves I used to wonder why people don't believe in theyself And then I saw the way they portrayed us to everyone else They cursed us to only see the worst in ourselves Blind to the fact the whole time we were hurtin' ourselves I used to wonder