Brother Ali - Slippin' Away lyrics

I arrived in Minnesota with handcuff bruises
Summer ninety deuce
Prepared to cut loose shit
Mom wasn't havin that, fuck bein cool
With no discussion
Stuck me in a suburb school
Now day and night I'm on a bus full of fools
Who parents didn't want us ended
Up in the news you must be crazy
You think any of us appreciate it
How our parents wanna upgrade us
All day long we're in a fantasy land
Moms and dads, college plans and minivans
But when the sun set, you fled the success
To the slum where you rest, nothin more
Nothin less school they fantasize about
Gangsta rap records but these are our lives
Our families are connected
The Ice Cube summer vacation is takin place
Right around the way from where I stay
The mold from the gold and the 'rips from LA
Brought, snow to the cold for
A new place to play
There's a war goin on outside
You ain't safe from
See if this education might save 'em

I've known you your whole life
You drawn to that street life
Slippin away, slippin away
Slippin away, slippin away

And so our little city bus
Crew used to run together
Eat lunch together
Girls Double Dutch together
Fellas humbuggin, next day be friends
The only thing we never did
Was date from within
Fellas dated white girls
Sisters stayed lonely
Used to kiss me on my cheek
And say we were homies
Alphonso basement, we ran the party
One day on the bus, Pumpkin stabs Akey
Shit, my main man was Ethan
Used to sell sneakers at
A store called Friedman's
He had two older cousins that were hustlers
Filas wasn't all he pumpin to the customers
He got a check but he got connects
So he got some chicks and he got respect
His boy Ali got hooked up with clothes
One day slap boxin, he broke my nose
He almost cried man, he had a good heart
The brother's only problem was
He wasn't book smart
He dropped out of school but
He kept slangin shoes
To keep the kids fed, he had to sell base too

Time to time I used to stop
In and check on my dude
Even when we lost touch with
The rest of our crew
We both had babies, drama with our old ladies
But as time went on, our connection only grew
He said "I just can't seem to
Leave these streets alone man
Feels like I fell asleep one evening
And woke up the next day suddenly a grown man
In a rut with no idea how to leave it
My parents got too many kids
To help me through
I really don't know what the hell else to do
I know you gonna really get it
Crackin with that rap thing
And when you blow up
I'm a come and work for you"
Ha, that's my man
I see you when I see you brother
Keep your head up 'til the next
Time we see each other
Rolled out on my first national tour
Back on the block, went back to the store
Put my hand on the door
Ethan wasn't in though
They said somebody shot 'em
Through his front window
Hit 'em in the head and
That he hadn't survived
Matter fact he died 'fore
The ambulance arrived
A man in that life, it wasn't no mistake
The cops called it a stray bullet
Closed the case
So there's no justice and there's no closure
You can't touch this, not you, no sir
They buried my brother, I was on the road
By the time I got home, the ground was cold
Got nothin left but a hole in my soul
Shit, dude was 23 years old


Slippin away, slippin away