Boyz in the Hood

Yeah
Man, them boys in the hood
Man, I'm just a teenager
Yeah, we boys in the hood
Man, I'm just a teenager
Yeah

If you grew up on a council estate, then you know what it's like
Hanging out from the morning till night

Two dark, one light, at the pub, tell the youngers "Take the bike"
And we got beef with them niggas the other side of the lights
And our mums are probably friends cah they go the same shops
But here they come 'round here, somebody's getting shot and
I don't even know why we're riding for this block
Or how the beef started, I just know that we can't stop
Cause it's a vicious cycle
A drug dealer is my idol

Every night I sleep with my strap and my bible

Cah this shit's all I know
And who is gonna show me that there's more than the roads?
I've been to more funerals than I've been on holidays
Most my friends in jail, a couple got away
Most the olders turn washed and then they rot away
And I hope that it will stop but probably not today

Why? Cause we're just boys in the hood
And this is all we know to survive on the roads
We're just boys in the hood
Friends are your fam so you ride for your bros
We're just boys in the hood
Loyalty is love, live your life by the code
We're just boys in the hood
And this is what we know to stay alive, I suppose

My mum knows I'm shottin' but I contribute to bills
She wants to say something but I supply the meals
I know she's concerned but she hides how she feels
Turns a blind eye but it really gives her chills
And we don't leave the ends so we're always on the strip
We don't even go to West End for trackies and the kicks

The feds know our governments, we're always getting nicked

"No comment", get bail then back to the same shit
They say we should know better
But I don't know nothing else than to be a go-getter

Same tracksuit, both hot or cold weather
Just grind, no pleasure, mum says I'm so clever
What's a CV? I don't have an education
Work experience? I'm a door-to-door salesman
Working is a myth, on top of that I've got pagans
And they won't pay this kind of money that I'm making

Why? Cause we're just boys in the hood
And this is all we know to survive on the roads
We're just boys in the hood
Friends are your fam so you ride for your bros
We're just boys in the hood
Loyalty is love, live your life by the code
We're just boys in the hood
And this is what we know to stay alive, I suppose

Yo, for every Trey, there's a Ricky
We're just boys in the hood, my hoodie cost eight-fifty
I still can't dress up the fact that I'm traumatised

Could've made a killing off of crime but
Who knows if I'd have made it out alive
I was tryna chase dreams, not chase highs
Instead of billing up a spliff, I started billing up a line

I ain't even got an O and man already owe me dough
Drug trafficking really turned into a lonely road
Now when I pull up in a Phantom, that's a Holy Ghost
Cah instead of going church, I was tryna be the Pope
Grew up in the ends, ended up on the corner
Mama needed me to get it cah we lost my father
Hella dark on me, shit was getting darker
Still had nowhere I could hide, I've been reading up on life
Tryna keep the lights on really had me charged up

Running from the plug although that nigga showed me love, ayy

Why? Cause we're just boys in the hood
And this is all we know to survive on the roads
We're just boys in the hood
Friends are your fam so you ride for your bros
We're just boys in the hood
Loyalty is love, live your life by the code
We're just boys in the hood
And this is what we know to stay alive, I suppose