This Is Why We Ride

People always wanna know the reason for what they consider senseless violence in the hood.

I'ma break it down for you. This is why we ride.

And this is why we ride

And this is why we ride

I gotta say this clear, I gotta say this loud

I should've been dead, don't know how I'm here now

I should've been dead, damn it forty years ago

How the fuck did I survive? Something that I'll never know

I played the crack game, gang bang, guns

Motherfuckers told me I'd never see twenty one

I come from LA, deep in the heart of the hood

Every night the bullets fly, this shit ain't Hollywood

Could be your best friend, mother or brother dead

Cops can't do shit, these streets are blood red

So we leave the block and we load the guns

And we want revenge, until revenge comes

And this is why we ride

And this is why we ride

I made it out the hood, I got a great life

But them bullets fly every motherfucking night

Another kid dies every motherfucking night

Another mother cries every motherfucking night

Ghettoes of deep crack, made to never escape

A place to store the poor, made to never escape

They're all over the world, people go to die

Murders go unsolved, I understand why

They remove hope and then we sell dope

Pain in poverty has us at each other's throat

Families are broken and so we gangbang

A bit form of unity but most laws are never seen

And this is how we die

And this is why we ride

Oh man, coming up and surviving in the ghetto, the smallest argument goes from little drama to big drama. Next thing you know, somebody's dead. I don't think you can understand if you've never been in the streets and held your best friend in your arms, your child in your arms and watch them breathe their last breath because somebody shot them dead in the streets. You ain't thinking about calling the police. You want revenge. And you want it now. I gotta be honest with you. If somebody were to kill me, shoot me right now. My last words wouldn't be peace. It'd be "Get those motherfuckers!". (And this is why we ride). This song is dedicated to all of you who have lost somebody to street violence.

And this is why we ride

And this is how we die