Just Beginning (Where I'm From) - The Game

Sometimes I wonder

Man, how long is it gon' be for my people to come out?

Man we strugglin, it’s hard sometimes, but

Tomorrow’s better than yesterday, uhh

I was born in the slums, struggled from day one

Ray Charles vision, blinded by the light from the sun

No navigation, no sense of direction, darker complexion

Made it hard to live;

dad, how you fathered your kids?

Stranded on the highway of life, left us out to die, left us out to dry

Shhhh, I’m still hearin' my mother’s cries nigga

No father figures make harder niggas

Through the years I went to war with niggas from what I saw in the pictures

Now your son is bigger, thirteen, but just like you

Moms said I would grow up and be just like you

From what you did to my sister she disliked you

Sixteen, eleventh grade, look at me just like you

Gunnin' for riches, runnin' hoppin' project fences

Street corners to Arizona, how I earn my digits

And I’m far from finished, gamin' 'til my coffin diminish

Why pray for the afterlife when mine’s just beginnin', huh

…Promised Land…

…Promised Land…

Only son by a mother, no brothers, only sisters by this one

Every time I kiss one I miss one, let me explain

Eight years before The Game, everything came with pain

Watch the fate of my family slain, would never see good times a-gayn

Cursed with pain by a nigga with no shame

My father bear the same name as his father, my grandfather

Wouldn’t believe, he pulled up our family tree

I can see him rolling over in his coffin

I’m left with often, thoughts of how could you molest your daughter?

They say that’s ten times worse than manslaughter

Man you oughta, be dead in a grave

But it wasn’t my call, so instead you sat in a cage

High-powered, two-hundred and fifty pound, six-five coward

Woulda been dead in an hour

Heard you was scared to take a shower, scared of the yard

Your end is near, you shoulda been scared of God, motherfucker

(All my niggas listen, huh)

I stay a step ahead of the rest of y’all

Why I gotta keep a vest for y’all

Though I made it dog, I still stress for y’all

Funny how my folks think rap money stretch so far

Pray to God my niggas see through all the checks and the cars

I’m tryin to invest in what’s ours, gimme a couple of years dog

I’ll turn your tears, stress, and your scars

Into lawn chairs and green grass in your yard

I’m tryin' to watch my kids wrestlin' y’alls

Not have to get 'em ready for school and strap a vest on 'em all

I know sometimes it get hard

Keep your head up mami, reach for the stars

Having a child is like a blessing from God

You just gotta work hard, can’t let your youngest star strip in that bar

I feel your pain, this shit is ripping my heart

But where and when do we start, listen to the voice in back of my mind

Can’t reach all my women so I attack it in rhyme

I know what you’re feelin', I’m wiping your tears ma, it could happen in time

For now I take your tear, strife, suffering, imagine it mine, huh