It's hard to breathe and hard to run when your lungs blackennCoughin' up blood like, What the fuck happened?nRaisin' my risk cancer is the answer, homienBut after drinkin' somethin' there's nothin' like puffin' a bogienNow I could blame the same product placement in moviesnOr the commercials, or Scarface in a jacuzzinBut now I'm livin' itnDamn I should've never took that first cigarettennI fucked up like your girl was ridin’ on top of menI should’ve took her to trial and never copped a pleanBut this ain’t a Christian nation, motherfucker pleasenAmerica never taught me to turn the other cheekn‘Cause I’m from Harlem, the north of ManhattannWe knock niggas out and make ‘em bounce like Ricky HattonnBut wilin’ on the corner got me turned back from the Canadian bordernnI knew she was virgin when I first met hernRockin’ stockings and poppin’ out of the Catholic school sweaternMom told me she could do better than a criminalnSeventeen-year old psychotic, tryin’ to be lyricalnI never meant to break her heart or fuck up her lifenBut I was careless instead of treatin’ her rightnI seen at her again at some club strippin’nAnd wondered if I could’ve made her life differentnnI joined the army lookin’ for money to go to collegenBut they ain’t paid me a quarter of what they fuckin’ promisednExtendin’ my tour, treatin’ me like a suckernThat’s the reason officers get fragged, motherfuckernDon’t give me speeches on how you respect and you love menWith no body armor in a lightly-armored HumveenMy family’s lonely, and you want me to re-enlist for thirty grand, homie?nNonnWhen I was young I got signed to a record labelnThe deal looked so good when it was on the tablenIt paid for my cable, cribs, cars and jewelrynThe studios, the women, there’s nothin’ they wouldn’t do for menExcept stop screwin’ me for publishing and royaltiesnHow the fuck are you my dog when there’s no loyalty?nWord to the street, I should’ve gone independent like Immortal TechniquennSome people learn from mistakes and don’t repeat themnOthers try to block the memories and just delete themnBut I keep ‘em as a reminder, they not killin’ menAnd I thank God for teachin’ me humilitynSon, remember when you fight to be freenTo see things how they are and not how you like ‘em to ben‘Cause even when the world is fallin’ on top of menPessimism is an emotion not a philosophynKnowin’ what’s wrong doesn’t imply that you rightnAnd it’s another when you suffer to apply it in lifenBut I’m no rookienAnd I’m never gonna make the same mistake twice, pussy