I Don't Know Why

Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo
Hey, yeah, oh, no, no
So much, yeah
Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo

There's so much trouble in my life
Sometimes it gets so bad I just break down and cry

I got my rent to pay and it's overdue
Don't wanna sell my body just to make it through
You see I can't depend upon no man
To be responsible or even understand
That's just the way it is at this point in time
Sometimes it gets so scandalous it blows my mind
Me and my homegirls, we got our plan
In '97 we'll take things in our own hands
No, we can't play around, let's make some ends
I got my hustle on 'cause money's my best friend

I wanna be stress-free, rest easy at night
But there's so much drama goin' on in my life
And these days niceness get you labeled naive
And kindness gets taken for stupidity
So I keep my guard up in this macho world
'Cause everybody's runnin' game on mama's little girl

Been gettin' babies from shady wannabe players who wanna lay up

Stick ya, hit ya, forget ya while we stay up

Cryin' 'til our eyes are swollen

Single mothers got the weight of the world on our shoulders
Want 'em to hold us and tell us it's gon' be alright
Even the hardest sister needs a good man in her life

I paid the price and my life is still in a damper
At times had to dirty dance to get the babies Pampers
And don't talk about the welfare and how they knock us
Knowin' that chump change can't provide nothin' proper
While the doctors give us new-age birth control
That makes us roll up too skinny, bleedin' constantly
Or missin' monthly, scrapin' pennies
While my kids' daddy's flingin' OZ's
But ain't doin' shit for neither one of these
Should I ease up and grab a K?

Set it off like Jada, break with the paper
Get in a comfort zone from pullin' capers
Makes us wanna holler, scream, and shout and say
"Oh Father, why I gotta live this way?"

I don't know why I live this way
(I don't know why I live this way, oh)
I don't know why I live this way
(Oh, oh, oh, yeah, yeah)
I don't know why I live this way
(I don't know why I live this way)
I don't know why I live this way
(Don't know why I live this way)

All my sisters, keep your head up
We ain't givin' up without a fight

Yeah, it's been a struggle, but pretty soon we gon' bubble
Though trouble be's a-knockin' on my door like every 24/7
Heaven knows that I hustle just to keep the bills in check and
Lettin' my kids down on they birthday gnaws at my heart
And tears me apart, can't let it go like this
Racin' through the malls at Christmas time
Babylon got my mind on trip

December 25th ain't got a bit to do with Christ
Nor his birth, greedy devils give us pagan holidays
And profit off us givin' praise
Better days better be ahead, hear what I said
Third eye seekin' to destroy the mental chains on our enslaved brains
Cocaine be the aim, be the means of profit
But logically it tells me I'm goin' to jail or gettin' killed
Oh well, I gotta do what I gotta
Until the new day when I won't have to ask why I live this way

I don't know why I live this way
(Tell me why, please tell me why)
I don't know why I live this way
(Sometimes it gets so bad, got to get my hustle on)