Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen. sorry to bother you today. my name is   Joe. and, um, I'm not on crack, I don't do drugs, I'm just trying to get   Something to eat. if you can give just a penny, a nickel..a dime, a   Quarter..anything will be greatly appreciated. thank you for your time...   And have a nice day.      How do you do?    I'm from the other side of town   The place where the only skin you see is the color brown   The sun never shines in this place where I live   And it's hard to do right when you feel negative   I have no compassion   I only know agression   And there is nothing great about this opression   People I see on tv, in there towns live the good life   But I live out of bounds   Where nobody comes unless they're forced to come   In school, they call me the bum from the slum   But they don't know   My sista has no food to eat   And her hand-me-down shoes are too tight for her feet   The way I see things, life isn't fair   So I never learned how to share or to care   But to hope - and hope   Instead of feeling down   And that's how it is   On the other side of town      I live on the other side of town      Pardon me, brotha   As you stand in your glory   I hope you don't mind as I tell the whole story   Some people livin life like fun in the sun   But yo, others are givin strife, and that's all they know   I feel no comfort in talks from the president   So put back on cosby   A shack is my resident   I think if I ever die, it might be a blessin   Some say I never try, but why are they stressin   I'll never get ahead; my raps have a better chance   I'm livin on wonder bread with holes in my leather pants   I'm not on the drug scene; they call me a crack head   I just had a bugged dream that I was a black man   Workin in the hospital   Then in came in a half-dead rich bitch   Yo, they must be insane   You think I would save her?    Yo, she wouldn't save me   I asked for a quater once, and guess what she gave me   A fuckin penny   A ? quarter? costs half a mill   If it's up to me, yo, she's pushin up dafodils   In a casket   Payback's a female dog   Yo, send her ass to the morgue   Then I woke up, and I sat with a frown   Damn, I woke up   But on the other side of town      The other side of town      My teacher's a fat man   Yo, how can they tempt me so   Fuck geometry, my stomach is empty, yo   Can't you teach me to win this crazy game?    You and I are in so many ways the same   People tell me, but I don't believe that shit   Why do you sell me a dream, then leave me spit?    The truth is bare, and so is my cupboards, too   I wonder what could even l. ron hubbard do   Because my mind right now is on the brink of breakin   Yo, look how I think   I think I'll stick up the store with the arab guy   I'm sick of him anyway; his prices are too high   Or maybe I'll start sellin avon door-to-door   Then pull a jammy, and make a bigger score   Nah, maybe I'll start sellin dope for my cous   Then I could drive the same car he does   The life of a poor man   Consider me desperate   I sleep in a cold room   And wish I could just get   A piece of the pie   Is that asking too much?    I can't even reach what others have in their clutch   I wish I could go on, but I have to end this   And get back to livin a life that is winless   There's no use swimmin, so I might as well drown   In my sorrows   Cause tomorrow's the other side of town      The other side of town   The other side of town