[Chorus]
~#**************#~
When you grow up in my hood
~#**************#~
Help dont show up in my hood
~#**************#~
Gang signs go up in my hood, just cause you in my hood
~#**************#~
Feel like Im trapped in my hood
~#**************#~
Young kids get clapped in my hood
~#**************#~
Thats why Im strapped in my hood, just cause you in my hood
~#**************#~
In my hood, in my hood, in my hood
~#**************#~
[Verse 1: Fabolous]
~#**************#~
Im always close to
~#**************#~
Feeling like a corner stander
~#**************#~
Stoop sitter or hallway post-er
~#**************#~
No matter where I go its always ‘posed to
~#**************#~
Feel just like its (in my hood)
~#**************#~
Cops drive in it every five minutes
~#**************#~
Look at your faces, pat your waist-es
~#**************#~
Try to find the stash where the gats and base is
~#**************#~
I cant say that they racist
~#**************#~
But I know it aint the same in they town
~#**************#~
And as fucked up as it may sound (in my hood)
~#**************#~
Its two ways to make it happen off the streets
~#**************#~
Balling on the courts or rapping off the beats
~#**************#~
You hear the shells tappin off the ‘crete
~#**************#~
When they clappin off the heat
~#**************#~
Then the yellow tapes trappin off the street
~#**************#~
But thats the way we was raised
~#**************#~
Praying to God, hoping that he keep us out the way of them strays
~#**************#~
[Chorus]
~#**************#~
When you grow up in my hood
~#**************#~
Help dont show up in my hood
~#**************#~
Gang signs go up in my hood, just cause you in my hood
~#**************#~
Feel like Im trapped in my hood
~#**************#~
Young kids get clapped in my hood
~#**************#~
Thats why Im strapped in my hood, just cause you in my hood
~#**************#~
In my hood, in my hood, in my hood
~#**************#~
[Verse 2: Fabolous]
~#**************#~
They drink til the cups dry, eat til the plates clean
~#**************#~
Niggas be in state greens ‘fore they turn 18
~#**************#~
‘Round here you never let the beef slide twice
~#**************#~
Everybody raised on four wings and beef fried rice
~#**************#~
Them mothers are getting younger today
~#**************#~
Got one by the hand, one in the stroller and one on the way
~#**************#~
We dont have role models (nah)
~#**************#~
But we got them handguns that hold hollows (in my hood)
~#**************#~
Aint no diplomas or degrees
~#**************#~
But you can get high from the aroma of the trees (in my hood)
~#**************#~
I know it like navigation, and fuck having patience
~#**************#~
Ima get mine, you better get yours
~#**************#~
‘Cause everyday is a struggle
~#**************#~
And One-Time ride through everyday just to bug you
~#**************#~
Thats how it is, cause your rights be wrong
~#**************#~
And everybody got a white tee on, when youre in my hood
~#**************#~
[Chorus]
~#**************#~
When you grow up in my hood
~#**************#~
Help dont show up in my hood
~#**************#~
Gang signs go up in my hood, just cause you in my hood
~#**************#~
Feel like Im trapped in my hood
~#**************#~
Young kids get clapped in my hood
~#**************#~
Thats why Im strapped in my hood, just cause you in my hood
~#**************#~
In my hood, in my hood, in my hood
~#**************#~
[Verse 3: Fabolous]
~#**************#~
We try to make the most of what we got
~#**************#~
You either been hit, or been close to gettin shot (in my hood)
~#**************#~
Any nigga that boast be getting got
~#**************#~
And dopeheads fiend to get a dose of what we got
~#**************#~
And young niggas be like they slow
~#**************#~
But you give them a blunt, bet they roll the weed like a pro
~#**************#~
If you trick its not a problem to get you laid
~#**************#~
But if you stick without a condom, it gets you AIDS
~#**************#~
No Sesame Street, kids, watch BET
~#**************#~
Look up to niggas that dont got a GED
~#**************#~
I know a dude with the deadbeat tag
~#**************#~
Kids dont got diapers but he ridin in the red G-Wag
~#**************#~
In the hood, you and your beef is sure to bump heads
~#**************#~
And everybody grew up sleepin on a bunk bed
~#**************#~
They telling me to vote and I would
~#**************#~
If it made a change in my hood, muhfucka
~#**************#~
[Chorus]
~#**************#~
When you grow up in my hood
~#**************#~
Help dont show up in my hood
~#**************#~
Gang signs go up in my hood, just cause you in my hood
~#**************#~
Feel like Im trapped in my hood
~#**************#~
Young kids get clapped in my hood
~#**************#~
Thats why Im strapped in my hood, just cause you in my hood
~#**************#~
In my hood, in my hood, in my hood
~#**************#~
[Outro]
~#**************#~
Ayy, my nigga (whats hood, man?)
~#**************#~
I got a special love for the hood, yknow (ayy, feel me like)
~#**************#~
This is comin from a nigga
~#**************#~
Who came from splittin heroes (uh-huh)
~#**************#~
To gettin checks with six zeros (yeah)
~#**************#~
And like for real (like for real)
~#**************#~
I cant even see whats really hood no more, man, with these niggas, man
~#**************#~
(I dont know, I dont know, maybe its me, I dont know)
~#**************#~
Like, for real, like
~#**************#~
Its one thing to be from the hood (yeah)
~#**************#~
And its another thing to be for the hood (uh-huh)
~#**************#~
A lot of these niggas is from the hood (dont let em fool ya, yall)
~#**************#~
But they aint for the hood (you see em)
~#**************#~
I guess Im a different type of nigga, yknow? (guess so)
~#**************#~
Im from the hood, and Im for the hood too
~#**************#~
Like, for real
