Richie Cunning - Still Livin' lyrics

Welcome to the night train i can remember
I can remember, yo i can remember

See I was never one to mess around
With none of the fake shit
I learned the basics from my ace
I used to trade tapes with
And we was sitting in class
Watching the clock ticking
Waiting till we can be kicking
Raps in the basement
We was a tag team young rap fiends
Caught the microphone fever
And we didn't want the vaccine
Bad days, rap made them good
Nevertheless I was nervous 'cos I
Was new to the neighborhood
On the block hard pumping
I was cuttin' across
The boulevard so the thugs
Wouldn't start nothing
Me and my dog, we was keepin' it raw
Dubbing our own instrumentals with blank
Tapes and pause button
Constantly confronted and chased
Seems like I couldn't go a day
Without a punch in the face
They laughed at me at school, they said
"who's that guy, the quiet little white kid
With two black eyes" i couldn't take it ten
Years old getting attacked
He was the only reason I didn't collapse
My man Will saw me fallin' apart he said
"I know they hit hard
But you gotta start hitting them back"
So I did it: raised my
Knuckles and swung proper me and Iron Will
A couple of young boppers and
Man, he got an earful 'cos nobody liked it
A young black boy sticking up
For the white kid
We was together every day of the week
Banging beats while we sat up
At the table to eat
He pulled me out of all my
Dark days and cold nights
He was more than my friend, man
He was my whole life and now

Now that you left me what will I do?
What will I do, girl and I said

Why? Bottom line is wishing that
He still was around why?
I remember it used to be why?
Bottom line is wishing that
He still was around why?
Ayo, I wish he was still living, word

Ayo, skinny ninth grader, SCO
Black hat, backpack, I'm at every show
Went from trying not to get
Beat down on Broadway
To rhyming at San Francisco
Public High School hallway
Running around, thinking I was a G
Drinking bottles of brandy
Smoking powerful weed that was me
White tee with the Jordan wristband
On the bus
Listening to my thirty dollar disc man
I gave a fuck about permission and rules
I got in trouble I had to
Go to three different schools
I wasn't payin' attention to the
Teacher or the lesson plan
I was in the back studying Nas and Method Man
And I never really lost the flame
I hit lunchtime cypher, met James
And it didn't take long
We started writing songs
And before we both knew it
We was off the chain
Mix the Third Street flavor
With the uptown flow running round the city
Straight murdering shows
And yo, the po's couldn't stand us
Still spitting a verse
While we were sitting on
The curb wearing handcuffs
School, we barely set foot in the place
Playing hookey at the record store
Looking for breaks everyday seem like it was
Nothing but green grass
But, I had a mean past, and I couldn't escape
Now come on

Why? Bottom line is wishing that
He still was around why?
I remember how it used to be why?
Bottom line is wishing that
He still was around why?
Ayo, I wish he was still living, word

Ayo this life is a heart breaker
It ain't a thing they can tell you
To help you sustain the pain
First, the sun shining
(sun shining) , but when the sun goes down
It's just another cold night on the train
I walked a lonely mile as a only child
Inherited a dream from my brother
Who showed me how
To keep my dukes up, my man no longer with me
But, I see him under every
Lamp in this cold city
I never got a "goodbye" (goodbye)
Even when the accident happening right
In front of my eyes
And every year his birthday flies right on by
That's why I still cry every fourth of July
He told me that we was brothers
And I guess he was right
'Cos part of me'll be alone for
The rest of my life
I never had my man standing
At a stick-up for me, and
I never seen when he was gonna grow up to be
I sit alone, and I stare at his hat
Thinking back about when I was
Too embarrassed to rap
He said, "Richie, your shit is ill, son
Spit that shit"
He said, "no Richie, for real, son
Spit that shit"
So I did it, started getting loose with a pen
And motherfuck blowin' up, man
I do it for him
To the Heaven above, and the Hell below
Just know Richie Cunning is a two man show
It's like that

Why? Bottom line is wishing that
He still was around why?
I remember how it used to be why?
Bottom line is wishing that
He still was around why?
Ayo, I wish he was still living, word

Now that you left me what will I do?
What will I do, girl and I said

Yeah richie Cunning
Iron Will
I'll see you on the next train, homie