Eyes Wide

[Intro: Adisa Banjoko] It ain't easy Cats want to judge all these youngsters But they don't know nothing about these youngsters I'mma tell you like this, straight up bro [Verses 1-3: Rakaa] Ayo, keeping eyes wide is the way to survive O.G.s like the Beegees, ‘Stayin’ alive’ Hat size, stack signs are shy Anyone that says it ain't connected ignorant or liar Mixed with community pride, state wide. (C.A.!) Equate across international date lines (Worldwide) Media fashion, but it ain’t play time Bullets hit some, miss some, it ain’t time Hollywood can be oh so misleading Leaving some of your favorite rappers broke and bleeding Safari, like: “Where’s South Central?”, “Where’s Compton?” “East L.A., Watts, Inglewood, where’s something?” Watch you colors homie, watch your slang Watch how you make your fingers twist and change A lot of neighborhoods out here ain’t playing A lot of blocks out here still gang bang [Hook: Krondon] Please Father forgive us, cause we know not what we do (True) How far we are going, quickly going no where. (Cause we right here!) Please Father forgive us, cause we have so many reasons, for retaliation Revenge and get back, keep your eyes wide Crack hit the streets like it’s raining comets Crash, hit the streets any way they want it Art imitating life, imitating art Powder keg California, rip the state apart Experiments flashing on the big screen The system loves thugs--cash in on the fiends Reaganomics made gangs out of football teams And a couple other things, that you might not have seen Kings, Jerks, Posers, scandals and tapered Dickies Chaos, Latin S??????, SD, the memories Brown Crips and Bloods, black Cholo thugs Sharp skinned, scrapping if Nazis showed up Stoner gangs, Asian gangs with straight A’s They studied at the range so they don’t spray strays Crews got fame, when the paint was spraying But got absorbed, chalk outlines ain’t the same [Hook: Krondon] Politicians get rich, the block gets ill Politics from inside, hit the block and spill Streets flooded, South-sided, Cripped and Blooded Northsided Bulldog the kids they love it So elders teach youth how to hate on sight And they ain’t all white, and it ain’t all right But it is by design, time tested, refined As the soul of the city decline And streets regress, beautiful cultures compete for death Only a few really eat: the rest--”rest in peace” And scarred, many more stay poor While leaders get fat sending soldiers to war I send love to my city, to the youth: stay strong A generation used cause they want to belong Their leadership started off right, but led them wrong Pride and power without hate, that’s what I’m on [Outro: Adisa Banjoko] "This whole thing is, it’s..it’s like chess It’s like the poison pawn, they put the pawn out there, you pick it up And as soon as you pick it up, that’s what they want, that’s how they got you That happens on every street corner everyday You go out there slanging that...they got you Whole team mobs through on the other side of the board You don’t have to pick up, everything somebody tries to hand you You got think three or four steps ahead, to survive on these streets You understand?"