Ain`t a Damn Thing Changed

"This afternoon we want to talk about"<br> "Now I want you brothers to dig where we coming from"<br><br>[WC]<br>Five yers ago when I was in high school<br>No bills to pay, I used to say to myself "Life is cool"<br>I had a roof over my head and a part-time job<br>Slanging at OB`s birdstand<br>Washington High was the school I attended<br>Til `87 graduation came and I wasn`t with it<br>Kicked out the house at the age of 18<br>No money for college, mmm, how should I handle things?<br>I tried to go the so-called right way<br>And went to a JC but I wasn`t getting paid<br>I`m working at a chicken stand now with the chicken<br>With a spring at the top of my hat getting clowned<br>I gotta pay my rent but my job ain`t cutting it<br>So now I`m drinking gin saying "Here`s my alternative"<br>To either keep doing what I`m doing, don`t trip<br>Or go and buy gats y`all and come up on a grip<br>So like anybody else I went and bought a gun<br>Pulling burgs at night and now I`m counting my funds<br>Three times a day and I drive a coup on danas<br>Cruising through the alley bumping on "Hi" to players<br>Yo, you can say what you want but I was taught on the streets<br>That if a brother didn`t work, then he didn`t eat<br><br> "You don`t work, you can`t eat"<br><br>[Coolio]<br>Peep this, something kind if for weakness<br>Focus on the park and watch how I freak this<br>Subject for survival, got to stay alive<br>I gotta eat so I do or die<br>Not a full-time crook but I was born right<br>So if I want to eat, sometimes I got to jack<br>So jack I will and go get some presidents<br>A foot in the ground and the other on an oil slick<br>Money ain`t everything but either is brokeness<br>Give me a knife cause I can`t live off happiness<br>Once a brother said I can`t work for the white kind<br>Standing on the corner in a soup line<br>Said he`s too black, too strong, ain`t done nothing yet<br>Waiting on the fifth for his government relief check<br>Humming and bumming, most hate to see him coming<br>And every first and 15th, these strongs on his life<br>But a hustle is a hustle and a meal is a meal<br>That`s why I`m real and I ain`t afraid to steal<br>Straight from the street, backed up by a funky beat<br>If you don`t work, OG, then you don`t eat<br><br> "You don`t work, you can`t eat" (Repeat 2x)<br><br>[Ice Cube]<br>Ayo, I want y`all to meet a nigga from the Lench Mob<br>He gaffled for his meals (McDonald`s is my spot)<br>Ayo Jay Dee, kick some shit for the Maad Circle, G<br><br>[Jay Dee]<br>If you don`t work, you don`t eat, need I say more?<br>Cause I`m a kick my rhymes in abundant while you stay poor<br>Since I was 14 I raised myself<br>I built a roof over my head and then I went for self<br>I sold cooked-up rock, made my way through school<br>I`m not saying you should do it cause it ain`t too cool<br>Kicking ???, playing to start your back<br>Talking about that bullshit prize, you slay me right?<br>And you other motherfuckers out here banging for change<br>Need to wise up and seek personal gain<br>Or maintain some type of pain<br>Cause they don`t give away hot lunches out here in L.A.<br>Yo peace to the Dub and the Maad Circle<br>For giving me the chance to let the rhyme just flow<br>So you can (So you can either sell dope or get your ass a job)<br>Jay Dee (I`d rather roll with the Lench Mob)<br><br> "You don`t work, you can`t eat"<br><br>[MC Eiht]<br>Eiht is stepping from the city down under<br>And I`m robbing more punk fools blind like Stevie Wonder<br>Ain`t no punching a clock, I ain`t with it<br>For a quarter an hour I make the shit every minute<br>And please, don`t even let me catch a brother slipping<br>He`ll be short, shorter than short<br>With my hands around his troat<br>Fool, come off the chain and bracelet<br>I know it`s wrong but face it<br>A brother like me won`t win the lottery<br>Ain`t no faking when it`s time to bring home the bacon<br>Cause I was taught get what you`re gonna get quick<br>And don`t get gaffled in the mix<br>So I guess I`ll keep stacking, breaking the law<br>Checking a fool, wrecking and breaking his jaw<br>Gyeah, that`s life in the Compton streets<br>Homeboy you don`t work, homeboy you don`t eat