… So, so you think you can tell Heaven from hell? Blue skies from pain? Can you tell a green field from a cold steel rail? A smile from a veil? Do you think you can tell?
… Did they get you to trade your heroes for ghosts? Hot ashes for trees? Hot air for a cool breeze? Cold comfort for change? Did you exchange A walk-on part in the war for a lead role in a cage?
… How I wish, how I wish you were here We're just two lost souls swimming in a fishbowl, year after year Runnin' over the same old ground, what have we found? The same old fears, wish you were here ============================== As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I take a look at my life and realize there's nothin' left 'Cause I've been blastin' and laughin' so long that Even my momma thinks that my mind is gone But I ain't never crossed a man that didn't deserve it Me be treated like a punk, you know that's unheard of You better watch how you talkin' and where you walkin' Or you and your homies might be lined in chalk I really hate to trip, but I gotta loc As they croak, I see myself in the pistol smoke Fool, I'm the kinda G the little homies wanna be like On my knees in the night, sayin' prayers in the streetlight
Been spendin' most their lives Livin' in a gangsta's paradise Been spendin' most their lives Livin' in a gangsta's paradise Keep spendin' most our lives Livin' in a gangsta's paradise Keep spendin' most our lives Livin' in a gangsta's paradise
Look at the situation they got me facing I can't live a normal life, I was raised by the street So I gotta be down with the hood team Too much television watchin', got me chasing dreams I'm a educated fool with money on my mind Got my ten in my hand and a gleam in my eye I'm a loc'd out gangsta, set trippin' banger And my homies is down, so don't arouse my anger Fool, death ain't nothin' but a heart beat away I'm livin' life do or die, what can I say? I'm 23 now but will I live to see 24? The way things is going I don't know
Tell me why are we so blind to see That the ones we hurt are you and me?
Been spendin' most their lives Livin' in a gangsta's paradise Been spendin' most their lives Livin' in a gangsta's paradise Keep spendin' most our lives Livin' in a gangsta's paradise Keep spendin' most our lives Livin' in a gangsta's paradise
Power and the money, money and the power Minute after minute, hour after hour Everybody's runnin', but half of them ain't lookin' It's going on in the kitchen, but I don't know what's cookin' They say I gotta learn, but nobody's here to teach me If they can't understand it, how can they reach me? I guess they can't, I guess they won't I guess they front, that's why I know my life is out of luck, fool
Been spendin' most their lives Livin' in a gangsta's paradise Been spendin' most their lives Livin' in a gangsta's paradise Keep spendin' most our lives Livin' in a gangsta's paradise Keep spendin' most our lives Livin' in a gangsta's paradise