Been Through the Storm (feat. Stevie Wonder)

Been through the storm, through the cold and rain

Everything's still the same

Can't control how I feel

Sometimes it's hard to keep real

You see the luxuries in life, with the fortune and fame

Like them Cadillacs with sunroofs, man

So many ways to make a dollar

Huh, sometimes I think about my father

You see my poppa was broke, and my momma was  young

Trying to blend in with them city folk

Every day landlord knocking down my door

Wondering where my next blessing is coming from

My momma and poppa, moved to the U.S. as Jamaicans

Struggled to get visas and green cards through immigration

Though my pop was poor, stayed away from crime and malice

Hard living gave him hard hands and callous

As a youngin', peep how much they loved each other's space

His hard hands rubbing against the pretty skin of my mother's face

Dig for treasure till his hands looked like hands of a junkie

So coarse, slap a mule and take the life from a donkey

On the other hand, mommy was the type to work two jobs

Never enough money, thats why I got your whole crew robbed

Got older, developed ways of gripping the steel

Barely home for me to see her, or get a good cooked meal

Seek refuge in the alleged land of the free, looking

Blending in with the city folk, down in Flat-bush Brooklyn

Feel a little of my pain, follow and sing to it

Homie I've seen it all, if you ain't knowing I've been through it

In other words I

Been through the storm, through the cold and rain

Everything's still the same

Can't control how I feel

Sometimes it's hard to keep real

You see the luxuries in life, with the fortune and fame

Like them Cadillacs with sunroofs, man

So many ways to make a dollar

Huh, sometimes I think about my father

You see my poppa was broke, and my momma was young

Trying to blend in with them city folk

Every day landlord knocking down my door

Wondering where my next blessing is coming from

Got a little older, late teens, me and my crew would huddle

On the corner, late nights, plotting to escape struggle

Nights got cold and still would hustle in the same place

In front of Pancho Delis, now the freeze up on a ****'s face

1987, Reaganomics ever curious

To visit other cities, out of town kick was serious

Guyanese jeans bounce, put whatever slinger on

Whatever slinger came back, quickly brought me right along

**** ran away from home doing different wild shit

Just to put a pair of Filas on, 'didas on

Wreck is all for the good, getting into shit

Like we innocent, actin' older than we should

Walk around broke in the hood

Watchin' all the rich ****

These younger thugs who try to choke to try to get ****

Thinkin' 'bout my mom and pop, while I'm monopolizing

To hell with just getting by and economizing

It's kinda hard being humble in the belly of struggle

Doing things that probably get you in trouble

That's why we stay up on the block

Getting money while we keeping it safe

In front of church-goers keeping the faith

Mom and pop be worrying for they son

Despite they struggle and their honest living

Look and see just what I've become

A scavenger, in brute pursuit to be happy, another young'n thats wild'n

Across the line until somebody trying to cap me, oh shit

I've been through the storm

Through the cold and rain

Everything's still the same

Can't control how I feel

Sometimes it's hard to keep real

Yeah