More Than One Way Out of the Ghetto

Now a while ago, I had to do a little bid Cause of the things I wanted, as a little kid I wanted to be like the dealers a lot Cause of the things they had and the respect that they got All the girls used to jock 'em And I wondered why my parents used to knock 'em I had a talent, or a hobby you should say I like rap, or poetry, but anyway Stay away from drugs, I paid it no mind I wanted to hustle for bread, instead of writin rhymes So I said to hell with it Instead of stayin away from drugs I was sellin it I was out all day until the job was done Instead of rockin the parties I was robbin 'em The females, paid me no mind, not a Giant Andre Barnes at the time But the rock started sellin, the dough was comin in Dealers wanted in, girls started runnin in Some said I'm crazy how I'm livin I must be, crazy cash and crazy women Yeah my gear was right They called me Andre the Giant and it wasn't cause of my height Losin G's in cee-lo I never sweat it; cause my connect got kilos My bank, two thou that's what's in it Rollin cee-lo, headcrack makin G's in a minute Oh yeah I'm all for dis Yeah I'm handsome, but the money made me gorgeous Now the girls wanna see me The little kids around the block wanna be me I was chillin, in thousand dollar coats I had links and ropes, and yo the shit was dope I had the jewels oh did I have the jewels The talk of the town, the neighborhood news But friends weren't true inside They were passengers, goin along for the ride And it makes you say damn! Because I feel so hard I had scars on my hands I thought I'd be fine But I got bagged and snagged and then I had to do a little time Friends don't hang it's a waste of time I got one dollar, one girl and some great rhymes I pursued the wrong dream Now to make a fast buck I gotta scheme Find a cee-lo game, yo Bank I gotta buck I ace to a deuce, yeah that's just my luck I gotta go right and exac TInstead of a package, I wanted a mic and a hype track Instead of robbin the parties, I'm rippin 'em MC's were gettin done, every week a different one It's time to put my talent to use There's no excuse, I just gotta get loose And now I'm really convinced I got raw with Lord Finesse, and been straight since Now you see how I lost it But I bounced back, you might not be as fortunate So take heed my friend Before you take a shortcut that leads to a dead end Take my advice cause the Giant said so And remember -- there's more than one way out the ghetto