Yo, we gotta start respectin life more y'all   You look at your brother man you gotta see yourself   Gotta see the God within him   Brothers gettin changed real quick over nothin   We losin too many of ours   Gotta recreate y'all   Yo, check it      Knowin you the best part of life, do I have the right to take yours   Cause I created you, irresponsibly   Subconciously knowin the act I was a part of   The start of somethin, I'm not ready to bring into the world   Had myself believin I was sterile   I look into mother's stomach, wonder if you are a boy or a girl   Turnin this woman's womb into a tomb   But she and I agree, a seed we don't need   You would've been much more than a mouth to feed   But someone, I woulda fed this information I read   to someone, my life for you I woulda had to leave   Instead I lead you to death   I'm sorry for takin your first breath, first step, and first cry   But I wasn't prepared mentally nor financially   Havin a child shouldn't have to bring out the man in me   Plus I wanted you to be raised within a family   I don't wanna, go through the drama of havin a baby's momma   Weekend visits and buyin J's ain't gon' make me a father   For a while bearing a child is somethin I never wanted to do   For me to live forever I can only do that through you   Nerve I got to talk about them niggaz with a gun   Must have really thought I was God to take the life of my son   I could have sacrificed goin out   To think my homies who did it I used to joke about, from now on   I'ma use self control instead of birth control   Cause $315 ain't worth your soul   $315 ain't worth your soul   $315 ain't worth it      [Lauryn Hill (two layers of vocals, same words)]   I, never dreamed you'd leave, in summer   You said you would be here when it rained   [Common] Yo   Why didn't you stay      Seeing you as a present and a gift in itself   You had our child in you, I probably never feel what you felt   But you dealt with it like the strong black woman you are   Through our trials and tribulations, child's elimination   An intergration of thoughts I feel about the situation   Back and forth my feelings was pacin   Happy deep down but not joyed enough to have it   But even that's a lie in less than two weeks, we was back at it   Is this unprotected love or safe to say it's lust   Bustin, more than the sweat in somebody you trust   Or is it that we don't trust each other enough   And believe, havin this child'll make us have to stay together   Girl I want you in my life cause you have made it better   Thinkin we all in love cause we can spend a day together   We talkin spendin the rest of our lives   It's too many black women that can say they mothers   but can't say that they wives   I wouldn't chose any other to mother my understanding   But I want our Parenthood to come from Planning   It's so much in my life that's undone   We gotta see eye to eye, about family, before we can become one   If you had decided to have it the situation I wouldn't run from   But I'm walkin, findin myself in my God   So I can, discipline my son with my writin   Not have a judge tellin me how and when to raise my seed   Though his death was at our greed, with no one else to blame   I had a book of Afrikan names, case our minds changed   You say your period hasn't came, and lately I've been sleepy   So quit smokin the weed and the beadies and let's have this boy      [Lauryn Hill]   I, never dreamed you'd leave in summer   You said you would be here when it rained   You said you would be here when it rained   Ohh I, never dreamed you'd leave in summer   Now the situation's made things change   Things change   Why, didn't you stay   Why didn't you stay...   I, never dreamed you'd leave, in summer   In summer   You said you would be here when, it rained   When it rained, it rained   Ohhhohh I, never dreamed, you'd leave in summer   You said you wouldn't leave   Now the situation's made things change   Things change, why didn't you stay?   Stay, stay stay stay stay stay stay   Mmmmm, stayyy   Uh-uh   Ohh why didn't you stay..