Survival of the Fittest

Yeah, I'm sendin' this one out to my evolutionary psychology people Yeah, David Buss, Cosmides and Tooby, yeah Geoffrey Miller Yeah, we livin' this 'til the day that we die Survival of the fit, only the strong survive There's a war goin' on outside no man is safe from You can run but you can't hide forever If you come to my block, you'll see some territoriality A place where kill or be killed is the mentality But get it straight, it's just a necessary strategy You gotta play the hand you're dealt; you can't magically Escape from the habitat that you was born in Three homicides in my neighbourhood this mornin' Cops came and kicked the crooked door in, with no warnin' And started roughin' up my young cousin She's only seventeen and got a bun in the oven Plus a concussion, but she ain't done nothin' So keep your mouth shut and don't jump to judgment On the lives we're livin' – just close your eyes and listen While I break down some homicide statistics So if you're thinkin' the criminal mind is just vacant You're mistaken, this is calculated risk takin' We're livin' in a situation with a low Life-expectancy, and a major discrepancy Between the haves and the have-nots, and you wonder Why the padlock on every cash box is smashed off C'mon, you can't call it "pathological" Nah, that's illogical; you can try to understand it But you can't stop it though, not unless you address The root causes, the conscious and unconscious Decisions to discount future prospects C'mon, it's obvious – the beat keeps bouncing The homicide rate keeps mounting, which leads To steep discounting, and a lot of violence But it's not a virus; it's a rational response To high risk environments and short time horizons With high stakes and highly visible prizes And you wonder why we're criminal-minded Hey, you can't say we'll get satisfaction if we're patient With self-control and delayed gratification When the only job that pays is casket-makin' And death is the ultimate plan cancellation So check the facts and recent data releasin' You'll see a pattern of increasin' competition A bunch of young guys all stugglin' and status seekin' And causin' the crimes that make the social fabric weaken And life expectancy also predicts teen pregnancy The need to leave a legacy genetically Will never be completely controlled contraceptively Yeah, that's transparent – imagine if your kids Would never meet their grandparents, unless you followed The Bristol Palin plan for parenthood And then they say, "Ooh, these young girls are so damn careless Getting' pregnant before marriage; it's such a tragedy" Apparently it's also a reproductive strategy, Especially when you can see them adjusting actively When their circumstances change; in both the cases Of the young ladies with babies and the male risk-takers You see people adapting to their situations And it's the same in different places and with different races This is not about ethical justifications It's evolutionary psych, and it's just the basics And still people call this behaviour "maladaptive" Because of our reaction when violence happens But if we really want to change the outcome Then maybe we should just start questioning how it's adaptive And the bottom line is that inequity and life Expectancy are the ultimate causes of crime And the results of crime; to me that's true The two combine together in a feedback loop But I got some moves to make, so I'll be back soon Just don't ask me what I'm about to do 'Cause I can't say, so it's left to untold fact Until my death, my ghost will stay alive Survival of the fit, only the strong survive That's right, we livin' this 'til the day that we die Survival of the fit, only the strong survive Yeah, we livin' this 'til the day that we die Survival of the fit, only the strong survive That's right, we livin' this 'til the day that we die Survival of the fit, only the strong survive Yeah, we livin' this 'til the day that we die Survival of the fit, only the strong survive That's right, we livin' this 'til the day that we die Survival of the fit, only the strong Only the strong Only the strong Only the strong Yeah, sendin' this out to all my evolutionary psychologists Daly and Wilson, Steven Pinker, Robert Wright, yeah David Sloan Wilson, yeah that's right, gather the evidence Make it real, make it real. Human mentality represent Yeah, this is human nature – human nature to the core I'm a get mine, and you get yours. Don't question my actions Unless you're ready to make a little addition, before I make a subtraction End you up in traction. That's right, I love scrappin' Peace