A young hog in the hood playin' chase, smile on his face   Havin' fun 'cuz it ain't nothin' like this place and you don't wanna race   Fool I got the new ones on   And we can run from the corner to the Newman's home      And after that we goin' go raid the plum tree   And stick ball down where those bos be   Mom's got the door open bumpin' Marvin Gaye   Let's get it on all day everyday      At night I pray, Lord, just let me make it   And if I die before I wake   Then my soul, you take it   Never fake it      My older brother taught me game   And sometimes even let the young soldier hang   As a loc, my only duty was to soak   And pass it on to my comrade and closest folks   All friends I knew about it as a child   I stood proud have you ever seen a ghetto smile?      In the ghetto there's a smile roamin' through the streets   Why don't the homies smile for me? Ghetto, hey, yeah   In the ghetto there's a smile roamin' through the streets   Why don't the homies smile for me? Ghetto, hey      I'm at the junior high actin' bad at the dance   The slow jam got me with a woody in my pants   And baby with me, her Momma used to babysit me   And back then she was just plain old pretty      But nowadays it seems like she done grown   Jeans fitting and her perm gotta hella long   Would I be wrong if I whisper and take her down   And maybe play house sitter with her like the Pound      It's goin' down about now in the Northern Bay   The OG's put it down and make they pay   Flip a 68 'stang with the blew out braids   The only homey in the hood ridin' on thangs      And as I peep it thangs have got a little deeper   And everybody and their Momma done bought a beeper   And then they post on the lake gettin' loose and wild   You know the scene it's the ghetto smile      In the ghetto there's a smile roamin' through the streets   Why don't the homies smile for me? Ghetto, hey, yeah   In the ghetto there's a smile roamin' through the streets   Why don't the homies smile for me? Ghetto, hey      At 18 I graduated and now I'm grown   About time for the dog to get his own bone   I left home got a condo out on Quail ridge   And like a king is how this young playa live      Swimmin' parties in the pool with my dope to roll   Wasn't trippin' off nathin' we was all folks   Hillside in the house and we gettin' perved   Freestylin' gettin' on my neighbor's nerves      I love the hood so everyday I'm back to visit   And swoop the young so that they can come through and kick it   And peep the game just as I did as a kid   And watch the savage get his cabbage and place his bid      And even though we fight we still remain game tight   Handle business and always open for forgiveness   It ain't nothin' like a homey you ain't seen in awhile   So when you meet him greet him with that ghetto smile      In the ghetto there's a smile roamin' through the streets   Why don't the homies smile for me? Ghetto   In the ghetto there's a smile, oh   All the homies smiles for me, ghetto      There's a ghetto in the sky, ghetto in the sky   But all the homies smile for me, ghetto   The ghetto smile, the ghetto smile   Homies smile for me   And the ghetto smile for me