Brother Ali - Only Life I Know lyrics

(It's my life)
Yeah, the only one that I'll ever know
Feeling extra low please let me go
Oh Lord, no (It's my life)
Yeah, the only that I'll ever know
And it stressed me so oh God, bless me soul
Oh Lord

Whether it's the projects or
A trailer park mess
Raggedy the apartment complex
With a stressed out single mom
Sitting on the steps
Waiting on the mailman, looking for a check
Boys on the corner, pushing out the chest
Questing for anything that resembles respect
Young girls swinging their hair
With every step
Looking for affection, settling for sex
Bodies decorated with tattoos and chains
Trying to put armor between you and pain
Wood grain steering wheel, the bass bang
But not enough to drown out
The hatred in your brain
The only out is smoking out
Get lean, get wet, get meth, get tore down
Cause who the hell would
Want to stick around?
Put me in a haze, I ain't never coming out

They just wanna get you in the system
Stick you into prison
List you in the military ship
You to the desert
Gigs don't exist for you to
Make a decent living
But we got three illegal wars
That you can pick from
Keep stressing morals and personal decisions
Tell me what's moral about these conditions
Who decided you don't got
Enough to teach children?
State spending billions
On stadiums and prisons
How many routes can folks really choose?
When you're oppressed only three lead to you
First one is follow the rules
And stay in school
Be the square dude, that society approves
Get a little job or a shitty appartment
Sub-prime mortgage in a failing house market
The after your life dedication and hardship
You died just as poor as
You was when you started
Fuck that, what's up with the second option?
You could always hit the corner and
Try to get it popping
Get fast guap when you're
Out dropping and clocking
But, chances are that you'll
Probably die violent
The best hope that you got is getting locked
And end up with a job in a prison metal shop
They ain't paying nothing but three hots
And a cot - shit don't you know that's the
Biggest hustle they got?
Or door three you can get on that welfare
But they ain't trying to help
They'll put you in hell there
Give you just enough so
You're not gonna starve
And constantly harass you while you're
Looking for a job
Do luck up and someone that got
You to punch a clock
And they found about it and
Your check is getting docked
Can't win for losing, dehumanizing
You'll never get caught up
You caught up in a cycle