The Night Before

Now some claim gangsta rap's the CNN of the streets

But it's used as an excuse to pretend over beats

So I'ma lend my speech to all within my reach

To tell what really goes on from cells to the streets

Now in LA as you know there's a war going on

And it's been going on since before I was born

Though the undisputed origin has yet to be formed

It all used to boil down to the red and the blue

But that got f**ked up as the many led the few

Now there's bloods killin' bloods and crips killin' crips

That's niggas killin' niggas they play kickball with

It ain't as simple as it was way back in '86

Let me give an example of some ol' MURS shit

My sect of mid-city is livin' on the edge

'cause there's four gangs at war and none of them wear red

Any new car or face could mean bloodshed

Which led to the other night, I'm in my girl's Bug, right

I'm bout to hit the block to see who's chillin' on the spot outside

When I put it in park, the homey got a SK aimed at my ride

So I step out slowly, 'body no one fear

He yells, that's Murs I see his beard from here

But I told this whole story just to make things clear

So it don't seem weird when I tell ya this here

Last night I almost got shot on my block

Not the block where I live at, the block where I chill at

Where I keep it real at, and used to pack steel

At times I feel it's the spot I'll get killed at

Now in the entertainment industry they have sweeps weeks

But it's Thursday in my hood when they sweep them streets

A whole fleet of the task that they simply call CRASH

That's Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums

If anyone should ask what the acronym reflects

Put into effect to try to keep the gangs in check

Now they're just another gang out bangin' they set

Known for stirring up some shit when your hood is at peace

The only pig I know dying to create beef

But let me get on with my story so that all of y'all can peep

Once again I'm on my block right, known as Cloverdale

Playin' 2K2 while I'm talkin' on my cell well

While I'm inside eyes glued to the screen

CRASH rolls on my homies with the Thursday routine

What's your name, where you goin', where you been, where you from

We say the same thing while they just play dumb

We don't gang-bang we got J-O-B's

Still they make 'em turn around and get down on they knees

Me, I'm screamin' in the house I just won by three

So when I run out on the porch to tell the homies come and see

I see 'em on the ground and I'm like, god damn

Plus I got this black Nextel phone in my hand

They both yell freeze, guns aimed at me

And even though I drop my phone it's plain to see

It was a 2 month tour that ended in Japan

So the first day back I had to spend it with my fam

That night I was goin' down to holler at my folks

Have a few beers, smoke, and share a few jokes so

To the block I bail but when I got to the dale

Everybody's on the porch lookin' distraught as hell

They start to tell me on how some fools from the other side

just tried to kill T, he don't f**k with nobody

Just be mindin' his biz

So you have to understand what an explosive situation this Terry thing is

My nigga never gang-banged a day in his life so

Fuckin' with him is not a way to earn stripes

But a way to get wiped off the motherf**kin' planet

I don't claim to be a killer with a heart made of granite

But try to kill my best friend and it's on goddammit

I had the big homey roll me over to my place

So I could pick up this nine I kept just in case

of some shit like this, a box of hollow-tips

I slipped back to the block with the heat in my hand

We sat up in the house loadin' guns, makin' plans

They asked me was it stolen, and why I never told 'em

Nobody in the hood ever knew that I was holdin'

I told 'em I forgot but I did it on purpose

So they wouldn't ask to borrow it to go and do dirt with

Now we locked and loaded and about to hit the streets

When we look to the corner there's a Jeep tryin' to creep

With its headlights off, we all leap for cover

They start to let off – now how does this sound?

When I hit the deck, my pistol hits the ground

So the homey picked it up and let off a couple rounds

After that went down I knew I might get clowned

So I shook to the crib to take a shower and lay down

The next morning woke up, rolled out of bed

I called my girl up and this is what I said