Ghetto Child

[Verse One]
These are words for my dream children
I gotta build self-esteem children
I hope they live to seventeen children
I feel the pain, I say these things out of love
Call you brother, call you sister, I'm as real as your blood
Pourin' liquor in the memory of thugs that I've known
But in retrospect, they're only kids who never got grown
You were strong for livin through it, lifestyle so wild
But people are so foul and evil, Ghetto child
I hate to see you wonder how you're gonna make it out alive
Yesterday a drive by, you pray, friends died
I had five go in one summer
I overstand the pressure you're under
But never wonder if somebody loves ya
That's why I call you brother or sister. Baby, dream!
Life is a relay race, we're on the same team
And I'm passin the baton to the kings and the queens
Through community cuz unity is what freedom brings
Brother, sing...

[Chorus: Jai Lartey]
Ghetto Child
You were born
You've been through...
So many trials and tribulations
Ghetto Child
Life goes on
And through my song
You will be closer to the truth that you've been living on...

[Verse 2]
I have dreams of having dream babies
I wanna treat you all like queens ladies
It breaks my heart when you're being shady
Its crazy how conditions splittin us up
Pimpin came from slavery baby, the system's corrupt
But, I have a vision for a better tomorrow
That's why I feel the pain, addressing the sorrow
Cause I'm livin on borrowed time
Some people want me in the chalk line
Cause I'm just a black prince with the balls to speak his mind
What's crime? We have a right to hustle
Life's a struggle, but you have to utilize your heart
That's your righteous muscle
Anything you built could crumble baby, humble yourself
Here today, gone tomorrow, thank the lord for your health
That's your wealth, something else we don't know
Ghetto child lifestyle was a gift from God though
Cause the ghetto child glows in the heart from the start
You've got what it takes to make it, you can walk through the dark

[Chorus]

[Verse 3]
These are words for my cool children
Getting high behind the school building
Man, I feel what the hell you feelin'
Still its my responsibility, son
To treat you like a son, even though I'm yet to have one
Man, I'm from the same place, the same state that you at
But life was tougher back then, we laid punks on they backs
And bamas clapped a little more, from Tec 9's to 44's
Selling drugs or pimpin whores cause we hated being poor
Life's a war ghetto children. Society, they lie to us
Building prisons cause the system doesn't value us
But our science is that of calculus, young
What goes around comes around and the circle ain't done
Our ancestors sung songs of Zion, The tribe of Judah
Even Bob Marley reppin the Lion and smoked the buddha
We climbin to the highest of heights
If you get lost in the dark, Know your heart got the light
Ghetto Child...

[Chorus]