I was just a little girl   Skinny legs, a press and curl   My mother always thought I'd be a star   But way before my record deal,   The streets that nurtured Lauryn Hill   Made sure that I'd never go too far   Every ghetto, every city and suburban place I've been   Make me recall my days in the New Jerusalem   Story starts at Hootaville grew up next to Ivy Hill   When kids were stealing quartervilles for fun   "Kill the guy" in Carter park   Rode a Mongoose 'til it's dark   Watching kids show off the stolen ones   Every ghetto, every city and suburban place I've been   Make me recall my days in New Jerusalem      You know it's hot, don't forget what you've got   Looking back,   Looking back, looking back, looking back   You know it's hot, don't forget what you've got   Looking back   Thinking back, thinking back, thinking back      A bag of Bontons, twenty cents and a nickel   Springfield Ave. had the best popsicles   Saturday morning cartoons and Kung-Fu   Main street roots tonic with the dreds   A beef patty and some coco bread   Move the patch from my Lees to the tongue of my shoe   'Member Frelng-Huysen used to have the bomb leather   Back when Doug Fresh and Slick Rick were together   Looking at the crew, we thought we'd all live forever      You know it's hot, don't forget what you've got   Looking back   Thinking back, thinking back, thinking back   You know it's hot, don't forget what you've got   Looking back   Thinking back, thinking back, thinking back      Drill teams on Munn street   Remember when Hawthorne and Chancellor had beef   Moving Records was on Central Ave.   I was there at dancing school   South Orange Ave. at Borlin pool   Unaware of what we didn't have   Writing your friends' names on your jeans with a marker      July 4th races off of Parker   Fireworks at Martin stadium   The Untouchable P.S.P., where all them crazy niggers be   And car thieves got away through Irvington   Hillside brings beef with the cops   Self-Destruction record drops   And everybody's name was Muslim   Sensations and '88 attracted kids from out-of-state   And everybody used to do the wop   Jack, Jack, Jack ya body   Nah, the Biz Mark used to amp up the party   I wish those days, they didn't stop   Every ghetto, every city and suburban place I've been   Make me recall my days in New Jerusalem      You know it's hot, don't forget what you've got   Looking back   Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back   You know it's hot, don't forget what you've got   Looking back   Thinking back, thinking back, thinking back      Thinking back, thinking back, thinking back   (To end)