Check out the avenue, New York, New York the rotten apple   We grapple in the streets to stack loot and slip the shackles   I'm currently, servin' twenty nine to life   Duckin' the searchlight, no sleep for like the third night      The big life is trife, got the young kids hyped   Cops shoot on sight, heat pipe be blowin' through the night   The land where you ain't fam, there's no pity   Similar to chocolate city, ten times gritty      Hittin' hard, liquor's god, niggaz plottin' on the come off   And come off, quicker than the clothes on the stripper   And slide like she doin' up and down the railing   Bitch tailing in the range with golden arms smooth sailin'      The clock's tickin', somebody's on the block snitchin'   The plot thickens, phones are tapped, cops listen   Too hot for prison, plus too cold to hold my girl   'Cause I married this life and she's my whole world      It's just a sign of the times   Calmly listen to these lines   I'm goin' out of my mind   Livin' the street life      Aiyyo, aiyyo make me wanna holla way they do my life   My life, is like a carousel one endless night   Where most die for pies, some holdin' their chrome   A large percent die for causes not even their own      When the Inspectah Deck be long dead and gone   Long live the ins clone they workin' on   Til then, I hold a section, I stand alone no co -defendant   Showin' the weapon, this saga had no story endin'      It's ghetto heaven and at the same time hell shots propel   The one that missed me got chanel   In the future ruled by computer, I self tutor   The music is the simulator, facin' the user      I do it for those who walk the same road   And no regrets do I hold for the path I chose   No sleep since the intro, patrol the windows   I reminisce, with the chalice and my eyes half closed      If I could do it again, I'd probably do it the same   Thought I was through with the game, I'm goin' through it again   The hood life, I'm in it to the limit   Couldn't quit it for a digit, die for it 'cause I live it      It's just a sign of the times   Calmly listen to these lines   I'm goin out of my mind   Livin' the street life      Yo, been around the world but just can't seem to leave   The state of mind that causes tangled web I weave   Made my home in the heart of it   Movie like Seagal, Hard Target      Most want no part of it, it's logic cutthroat party in the shark pit   Cold blooded souls carry bulldogs and oxes, knowledge this   Maintain and remain sane   In the cold world where the rules ain't changed      Still rebel to society, government be eyein' me   They probably watchin' me right now as I'm speakin'   But all I'm guilty of is teachin' you the truth   They got proof, so you know I'll be home before the weekend      The hood life, I'm in it to the limit   In it from the scrimmage, livin' it, lovin' every minute   And every hour, 'til the powers that be   Eventually stress me to the death      Y'all know the science right?   Death with the intellect   Aight, aight represent, I make it hot   13th chamber specialist from the bricks      It's just a sign of the times   Calmly listen to these lines   I'm goin' out of my mind   Livin' the street life      Street life so trife   Street life for life   Feels like feels like   My paradise