Born 2 Live

Like the Dead End Kids, we used to play in the streets
Never worrying about grief, football spelled relief
Ronnie Ritney was the coach for us
See, he taught us to play almost every single day, okay
Now on Evergreen was Larry and Mike and Lon
My cousin Boo lived there too, just to name a few
And Shi-rone, he’s bad to the bone, Boo’s little sidekick
And a badass mouth, we used to fights
On Harman Street, was Zach, Leo and Ed
Me, Jody and Boo by June, Rocky
And then comes Tommy and Cedric
Lamont and Greg, unique in our own right
At times we’d fight, but that’s aight
Still, not realizing we had love, it showed when we played
No phony charades
Against one another, now, while I write this song
It’s like some are still alive and a couple are gone

We’re born to live a life and die
Life’s so damn short, man, I wonder why
We’re born to live a life and die
Life’s so damn short, man, I wonder why
We’re born to live a life and die
Life’s so damn short, man, I wonder why
We’re born to live a life and die
Life’s so damn short, man, I wonder why
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As kids, you’re overlooking death
It didn’t seem important or serious, it just seems curious
It was about waking to a bowl of cereal
Cartoons on Saturdays, karate flicks, and like
Riding your skateboard or bicycle
It went as deep as Killer Joe on the corner drinking Ripple, plus
Puerto Rican kids on the block were cool, we got along
We all knew right from wrong
By far, we got a dose that life was hard
A Spanish kid we were close with was killed by a car
Shocking, Alberto was hit on the block, and
Death was spontaneous, his moms was clocking him
Cross the street, he just received an award
For Little League Baseball like a hour before
Plus – he didn’t even get to see the summer set in
Dying all young at the age of seven
It opened up my eyes more that the flesh was weak
As a kid, thinking shit like that was mad deep
Peep it

We’re born to live a life and die
Life’s so damn short, man, I wonder why
We’re born to live a life and die
Life’s so damn short, man, I wonder why
We’re born to live a life and die
Life’s so damn short, man, I wonder why
We’re born to live a life and die
Life’s so damn short, man, I wonder why

Now, when somebody is gone, that’s when you realize how close you was
How close you are – like a scar
Real deep, it takes time to heal
And, still, from time to time, you wish you could find the way to forgive
And let ‘em know you forgave
But they can’t feel six feet deep inside the grave
What’s left but attend his wake?
Believing if it was you, he’d do it for old time’s sake
Damn, I'm disturbed by the news when I was told, I was sitting
Knowing damn well Boo ain’t bullshitting
My life, flashed like big bills of cash, and good times we had
Now it’s all so sad
One of my childhood pals hit the road
When you take to the streets, then you die by the code
But in this case, who knows what went down?
Bottom line is wishing that he still was around
Now, he found a spot in my heart, or should I say lobotomy
Mike, yo, you’re trapped inside of me
And every other brother in Bushwick who rushed to your side thick
All down with the clique
Yeah, God bless, he laid to rest
Called him Mike Boogie, that’s what describes the nigga best

We’re born to live a life and die
Life’s so damn short, man, I wonder why
We’re born to live a life and die
Life’s so damn short, man, I wonder why
We’re born to live a life and die
Life’s so damn short, man, I wonder why
We’re born to live a life and die
Life’s so damn short, man, I wonder why

We’re born to live
We’re born to live
We’re born to live
We’re born to live

Like that, y’all, like that, y’all