Yeah
I take y'all way back

[VERSE 1: Big Mike]
Seven years old, I'm lookin up to the gangsters in the hood
'Cause to me and my cousins, yeah, they represented good
Even when we played cops and robbers on the block
Nobody wanted to play the cop, dig it
'Cause playing the cop wasn't a lick
And if you played the cop, fool, you got dealt with
I was a curious child
I used to hang out by the ballroom and study the gangster style
The way they talk, the way they walk, the way they act
The way they wore that gangster hat
Tilted, brim laid flat out
Now that's what I'm talkin' about
Yeah, cigarette in one hand, drink in the other
Leanin' to one side, cooler than a mother
With them old school nicknames
Gillie Boy, Pokey, Big Joe, Goldie, and Lil Lane
Yeah, true mack daddies
Got his girl on his side, drivin' a '73 Caddy
With a chrome-plated .357
Ready to send you climbing on a stairwell to heaven
I was fascinated
Yeah, I let 'em influence me, and my momma hate it
But she still gave me love
Cause my momma understood that it was in my blood
See, it was a cycle
And in a few mo' years she wouldn't have to worry about her Michael
Cause I'll be makin' my own decisions
Yeah, comin' up fast, clockin' cash, straight gangsterism
[VERSE 2: Big Mike]
Now it's '93
I got a name for myself
Made a little wealth, played the cards I was dealt
Didn't go for self, now I'm a G
And damn it feels good, 'cause everybody know me
Homies in the hood all got love
'Cause they saw me raise up from nothing but a scrub
And hoes that I know
From way back befo'
They used to say no
All wanna go
To the hotel 'cause they claim that they interested
And everybody talkin' about the shit that they wish they did
But I surpassed all that
They used to want to know if I was down, now they don't ask all that
'Cause they believin' what they seein'
A young brother comin' up fast, yeah, straight G

[VERSE 3: 3-2]
Sittin' back as a youngster, peepin' out my folks
Some were straight Gs and some went out smokin' dope
I had to cope with it, be a man and stay strong
Even though some folks didn't think that I'd live long
I watched grandpa shoot dice at the liquor sto'
Hittin' licks in the dough on Ju Man and Big Joe
Walkin' out the do' with a gallon of Jack
With them big old buds cause back then there wasn't no crack
And matter fact, to this day
I'm doin' things like grandpa in every way
I got my hustle on, loc, I ain't frontin'
Just a young fool in this world trying to have somethin'
Yeah, that's the environment I know
That's how I was raised and that's how I'm a go
I don't know, will I ever be a cell mate
But I do know I'm never goin' straight
Gangstaism
[Verse 4: Scarface]

I wore my trench coat in school with my gangster hat
This is old school game, now where the gangsters at
Bumping Parliament on my eight-track
Or Marvin Gaye's Greatest Hits for the gangster tracks
My pops made licks so he brought me weed
I follow right behind him with my parsley seeds
I've been around the game since the age of eight
I had to get it on 'cause there's money to make
Yo, I hit a lick back in 89
I guess the art of making money must've stayed in mind
Yo, 'cause I just couldn't stop it
So everything I'm buying now, I'm buying now to make a larger profit
And you can squash that broke situation
'Cause big time hustling, is my everyday occupation
Early to bed and early to rise
I'm money hungry, yo, and you can see it my eyes
I heard them say all money ain't good, mane
But I don't see like that, it all spend the same
But sometimes I gotta get what I ain't getttog
So I come to this
Straight Gangsterism