I Must Stand Lyrics - Greatest Hits: The Evidence - Ice T

Nobody ever said life was gon' be easy 

But damn.. 

[ VERSE 1 ] 

Just a kid, moms died when I was seven 

Pops died, eleven, what's up with heaven? 

It's hell when you're an orphan at a early age 

This impressionable stage, no love breeds rage 

In the heart of a child who never knew his roots 

Looked up to pimps and to hustlers in the eel-skin boots 

Parkin Caddies on the sidewalk, gangsta talk 

Truckin diamonds and gold 

Rubberbands around the bankrolls 

Fly girls to make your head spin 

Seemed they partied all night long 

I was like, "Put me on" 

But they said, "Little fellow, run and go play 

Take your butt to school or else you'll have to be like us one day" 

I didn't understand, but I tried to get a job 

While all the players got the girls cause they'd hustle and rob 

I was like makin 'bout 1-50 a week 

And after taxes, you know what that is - lunch meat 

And I know I can be better than this 

I gotta get me a car, man 

I gotta get a girl 

I know I can do it out there, man 

I'm finna go for it, man 

I gotta get some money 

Word 

[ VERSE 2 ] 

Streets of anger, trouble and crime 

I had it hard, had to sleep in my car sometime 

But I never let another player see me down 

I kept my front up, my gear clean 

Even when checkin minor green 

Brothers knew my game was true 

So I hooked up with the real crew 

That knew excactly what to do 

Bank jobs and jewels, quick to flex with tools 

Pimpin hoes on the block 

Checkin cash non-stop 

Crack spots, armor with interior bars 

No lie, I used to own 'bout 15 cars 

Every piece Fila made 

Drape my women in suede 

Pavet Piaget, Cesar's Palace holidays 

It was on, crazy out of control 

We made up the word 'ballin', that was how we rolled 

But the FBI had a-whole-nother idea 

It's called multiple indictments for hundreds of years 

What 

Daff is dead? 

Carter got 25 years? 

Nah.. 

Spike 35 to life? 

Nah, don't tell me B.O.'s dead, man 

I don't want to hear that, man 

I was just with him 

[ VERSE 3 ] 

The game is vicious, no retirement, you die young 

Listen to a fake, he might tell you to grab a gun 

I get phone calls from condemned row 

Brothers I ran with, brothers I really know 

They tell me, "Ice you got much love in the pen 

You're the one that got away, don't want to see you in" 

They tell me, "Tell the little homies the deal 

Don't let em come up in this hellish habitat of shanks and steel" 

I marched two million strong in D.C. 

Lookin eye to eye with brothers that I used to think below me 

Damn, my mind was twisted in my hustlin days 

But God spared me, I got a baby son to raise 

And bein black ain't easy, prejudice is real 

But health and liberty is all we need for us to build 

We gotta come together, unseparated 

Check yourself like I did, blackman, because we're all related