I gotta hold down the block, when the block is hot   I gotta use my imagination to change the situation   I gotta hold down the block, when the block is hot   I gotta use my imagination to change the situation      Yeah, Feds feast on street dons, look at their teeth showin'   Salivatin' at the mouth, South to East Orange   Keep pourin' that liquor, but **** don't sleep on it   You'll be givin' up your Jesus piece to your peeps to pawn it      For legal fees in the penal dorm   Screamin' on the horn with 'bout thirty years on your conscience   I'm watchin' brothers disappear, it's appallin'   Some dudes had just only a year of ballin'      Counter-intelligence found a strange evidence   (When the block is hot)   Still we behind the wheel with heat on us, hangin' with predicates   Position we placed in caves in, so they got us caged in   Ways spinnin' like Mike Bivens from New Edition aging   (I gotta, when the block is hot)      I got families I'm feeding 'cause my mans is bleeding   Every five seconds look in all directions   I come through prepared, I give 'em a call   I'm close, bring them guns downstairs      I gotta hold down the block, when the block is hot   I gotta use my imagination to change the situation   I gotta hold down the block, when the block is hot   I gotta use my imagination to change the situation      Uh, uh, it's beef week, Monday, murder   Two **** dead, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday is hearse-day   Friday, somebody-gotta-die-day, Saturday, put the gat away   Chillin' wit your chick and a bag of haze      Wonderin' how it's all gon' end and what type of way   'Cause Sunday back to gunplay   Mo' **** start over nothin'   And get finished quick 'cause the art of repercussion      Yeah, I seen it, a G' going out indecent   (When the block is hot)   Takin' a plea agreement, thinkin' he secret   Escape the crime scene, now you live straight like 9:15   Then one-time intervene   (I gotta hold)      My man ain't like me sayin' I don't care if I die   But the SIG Sauer on me now I'm scared to die   You thinkin' the one I send to clap you be a shorty   But he old school, holdin' a .38, he in his forties      I gotta hold down the block, when the block is hot   I gotta use my imagination to change the situation   I gotta hold down the block, when the block is hot   I gotta use my imagination to change the situation      (I gotta)   Anytime brothers can't get jobs, then they rob   (When the block is hot)   A man rather die than live on his knees and starve   Cops steady askin' your man what happened   First he tell then he stop, like he not really rattin'      Guess he not really in that casket from a sawed-off   (When the block is hot)   Listen, peep game from the brain of an all-star   The rain hurt **** bones who been shot   Metal pins in their leg, they walk with a limp-hop      The streets lie so you better be cautious   (When the block is hot)   Your man'll fry you plus, everybody talkin'   A vet, a General, don't step where I walked in   Make your own path, be a legend in your skin      (Hold down the block, when the block is hot)   Make your own cash, don't stress what I'm forcin'   Don't expect more when you put in less work than all them   Queens Bridge projects has taught him, and that's for life   You heard me right, I got the block   (When the block is hot)      When the block is hot   I gotta use my imagination to change the situation      I gotta hold down the block, when the block is hot   I gotta use my imagination to change the situation   I gotta hold down the block, when the block is hot   I gotta use my imagination, to change the situation