Damn, its hard being a real nigga Clutching on steal triggers Pouring kool-aid on hilfigers For niggaz I cut for Pull a hoe out my truck for Take a bullet to my gut for Shoot up your cuz for And nigga you askin' me what for? 'cuz this check I wrote until death won't bounce 'cuz to quit is to care and excuses don't count Yeah, the real nigga blues Short sticks and long brooms Two feet planted whether it be the tomb or the courtroom Bullet wounds in my flesh Powder burns I digest On the front line I press Until in peace I may rest For battles I can't win With stripes I must defend Done been to the pen, behind friends And I still can't turn my flags in When you break weak I got to stand strong I strive to go hard while you strive to go home These checks I write are required day and night For better or worse, ups and downs Or just plain old fist fights Packin' all the weight Puttin' in work from birth Running myself in the dirt And you askin' me why my back hurt? Even when your dad tried to give me some fish I eighty-sixed that shit Pulled your coat but you was scared to dismiss that bitch But I guess you got to be one of me or walk in my shoes Or drink from the cup that I drink to feel my blues Yeah, the real nigga blues I can't bend, brake, front, fraud, fold or get hacked Its like I'm married to this game and my team looses if I get sacked Turning down licks on niggaz I know ain't got no heart Arguing with my baby momma because shes convinces you'z a mark My word is my bond, my life is my son My duece is my gun, and my fear is to have none 'cuz I refuse to run And for my honor I'd die, and for my mother I'd lie My heart done got hard I still show regards, call out to the Lord But it seems like I can't cry So when bullets fly... Yeah, its my fault Locked in with no way out Fuck some clout, this is what I'm about Even if I am the only one to get caught It ain't in me to back down Thats like laying my gat down Nigga I ride for the cause, and I hide from the laws And I ain't scared to get ragged on And for my crown... yeah Caps gonn peal I ain't no threat, nigga but I will kill And to all my partners up under them hills Y'all know how it feels and thats real Yeah, dig these blues The real nigga blues Dig this My partners hit a lick for two and a half bricks And since I'm the cornerstone of the clique They came to me when the shit got thick I took in all their evidence and made it mine Not realizing that while they were ballin' I'd be doing time All they had to do was push the witness out of existence And I would've walked because the case was inconsistent But insted they got caught up in the joys Of the fruit from the hussle Said fuck me, let the witness live And I got twenty five years All 'cuz I kept it real A mark would've squeeled But insted I chilled, put it on the pill But got ?chofferred in? a deal See I respect the code of the streets The code of the ?jeeks? But when they gave it to me they said 'Fuck the police' We'll never help these hoes solve a case Now tears in my sons face Because his daddy is out of place With no trace of my peers Missing my little nigga younger years All because I kept it real Regrets? Sometimes have some I'ma walk when me time come It wasnt my prints on the gun In yo' eyes, you'z a real nigga So what you would've done? Stand strong? I'm not surprised I was in the county camoflauging my cries Squabbling niggaz twice my size For mistaking tears for fears in my eyes But I ain't ask to be real I was born like this Sacrificing my fo' sho's for your maybes Got me scorned like this Tattered and torn like this But my roots won't pluck I'm the only reason your tooth won't buck But is my authenticy worth the price I be paying? All the shit I've been through Nigga, do it look like I'm playing? I'ma be down 'til I get laid down All the ex-real niggaz would've still be real Only if they would've stayed down But these my blues I just spread the news to who I choose A tale of a real nigga Can you dig his blues? Yeah, the real nigga blues And all I got are my balls and my word Yeah, my balls and my word