The Sidewalks

[Verse 1] {J-Live} Yo, I grew up on the chill side The no big deal side Where staying alive was no problem The other east side Projects and condos Somewhere in between downtown and harlem It's not quite accurate to claim half Either side was ever either all this or all that Some projects apartments be decked out fat Some condos still packed with roaches and rats But if New York is a concrete Jungle My old earth kept me in the zoo where it wasn't so wild Who wouldn't want to find a way to make it safe for a child As a teenager I learned to escape for awhile But you know what they say being out of your element Whether giraffe, monkey, lion, or elephant In school they said I was on the right track But in the school of hard knocks I done got left back Nowadays no knocks get left My left knocks back Some say might makes right So my rights ain't light But whether giving beatdowns or getting down on beat You're not likely to see me or consider me street [Chorus} But from the sidewalks I see how it's rough out there I see the extra large dosage of life ain't fair From the sidewalks I see how the gas don't last In the streets and you crash when you go too fast From the sidewalks trust shit is Just as real Even if your lifestyle ain't kill or be killed From the sidewalks Chris Rock got you gassed But I'm that smarter than y'all nigga that'll whoop your ass [Verse 2] {J-Live} Yo, I love New York, I am New York The way I spin break beats, make beats and talk The way I eat, sleep, drink, fuck, spit, and walk The way I build and destroy cause that's how I was taught I'm feeling Philly for now, I don't get home sick I'm still close enough to the Yanks, Giants, and Knicks It's still city to city Just different bricks See I don't divide by places, man fuck that shit It's a different state, but similar state of mind See every city got the same theme underlined A battleground for the lives of the dumb and blind Ya heard? Please believe that it takes all kinds We all got to get over in our own way Place to stay, peace to lay, and a pay day I get mines the legit way But no telling what I do to protect mines So you best respect my Kindness for weakness, face for fear Common mistakes are made until the cards are played But don't step to my door thinking something is sweet Or we won't even have to take it all the way to the street [Hook] Cuz from the sidewalks, corners that I clean and own Never fuck with the sanctity of my home From the sidewalks, I rep from New York to Philly So from Broadway to Broad Street you got to feel me From the sidewalks, I know how to hold it down On my own when I come through and visit your town From the sidewalks, Chris Rock got you gassed But I'm that smarter than y'all nigga that'll whoop your ass [Verse 3] {J-Live} Yo, from the sidewalks, I been watching Hip-Hop grow And vice versa from school battles to my own show I watch skills evolve and the necks up blow Motivated by the love for the art and the dough I seen people influenced by the next man's flow To the point that it controls where they content go But if there's 8 million stories and a handful of rappers We can't all be pimps, players, and gunclappers It sounds sexy coming out your stereo, right? But then you wonder why we still getting stereotyped Like we a whole generation of Want to be thugs and soon to be hoes Like that's Just how it go But everybody in the city ain't ghetto We all not slanging rocks and toatin' metal and Everybody in the ghetto ain't gangster Waiting for a reason to stomp, shoot, and shank ya, and Every gangster in the ghetto ain't stupid as you Advocating that bullshit the way that you do Like there's no consequences or repercussions Like we don't even think first, before we start bustin' But whatever's clever son, I let them tell it Why should I play the role of zealot Just for y'all to repel it I'd rather rep for the rest of us with real talk So I'm out like that J transmitting live from the sidewalks (From the sidewalks.... x 23)