His name was Rasool   Carmel complected boy from the twenty two   Rough on the outside but inside he was cool   Rasool was a king but also a fool      Back on the block again with the same crew   Tariq from the west side, little John from the Avenue   Always seen 'em 'bout a quarter to two   Shakin' hands with everybody   But at the same time sharin' the blues   And ohh he passed it on   Shakin' hands till what was in his pockets was gone   He'd be outside in the cold with his bubble goose on   But inside somehow, I knew he wasn't warm      Around ten thirty on that dreary night   His boys said they were hungry   Wanted to get a bite, now they didn't send a runner   Rasool knew it wasn't right   But he stayed anyway tryin' to get the chain he liked   Ohh, how the shots rang in the streets   Hittin' everybody in the surrounding vicinity   Children of children, one young father to be   And Rasool lay dead on my North Philly street      At fifteen years old, it was the first death I'd seen   But in years to come there'd be many many brothers slained   Tryin' to win at the game   But the game ain't designed for no kind of winning   Oh this is a friend of Rasool, begging you to think about   What you do and who you call your crew   The very choices you make, may make a Rasool out of you   Now you don't want that, do you?   You don't want that, do you?   Do you? Do you? Do you? Do you?   You don't want that   You don't want that   You don't want that   You don't want that