— What they gives you, blood?
— Three months, man!
— Whatchu doin' in here anyway? You oughta be home with your momma. How old are you, boy?
— Thirteen.
— Thirteen? Damn, the bastards must be runnin' outta niggas to arrest.
[Ghostface Killah:]
Yeah, oh yeah, this goes out
To all the families that went through the struggle.
Yeah, from the heart,
It was all from the heart, everything was real.
[Mary J. Blige:]
All that I got is you
And I'm so thankful I made it through.
[Ghostface Killah:]
Yo, dwellin' in the past, flashbacks when I was young,
Whoever thought that I'd have a baby girl and three sons,
I'm goin' through this difficult stage I find it hard to believe,
Why my Old Earth had so many seeds?
But she's her own woman, and dude in me, I respect that,
I saw life for what it's really worth and took a step back.
Family ain't family no more, we used to play ball,
Eggs after school, eat grits ‘cause we was poor,
Grab the pliers for the channel, fix the hanger on the TV,
Rockin' each others pants to school wasn't easy,
We survived winters, snotty nosed with no coats,
We kept it real, but the older brother still had jokes,
Sadly, daddy left me at the age of six
I didn't know nothing but mommy neatly packed his shit,
She cried, and grandma held the family down,
I guess mommy wasn't strong enough, she just went down.
Check it, fifteen of us in a three bedroom apartment,
Roaches everywhere, cousins and aunts was there,
Four in the bed, two at the foot, two at the head,
I didn't like to sleep with Jon-Jon, he peed the bed,
Seven o'clock, pluckin' roaches out the cereal box,
Some shared the same spoon, watchin' Saturday cartoons,
Sugar water was our thing, every meal was no frills,
In the summer, free lunch held us down like steel,
And there was days I had to go to Tech's house with a note
Statin', «Gloria, can I borrow some food, I'm dead broke?»
So embarrasin' I couldn't stand to knock on they door,
My friends might be laughin', I spent stamps in stores,
Mommy, where's the toilet paper? — Use the newspaper.
Look, Ms. Rose, gave us a couch, she's the neighbor,
Things was deep, my whole youth was sharper than cleats,
Two brothers with muscular dystrophy, it killed me,
But I remember this, mom's would lick her finger tips
To wipe the coal out my eye before school with her spit,
Case worker had her runnin' back to face to face,
I caught a case, housin' tried to throw us out of our place,
Sometimes I look up at the stars and analyze the sky,
And ask myself, was I meant to be here? Why?
[Mary J. Blige:]
All that I got is you
And I'm so thankful I made it through.
[Ghostface Killah:]
Word up, mommy, I love you!
Word up!
It was all you, word, you brought me in like this.
[Mary J. Blige:]
I sit and think about
All the times we did without, yeah!
I always said I woudn't cry
When I saw tears in your eyes,
I understand that daddy's not here now,
But some way or somehow, I will always be around, yeah!
All things that I did from this to them,
Oh, from drugs to being there
Being down and out, and I love you always.
[Popa Wu:]
Yeah, you say.
You see the universe, which consists of the sun moon and star and them planets, that exist in my space like man woman and child, you understand?
We got to keep it real, and what reality, and reality will keep it real with us.
I remember them good ol' days, because, see, that's the child I was what made me the man I am today.
See, ‘cause if you forget where you come from, you're never gonna make it where you're goin', because you lost the reality of yourself.
So take one stroll through your mind and see what you will find and you'll see a whole universe all over again, and again, and again, and again, and again.