Life in Crooklyn

Lyrics

[Intro] One, two, one, two It's the original dirty rhyme Jeru The Damaja in the building Representin', holding it down for Brooklyn Holdin' it up for Brooklyn always We about to drop a jewel on all 'em How we used to grow up How we grew up, that's what I meant to say [Verse 1: Jeru The Damaja] Yo, I was on the scene when Ed got shot '88 in the East the streets was real hot, and not 'cause it was Summer, and the Summer's was real hot But it was drugs everywhere, TNT raided the block Dubious teams of teens that schemed on what you got Playing video games where the dregs hustle pot They found my cousin chopped up in the box in a lot Hard to believe where I'm from, things like that happened a lot So I pour out my drink for the brothers that some forgot My uncle Ponki taught me things that I never forgot Block parties, crime scenes, and fiends that I forgot 2017 back with the same fiends on the block On the surface things looked better, but I know that they not Ghetto mentality, got families livin' in a box Can you imagine livin' in the same projects for thirty years? I heard [?] shot back into the world after he did like thirty years Hear babies slept in the same place as crack was cookin' It's actual and factual, that was life in Crooklyn [Interlude: Jeru The Damaja] I grew up in the ghetto's of east New York, where most of my friends have been dead before I was seventeen years old. Shot, killed, thirty years in prison, and I'd probably be one of them; because I was, I was, lead in the wrong direction. It's not because I'm not intelligent or I didn't know what to do. I was just been caught up in the peer pressure so much and it was so enticing; but Hip-Hop is something that enticed me more [Bridge] I respect the young, I respect them, and listen to them because they're the ones on the come up [Verse 2: Buckshot] Welcome to the Planet of Hank, they counting your kings, and Robbin' your bank, the louder you scream, the Brook-nam No guns bust from shook palms, bad attitudes, good mornings In hood-nam, make a good poem if I write it clear Fuck a pen 20-20 if I write n' stare You can see the world through my rear view Cops shot, moms cry, shots fly, head through Every renovation in the projects, generation after generation Awww shit, even overseas like, "please", gentrified, unidentified, From A to Z (damn), tell me where we goin'? Stress like Doug E. Fresh all the way to Heaven yeah I know it That's that Brooklyn fly gangsta, be I, plus [?] that why I hate lust Crown Heights up to Brownsville, Coney Island And Long Island uuhh, I gotta chill (Brooklyn, Brooklyn) [Interlude] We respect the young people or the people that are coming up, and or anybody that has an opinion or view of creativity Just give them a shot you never know [Hook] Life, life, life Crook-, Crook-lyn-lyn-lyn Life, life, life, life, where you at?, where you at? Where-, where-, where you at? Rep-, represent, Crooklyn, Crooklyn Brooklyn's in the place, Brook-lyn-lyn-lyn-lyn-lyn-lyn [Verse 3: AZ] AZ, "County of Kings", caution Brooklyn, "BK" borough Bread from the bottom, but we stay thorough B.I.G., Spike, Iron Mike, Carmelo, rhyme nice, mind sights on all Fellows, paint pictures of insane cocaine sniffers Gang members, you as real as who hang with yah Hot summers, drop top, and block runners The cop stunner, I was ill a lot younger Lost homies, had charges pressed on me I guess they want me, but I was busy being horny Grown now, can't forget the hometown, lowered my tone down But you can tell I'm no clown, "BK's" finest, the kind like mine's Align with, from pretty dimes, to that prime-time mix Make it rich, that's the moral of the story though Like the Maury Show, the fathers with a glory goal [Interlude] We missing right now, we missing that knowledge from the OG's passin' on to the youngin's and that's why the streets is in disarray right now. They wandering around going crazy, but the Knowledge gotta get brought back to the table, yah-kno-what-I-mean? So, I, I, wanna all the god's out here to come back to the table and pass that knowledge to the youth and we need to start all over again and rebuild. Yah-kno-what-I-mean? that's how I feel [Hook] Life, life, life Crook-, Crook-lyn-lyn-lyn Life, life, life, life, where you at?, where you at? Where-, where-, where you at? Rep-, represent, Crooklyn, Crooklyn Brooklyn's in the place, Brook-lyn-lyn-lyn-lyn-lyn-lyn