Growing Pains - Blu & Exile, Exile

Yo, yo, nappy headed snot nose

Lawn full of potholes

Grew up in the town where your shoes called zapatos

Was a skinny nigga so the people call me flaco

My older cousin Reggie was my only other honcho

Every Sunday morning we would go to the mercado

Piece of (?) of soda and some fifty cent tacos

Buy us that Tijuana with the rats and cukarachos

Headed across the border, with my mom to her trabajo

This to my brother Pablo, can’t break the bond with you and I Held a nigga down from pre-school to junior high

Never had a lot but always comin' through when do or die

Always had a smile but on the inside, you would cry

Always told use my mind, the world is your canvas

Moved in '94, the same year as Illmatic

Then back to the block with John in elastic

The way he lost his life in that car it was tragic

Tried to understand it, still can’t get a grip

7 years later niggas still don’t give a shit

Down to bend a knee thankin God that we here to live

Barely in our scenes havin' dreams that we gettin' rich

Always knew the boy could spit, niggas call me Battlestar

Learned most of my game from the routes of Mt. Agalar

Still the fastest in my P.E.

class

One love to Big Lenny and D.E.

Slash

There was once two brothers of the same breed

The same type, wore each other’s Nikes

Tighter than tube socks, even dressed alike

Any drama throw the gloves on, let 'em fight

In the backyard, or the front lawn

Meet little Corey, and young Shawn

Before puberty hit, the two of 'em skipped-

School on the usual tip, polluted the strip

Corey’s mom always left weed around the house

Corey called Shawn, next thing you know, he sneakin' out

To help him with his hustle, on his daily route

Until one day, they ran into a scuffle

With some young’n’s from the other side

Corey didn’t make it, Shawn survived

But his lost his best friend in the midst of bullets flying

Hard to even smile but he’s tryin'

But… you know what they say…

Cause everybody grows, and everybody knows

That time moves fast, I just want to make the good times last;

You live and you learn

I already got that swisher rolled

Gangsta boogie to the liquor store

Puttin young Ach on shit, a kid who shouldn’t know

(?) Waitress, kissin on your sisters nose

Meetin Martell at the mall, just to hook a ho

(?) on the box where my pops pushed the night

Cookin' white, sidekick was grits and sugared rice

Hooded nights at the cypher, round table no mic

Like, «you ain’t know 'Get Like Me'?», no dice

Hide-and-seek with a fly freak, shy like a geek

Gettin' credit fora kiss on the cheek

You ain’t beat

Gettin' beats from the motif

Pass on the Casio

Wanted that one and a mil', before Casio

Always had a savvy flow, back when it was cavi-

So Cali cause I roll in a Caddy

Said, «fully I be feelin' that hood, G»

Still hold cold since that one ho pushed me Come on, how could he?

A rookie still buildin' up my memory stats

Black, my phone got stole, give me three years then hear me back

Brrrrrring, ch, ch Chirping something something something

No, chill nigga, I’m working

Yo, pornos in the range-range

Hidden for the main vein

Took 'em from Pop’s stash, then after made pot ash

Listening to King T 40's on empty

Memories of times before the 2000MP

Heart was never empty

Pockets super empty

Beggin' for change to fill his stomach on empty

Times were more more simply

Face was too pimply

But still hittin chicks —

Young, dumb, off of rum

No condom on some stupid shit

And love on some Cupid shit

Pure heart, fell in love with many of these stupid chicks

But that’s how it go though

Homey snorting No-Doz

Car-hoppin' stealing everything, alarm would ring

Run before one time spotted us Dumb shit we hold very deep inside the heart of us…