Intro Yeah This for the boys in da hood This for the ones lost to the streets This for the truth nobody wanna say all the way through Verse 1 They act like the hood just grew there on its own Like death just showed up and made itself a home Like nobody packed us in them corners and left Like nobody cut the schools and filled the blocks with death Like the war on crime was not a war on us Like the war on drugs ain’t tighten all the cuffs Like fathers disappearing happened all by chance Nah, this was policy, pressure, fear, and plans They took a wounded child and threw him in survival Made pain feel normal, made the streets feel tribal Made murder feel close, made prison feel near Made trauma feel regular all through the years And then they point fingers at the mess they made At the guns, at the gangs, at the early graves But boys in da hood ain’t wake up asking for this truth They was born in the fire before they had a voice to use Hook We ain’t choose this pain We ain’t make these chains Boys in da hood born in fire, still blamed for the flames Now open your eyes to the truth of today Verse 2 But let’s tell the whole truth, not just half of it The damage got inside and now we act in it Now boys in da hood kill boys in da hood Sell poison to they own and call the hustle good Now gangs raise sons where fathers should Now pain turn cold and get misunderstood Now brothers die young over blocks and pride And little kids grow up with revenge inside Yeah, the drugs real Yeah, the killings real Yeah, the street life got a hold and the pressure builds Yeah, some of us got lost and became what hurt us Started living like destruction was the only purpose That don’t erase the system or how the trap got built But we still gotta face the blood and guilt Cause if we never name the darkness in the way we move Then the same dead cycle keep recruiting youth Hook We ain’t choose this pain We ain’t make these chains Boys in da hood born in fire, still blamed for the flames Now open your eyes to the truth of today It ain’t more hate It ain’t more chains It’s fathers that stay It’s men that leed It’s books, not bullets It’s healing what bleed It’s putting down pride when it’s killing your own It’s building up wealth so the babies got home It’s telling that boy he ain’t weak when he cry It’s teaching him how to live, not just how to survive [Outro] Tell the son don’t inherit every wound as law
