I was born and raised in CABRINI GREEN,
I can go back to the days when I was a kid
makin’ mud pies around the buildin’.
Up until I got grown and witnessed many killings.
I seen the makin’ of life,
and the takin’ of life.
The adulterer husband
and the adulteress wife.
I seen a boy smarter than a historian,
become a valedictorian,
only to become a dope-fiend, I seen.
Everyday in my building the elevator don’t work,
and girls get their feelings hurt,
we only want what’s under the miniskirt.
Anyway, everyday I smell urine in the building hallway.
As I got older,
I heard more shots than a Vietnam soldier.
I been hit by cars, bats, bullets, and fists.
But I can’t quit,
because I’m addicted to this shit.
The pain I feel, the pain I inflict,
I get a real kick out of it.
I been shot at many times,
but very seldom hit or skent.
I can see my brother now
shot on the ground with his body bent.

In CABRINI I lost my brother,
best friends and just friends.
Through the years I shed so many tears.
But I had more happy ones than sad ones,
because I always pay back the bad ones.
In the hood where they
snap, fight, and smoke the pipe.
Get money while its sunny,
because we shooting all through the night.
I look up at the sky
and see those buildings standing tall.
I look up at the ceiling
and see roaches on the wall.
I looked and seen the wounded die
because the ambulance stall.
Waiting around for the police to get a call.

In CABRINI GREEN,
where the streets are mean,
infested with rats, roaches and dope-fiends,
funerals, burials and crime scenes.
If you want to make it out keep your nose clean.
and your eye on the cream dream.

In CABRINI GREEN
I seen my old girlfriend
she got seven kids now.
I remember she used to run around,
looking pretty with her colorful barrette.
She ain’t nothing now
but the average hoodrat.
Wearin’ weave, smoking weed,
and not takin’ heed.
For this is another year
she not going to bleed,
and already she have seven kids
she can barely feed.

School vacation is the only time
we ate breakfast made by our momma.
And when we eat free lunch
with everybody in the summer.
A choke-burger, potato chips, a milk or juice,
I grew up reading graffiti on the wall
not DR. SUESS.
That’s how I learn how to spell
bitch, hoe and shit,
fuck-you, pussy and dick.
Plus the words love, together, and forever.
That’s something I’ll never forget.

Sometimes I think back on this
and I feel better,
but sometimes I get pissed.
Why our young, black and gifted
got to go through this?

My mother did her best
to keep me innocent.
But how can I remain innocent,
when I’m constantly exposed to insolence,
incidents, and premeditated violence.
Plus, the profound sounds that surround
my life won’t let me enjoy the silence.
The profanity, shooting, and sirens.

It’s hard in the hood,
because the police think everybody is up to no good,
so, the innocent is often misunderstood.
Because their friends are dope-fiends,
dope dealers, killers, and called niggers.
So they are guilty by association.
What do the police expect,
neighbors not to hold a conversation?

I know I’m prone to doing wrong,
that’s why my criminal record is long.
But there are still some innocent people
in the place we call home.

In CABRINI GREEN,
where the streets are mean,
infested with rats,
roaches and dope-fiends,
funerals, burials and crime scenes.
Right now, in my head I can hear
the CABRINI cries and screams.

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