Yeah, it's the god Rakim   Word up, I'm blazin' this out to all my comrades   Ya na mean? From the slums of New York   To the gutters all over the world, this is for y'all      Through my travels, I try to take righteous steps   Because right or left could mean life or death   No matter how trife it get, my sights is set   But it's twice the threat when the night is death      My mental windows refuse to close, they get exposed   To the neighborhood info where the poison wind blows   A deadly plague spreadin' negativity, viciously   Unto every city be in ghetto misery      Don't let it get to me, the writer be left to die   But it get mesmerize if it catch your eye   Shines enormous, from pure revered Kool's and garments   But it's torment, jealousy drug wars or warring      Tallying, slowly turnin' into barbarians   More scary when the whole boulevard's carryin'   Livin' in the world of sin, my ghetto girls and men   Waiting for the world to end      Tryin' to paint a perfect picture and excel   In case you didn't know   Never movin' backwards   Complicated   Know what I mean      Tryin' to paint a perfect picture and excel   In case you didn't know   Never movin' backwards   Complicated   Know what I mean      I see destruction, even little kids trust none   They bust guns, that's what they get a rush from   When I see 'em, we build and have a real discussion   "Yo Ra, what's the jewel of the day? What's up, son?"      "You got ambition?" Shorty said, "Man listen   I got demands for livin', can't stand division   Make grands on my mission, till everything glisten   Women in the expedition, no plans for prison      In a vision the city get, 2 milleni G   Sittin' in my MSC sippin' Hennesy   Gettin' high and watch life pass me by   So I asked him," Why?"      Wit a fast reply he said, "I'm livin' just to die without any feelings   So I wait here for my Maker till it's time to go   Wit this dime I know, wit all of her girls and all of my mens   Waitin' for the world to end"      Tryin' to paint a perfect picture and excel   In case you didn't know   Never movin' backwards   Complicated   Know what I mean      Tryin' to paint a perfect picture and excel   In case you didn't know   Never movin' backwards   Complicated   Know what I mean      Shorty was taught to keep his head to the sky and never cry   But the streets left him to die, now it's death in his eye   Livin' a sin of hitmen, a sinister grin   From beginning to end, in it to win      Evil rebels, doin' what we doin' in the ghetto   Thinkin' if we was thorough we can deceive the devil   You can't win, your life be end, try again   Shorty said, "Why we born again to die again?"      That's what I said when I realized I had a gift   To uplift and be one of Allah's advocates   Teach the youth and speak the truth   Show 'em what peace can do when ill reach for you      And my reward won't be jewels or cheese, it's even better   I can be one of the greatest MC's ever   If I tell 'em they intelligent women and great men   And live, stop waitin' for the world to end      Tryin' to paint a perfect picture and excel   In case you didn't know   Never movin' backwards   Complicated   Know what I mean      Tryin' to paint a perfect picture and excel   In case you didn't know   Never movin' backwards   Complicated   Know what I mean      I'm ragin', rippin' up the stage an'   Don't it sound amazin', know what I mean   Don't it sound amazin', know what I mean   Rakim