Product of my Enviornment

Im just a product of my environment

still living off of my grandmother's prayers

I had to pretend I was tough

cause the lil boy in me was scared.

In my environment tap water

was the best thing to drink

police didn't like people in my environment

so when the sentenced us they hit us with everything but the kitchen sink.

Around here growing up

it was the streets and God's grace is what made us,

and after looking death in the face so many times

we see how it was the favor on our lives that saved us

In my environment

trouble was waiting for us everyday,

we ended up takin risk cause we knew

that satan was waitin in the same way.

In my environment we grew up goin to prison

before we went to college

and the warning signs that told us to sit down

and knowing our purpose is what we failed to acknowledge

The cemetery is screaming for us to slow down

cause there's blood on the streets in my environment,

we was born to lose and die early

cause we took our lives and signed it over to satan on consignment..

Children separated from their mothers

that took love out the home where it belongs,

fathers being recycled thru the prison system

from an environment where the streets is a war zone

In my environment ain't nobody getting old anymore

cause they out here dying young

it don't matter if you killin or getting killed

either way a mother is still losing her son

In my environment you can see

people and circumstances where prayer works,

especially the ones lost out here

who ain't never seen the inside of a church.

In my environment we gonna get it in

spread some love and put a smile on somebodies face,

they wanna be loved cause they've been hated for so long

and they feel they have no more time to waste

my environment some of us were raised d governmeant cheese sandwiches

that fed us better than a full course meal

my mama told us that love isn't what you tell someone

love is what you make someone feel

In my environment I'm surrounded by people who look just like me

a criminal record and tattoos

that's because some of us were followers

and too afraid to wall in our own shoes

There's a lotta love in my environment

people raising kids and paying bills

where life is fragile and our pain is heavy

but we praise a God thats real.

I love the people in my environment

but we need to know and understand why they hate us,

cause we've got this beautiful black skin

a significant trademark of how God made us.

In my environment dudes standin in the rain to hustle

a 15 yr old is just tryin to make it to see 16

we try to encourage them to be blessed

but some of em don't even know what that means.

In my environment you better treat everybody an angel

cause you never know when God gonna show up

in my environment there's some grown out here

with lil boys in them who still needs to grow up.