[Intro] [beatboxing kick and snare, vocalized bassline] I say, I say, I say, I say, avoid the street life [vocalized brass-like stabs] I don't got time for it [vocalized brass-like stabs] I don't got time for it [vocalized brass-like stabs] [beatboxing fills, record scratch vocal effect] Avoid the street life [vocalized brass-like stabs] I don't got time for it [Verse 1] That's not where it's at, that's not where it's [vocalized synth blip] at That's not where it's at, that's not where it's [vocalized synth blip] at Not where it's at, it's not where it's at I don't got time to be all in that Tryna get my brothers out that life, for real Tryna get my brothers out that life, for real Tryna get my brothers out that life, for real Like what you need, what's the, what's the, what's the deal [Hook] Avoid the street life, it'll swallow you whole Take everything you built and take a toll on your soul I seen the block consume the brightest ones I know Watched 'em trade their futures for a hand they couldn't hold There's another road, another road Brother find your way, find another road Avoid the street life — I don't got time for it And neither do you, so let's get up out of it [Bridge] [heavy beatboxing, complex rhythmic patterns, vocalized bass] [rapid hi-hat vocalizations, lip rolls] [vocalized record scratch] [Verse 2] I came from the same blocks, same chalk on the ground Same mothers on the stoop prayin' nobody goes down Knew cats who had talent, hands built for more Than moving what they moved through them cracks in the door See the trap is designed to keep your mind in a box To have you grinding your life away just watching the clock But time is the one thing that they cannot replace Once it's gone it's gone — can't look it back in the face I watched my man choose wrong at seventeen years Now he's counting days inside, his mama counting tears That's the cost they don't show you when they hand you the game When the applause fades out, who's left to carry the pain So I'm speaking to my people who still standing outside You got options, you got purpose, you got reasons to decide The world is wide and it's waiting, it's got room for your name Just not the way they offering — that path leads to the same [Outro] [melodic vocal harmonies enter] I need you to know there is a way out of it There's a way to be about it [vocalized bass and beatboxing continue] Yeah
