I Ain't Gave Up On You Yet

[Verse 1] Yeah, I met this girl when I was eight years old What I loved most: she had so much soul When the 10 and 101 meet, the sight was so breathtaking Murals the size of buildings, LA River When you black among eses, gangbanging ain't an option But that Krylon aroma made a brother feel alive And it feel like the Creator made boom-bap just for me only Radio made the night not so lonely That's why I wanna fight when I hear them thug phonies and gangstas Acting like crack was our savior And at times I can't stand you, but stand I must Love is patient and long-suffering, it's all in your head [Hook] And at times hip-hop makes me very upset But I ain't gave up on it yet And at times America makes me very upset But I ain't gave up on it yet And low-key, my own people make me very upset But still ain't gave up on them yet And at times, my own city make me very upset But still ain't gave up on it yet [Verse 2] That family tree's a groundhog day of ignorance Juke joints, speakeasys, been on that ratchetness Granddad ran the numbers, got mama out the hood DC was so crazy in the 30's, let me tell ya Uncle Timmy and Alan and Hubbard, they all suffer from Them typical pitfalls, front like ya'll ain't feeling me Ya'll know a line of Appalacia Mountain bootleggers This transcends race; ya'll got moonshine coursing through your veins Don't cha? Them is crimes of survival Tax evasion, white collar, pre-Great Depression They say New York trying to escape the same thing It's life but be patient, boy, it's all in your head [Hook] [Verse 3] Little brother, I feel you, Vato drive slow Vans with no plates, he's second generation His tio from Sina Loa smuggling people biz Collotes in training, bald heads and tattoos Slanging social security numbers, I'm from the 626 I know it well, down that 1-10 Bye abuelita, green card grandpa still works hard Only one with good sense, dime a donde vas? Vaya con Dios mijos tres puntos, calmate homie Corrale, corrale! I see it in his ojos You feel trapped, don't you? You feel like "Why me?" But it's all in your head [Hook]