School of Hard Knocks

You claim you're still bitter
but I got the raw end of the deal

[ VERSE 1: Hardhead ]
I heard the expression 'a dog is a man's best friend'
But I grew up thinkin it was a woman
But I had to learn the hard way
Never thought I'd see the day I'd be sleepin on the subway
But that's the path she chose
The next day I arose still kickin the same clothes
I had to make a decision
Even though I lost her my friends still gave me recognition
Bein recognized by the guys
Wasn't a surprise, you see, cause they're my homies
And with them I get nuff respect (nuff respect)
When I was down they were there
When I didn't have, they were more than happy to share
Inside I feel the pains trapped
I don't feel she dissed me but I feel I got a bum rap
The guys knew what I was thinkin of
The only thing to cure an old love was a new love

A ghetto love

[ VERSE 2: Hardhead ]
It's 3 o'clock, I'm hungry and I'm cold
I want to call her but she's even changed area codes
Was it that bad, what I did?
To hell with it, I go to my man's crib
Oh, his name is Bezo
The type of power only friendship could bestow
I ring his bell and he's alarmed
And I'm greeted in with open arms
The next day, a different routine
I'm caught drinkin on a public scene
I'm callin my homies to come get me
Cause I know down they never let me
Free as a bird, once again I'm chillin
My homies ain't rich, but to me they're top-billin
Over, over again they've proven
Not even a jail cell can separate a real friend
It seems that our love as a crew gets better and better
We stick as a posse like a stamp to a letter
What's theirs is mines, what's mines is theirs
Cause in this ghetto love game we play fair
I'm unspoiled by success
Even though God's blessed they're still not impressed
The way they once treated me they still treat me
It's nothin different now cause I'm makin a little money
Like when we hang, rumbles still continue
Puttin heads out is still on our menu
We'll go to war in a heartbeat
And I never went to war and they ran out and left me
We're all about one for all and all for one
And if it's more than one you better have more than one gun
The only sleep that outlasts love is death
And we'll hang until one of us takes the last breath
How close can a clan of man be?
That one partner's pain is his posse's mysery?
We say they come a dime a dozen
But I've been turned on by my own so-called cousins
Is the blood we shed really thicker than water?
If it is, then maybe you oughta

Witness
A ghetto love

I'ma always have my homies
They gon' see me in the cold, or hunger
or just out there driftin, whatever
All my homies around the way in the South Bronx
Jason, Shawn, my man Jim-Jim, the whole posse
Those who I miss, you know who you are
[Name], Bezo, Lucky
The official crew, y'all know
The same crew that always goes through
the rain and the shine

Peace