The Gospel

I said we're all God's children, products of the ghetto

Momma cooked the soup, daddy did the yelling

Uncle was a drunk, cousin was a felon

When he got pinched, he told them he wasn't tellin'

Auntie was a cook, her husband was a crook

Cause every job he had they be payin' him off the books

Ghetto University, knowledge is all it took

In the tenement I was listenin' to the hook

Change gon' come, the spirit of Sam Cooke

When the Feds coming, everybody be shook

Now we doing life like Eddie Murphy and Martin

On the chain gang, I was singing into the coffin

The roaches and the rats, heroin and the crasp

Couldn't blame me, I'm just giving the facts

Tryna hit the top, the bottom ain't where it's at

Everybody got a path but you could never go back

Oh, oh, oh, oh

Oh, oh, oh, oh

Sing yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Sing yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Sing yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Sing yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

I'm telling you like it is, how we ever gon' live?

If we ain't gettin' money, how we feedin' the kids?

It's a revolving door, when brothers be doing bids

I know it sound wrong but the dope'll be what it is

Survival of the fittest, this poor girl the illest

Broke mirrors and black cats give me heebie-geebies

Life seems hard, nothing ever comes easy

Whatever's in the dark, won't always become the light

If you ain't in a battle, how you gon' win the fight?

Gotta speak the truth when I'm up in the booth

The streets be flyin' birds but they don't be on the roof

Poverty is a pain like you pulling a tooth

Told the streets don't let me go like I'm bishop and juice

The roaches and the rats, heroin and the cracks

Couldn't blame me, I'm just giving the facts

Tryna hit the top, the bottom ain't where it's at

Everybody got a path but you could never go back

Oh, oh, oh, oh

Oh, oh, oh, oh

Sing yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Sing yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Sing yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Sing yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Oh, oh, oh, oh

Oh, oh, oh, oh

(Sing)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

(Sing)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

(Gotta sing)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

(She's a king)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah (yeah)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah (yeah)

And they sing New York City

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah