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Intro
Bm
Streets, streets
Bm
Livin' in the streets
verse 1: will.i.am
Bm
Street livin', caught in the trap
Bm
Guns or books, sell crack or rap
Bm
Be like kings or be like pawns
Bm
They called us coons, now they call us cons
Bm
Street niggas be packing pistols
Bm
Terrorists be blasting missiles
Bm
Crips and Bloods and retail thugs
Bm
CIA planes bring Colombian drugs in
N.C.
Don't push me 'cause I'm close to hell
N.C.
The teachers in my neighborhood can hardly spell
N.C.
And compare to them, prison guards get paid well
N.C.
Ten years no bail is 4 years at Yale
N.C.
So, forget about the statue of General Lee
N.C.
Because the status of blacks are generally
N.C.
Gonna end up in some penitentiary
N.C.
Systematically, that's how they made it to be
Bm
Listen, they derailed the soul train
Bm
And put a nightmare in every Martin Luther King
Bm
And privatized prisons are owned by the same
Bm
Slave masters that owned the slave trade game
Bm
And racists no longer have to be racist
Bm
'Cause niggas kill more niggas than the KKK did
Bm
Now, every time I hear a new def jam
N.C.
Niggas killing niggas like they Ku Klux Klan
N.C.
I understand what's a nigga to choose?
N.C.
Be the killer or be the dead dude in the news
N.C.
I get it, what's a nigga to do?
N.C.
No education in the hood got a nigga confused
verse 2: apl.de.ap
Bm
Street livin', tough conditions
Bm
Brainwashed by the television
Bm
We lost in the world we live in
Bm
Double cross love lost no religion
Bm
Street livin', oh my gosh
Bm
Another brother got shot by the searg'
Bm
Another cop got off with no charge
Bm
If you black in the hood, you at large
Bm
You're guilty until you prove you're innocent
Bm
If you're ivory, they treat you different
Bm
If you're ebony, they assume your temperament
Bm
Will be vigilant and they call you militant
Bm
And you'll get shot and they'll say the incident
Bm
Is 'cause you're belligerent, what a coincidence?
Bm
Born and bred but you're still an immigrant
N.C.
And if you ain't dead, you can see imprisonment
Bm
There's more niggas in the prisons than there ever was slaves cotton picking
Bm
There's more niggas that's rotting in the prisons than there ever was slaves cotton picking
Bm
So, how we gon' get up out the trap?
Bm
Guns or books, sell crack or rap
Bm
Street livin', hustle or hoops
Bm
Guns or books, get shot or shoot
verse 3: Taboo
Bm
Street livin', ain't no rules
Bm
Break the law, make the breakin' news
Bm
The life you choose could be the life you lose
Bm
Niggas getting stuck for the Nike shoes
Bm
Street livin', ain't no joke
Bm
It's a cold world, better bring your coat
Bm
Revoke 'cause the streets are broke
Bm
And now they wanna take away our dreams and hopes
Bm
Street livin', no economics
Bm
No way out of the Reaganomics
Bm
Infected by the black plague, new bubonic
Bm
No comprende, we speak ebonics
Bm
Street livin', what's your position?
Bm
You can take action or take a dick and listen
Bm
You can get fucked by the system
Bm
Or you can say 'fuck the system'
Written by Joshua Alverez/Apl. De Ap/Taboo/will.i.am