A Trip Down Ronnie Lane

[Bridge:]
[Kendrick Lamar:]
If Pirus and Crips all got along
They'd prolly gun me down by the end of this song,
Seem like the whole city go against me,
Every time I'm in the street I hear...
[ScHoolBoy Q:]
Yawk! Yawk! Yawk! Yawk!

[Chorus: Kendrick Lamar]
Man down.
Where you from, nigga?
Fuck who you know, where you from, my nigga?
Where your grandma stay, huh, my nigga?
This m.A.A.d city I run, my nigga

[Kendrick Lamar:]
Brace yourself, I'll take you on a trip down memory lane,
This is not a rap on how I'm slingin' crack or move cocaine,
This is cul-de-sac and plenty Cognac and major pain,
Not the drill sergeant, but the stress that weighin' on your brain.
It was Me, L Boogs, and Yan Yan, YG, Lucky ride down Rosecrans,
It got ugly wavin' your hand out the window. Check yourself.
Uh, warriors and Conans,
Hope euphoria can slow dance with society,
The driver seat the first one to get killed.
Seen a light-skinned nigga with his brains blown out
At the same burger stand where [peep] hang out,
Now this is not a tape recorder sayin' that he did it,
But ever since that day, I was lookin' at him different.
That was back when I was nine,
Joey packed the nine,
Pakistan on every porch is fine,
We adapt to crime,
Pack a van with four guns at a time,
With the slidin' door, fuck is up?
Fuck you shootin' for if you ain't walkin' up, you fuckin' punk!
Pickin' up the fuckin' pump,
Pickin' off you suckers, suck a dick or die or sucker punch,
A wall of bullets comin' from
AK's, AR's, “Aye y'all, duck.”
That's what momma said when we was eatin' the free lunch,
Aw, man, Goddamm, all hell broke loose,
You killed my cousin back in ‘94. Fuck yo truce!
Now crawl yo head in that noose,
You wind up dead on the news,
Ain't no peace treaty, just pieces,
BG's up to preapprove,
Bodies on top of bodies,
IV's on top of IV's,
Obviously the coroner between the sheets like the Isleys,
When you hop on that trolley
Make sure your colors correct,
Make sure you're corporate or they'll be callin' your mother collect,
They say, the governor collect all of our taxes except
When we in traffic and tragic happens, that shit ain't no threat,
You movin' backwards if you suggest that you sleep with a TEC,
Go buy a chopper and have a doctor on speed dial, I guess.
m.A.A.d city.

[Chorus]

[Bridge]

[MC Eiht:]
Wake yo punk ass up!
It ain't nothin' but a Compton thang,
Yeah!
Real simple and plain.
Imma teach you some lessons about the street.
It ain't nothin' but a Compton thang,
Chyea!
How we do.

[Kendrick Lamar:]
Fresh outta school ‘cause I was a high school grad',
Sleepin' in the livin' room in my momma's pad,
Reality struck, I seen the white car crash
Hit the light pole two nigga's hopped out on foot and dashed.
My Pops said, I needed a job, I thought I believed him,
Security guard for a month and ended up leavin'.
In fact, I got fired because I was inspired by all of my friends
To stage a robbery the third Saturday I clocked in.
Projects tore up, gang signs get thrown up,
Cocaine laced in marijuana,
And they wonder why I rarely smoke now,
Imagine if your first blunt had you foamin' at the mouth,
I was straight tweakin' the next weekend, we broke even,
I made allegiance that made a promise to see you bleedin',
You know the reasons but still won't ever know my life,
Kendrick a.k.a. Compton's human sacrifice.

[MC Eiht:]
Yeah, cocaine, weed,
Niggas been mixin' shit since the 80's, loc,
Sherm sticks, butt nakeds,
Dip, make a nigga flip.
Cluck heads all up and down the block ‘n shit,
One time's crooked ‘n shit,
Block a nigga in Alondra, Rosecrans, Bullis, it's Compton.
I'm still in the hood,
Loc, yeah, that's cool.
The hood took me under so I follow the rules,
But, yeah, that's like me, I grew up in the hood where they bang,
And niggas that rep colors is doin' the same thing.
Pass it to the left so I can smoke on me.
A couple drive-bys in the hood lately,
Couple of IV's with the fuckin' spraycan,
Shots in the crowd then everybody ran,
Crew I'm finna slay, the street life I crave,
Shots hit the enemy, hearts turn brave.
Mount up, regulators in the whip,
Down the boulevard with the pistol grip,
Trip, we in the hood still,
So, loc, grab a strap ‘cause, yeah, it's so real.
Deal with the outcome, a strap in the hand,
And a bird and ten grands where muthafuckas stand

[Kendrick Lamar:]
If I told you I killed a nigga at 16, would you believe me?
Or see me to be innocent Kendrick you seen in the street
With a basketball and some “Now & Laters” to eat?
If I mentioned all of my skeletons, would you jump in the seat?
Would you say my intelligence now is great relief?
And it's safe to say that our next generation maybe can sleep
With dreams of bein' a lawyer or doctor,
Instead of boy with a chopper that hold the cul-de-sac hostage,
Kill them all if they gossip, the Children of the Corn.
They vandalizin', the option of livin' a lie, drown their body with toxins,
Constantly drinkin' and drive, hit the powder then watch this flame
That arrive in his eye; this a coward, the concept is aim and
They bang it and slide out that bitch with deposits.
And the price on his head, the tithes probably go to the projects,
I live inside the belly of the rough,
Compton, U.S.A. made me and angel on Angel Dust, what.

[Skit:]
–	Nigga, pass Dot the bottle, damn! You ain't the one that got fucked up, what you holdin' it for? Niggas always actin' unsensitive ‘n shit.
–	Nigga, that ain't no word.
–	Nigga, Shut up! Hey, Dot, you good, my nigga? Don't even trip, just lay back and drink that.