They Forced My Hand

[Cormega and Tragedy - intro] Yo, son it's real, you know what I'm saying? A man is often condemned or exalted by his words, you know? That's why we feelin' my niggas going through the struggle QB-Brooklawn Y'all niggas hold on... if you can't hold on, hang on, baby [Cormega] Yo, I seen it all, coke rise and kingdoms fall Profits in sneaker boxes, riches hidden between the walls The hood agony I'm one of the few who ever understood Tragedy Batteries not included in my music Or holding up my spinal cord Niggas be lyin' on wax Committing vinyl fraud Denyin' the fact They never slung or fired a gat Mega's tongue is ghetto, dun Hello Where I'm from is the crime and graffiti And NYPD Broken glass, .44's, open caskets Shorty ballers pop shit when they' rock hits the basket The only life we know I flow so precisely, yo My chain got the icy glow B-Mer Jeep shine with Lorenzos shine brightly, yo Laugh now, cry later, one day I might be broke And tellin' niggas I need coke Shit is real [Hook x2 - Tragedy Khadafi] See the good Lord giveth and He taketh away But niggas talk it and don't live it, then they forced to pay I'm just trying to be a man in this poison land Forgive me, Father - they forced my hand [Tragedy Khadafi] Yo, visualize Mahdi as a shorty Fidel Castro Snotty nose, nappy afro Never realized in due time what I would have, though, yo Before I spit at a ho I used to bag up blow Little bastard - rockin' Pumas under two-tones As we roam from the streets to the group home, yo Watchin' mob flicks, clappin' at imaginary targets Adolescents up in Spofford, facing hardships Newborns grew up on Anita Baker songs In the 'hood, wonderin' why the police hate us all Up late nights waiting for the next day to fall We're up late nights waiting for the next day to fall My stomach hurtin', still searchin' for a way out On the Island where P.C. was a gatehouse Made my first board, stabbin' niggas on the way out I knew cats who got bagged they' first day out Yo [Hook x2] [Cormega] Yo, Trag, we been down for years(word) From rappin' in the 'hood To promising careers It's all good The rap game is new to me The crack game - true to me(my life) Accept the consequences And the blood money cruelty Yo, remember you and me? Back in the days You had a sheepskin, I had a goose and Pumas in gray (You remember that shit!) We even did the same dorm in C-74 More than boys we were fuckin' outlaws [Tragedy Khadafi] If I could break you out the courtroom, and clap through reporters Kidnap the jurors - and whack all their daughters The Montanas, Alpo's and Rich Porters Mandela time - get smacked with two quarters A life speed - fuckin' with cracks and weed Yo, I sniffed so much coke, I froze with nosebleeds Jumpin' over snow cliffs without the skis(shit is crazy, yo) Then I saw shit was real, and I switched my steez [Hook x4] (outro) Trials and tribulations... you gotta shine... Regardless to what... nah'mean? All of my niggas growin' up strugglin' - word I see y'all out there - live ya life, man, stick your chest out, against all odds, you can handle that shit. If you couldn't handle it, it wouldn't fall on you, man - believe that. Nah'mean? Strap your shit up, pa. Keep it moving. Shit ain't nothin'. We live this, son! Word, that's what we do nigga. Y'all feel that?