You wanna know what it's like to be me now

I've been grindin and hustlin up in the U Town

People think they know me, but ain't down

Callin me a fake a phony like I should stop now

I'm a take ya back to '83

Before you ever knew the C-I-D-E or knew me

Before my dad left, before we moved to my Nonna's

Before my brother was born and then my family was goners

I'm a let you in, a bit of family history

My grandparents came over getting called WOP's and guineas

They call us daygo's, cause they always just hate those

People lookin different than the ones in plain clothes

Immigrants in this they found themselves on Ellis island

To start a new life and you could see it inside em

Just like everyone does when they come to America

But you see the American dream is all that they sellin ya

Make the best of it and I know that they did

Because I'm really proud to know of my Italian heritage

And rappers capitalize on the mafia trend

But if you knew the mafia men you'd never rap again

You wanna know what it's like to be me now

I've been grindin and hustlin up in the U Town

People think they know me, but ain't down

Callin me a fake a phony like I should stop now

We're a product of the 80's drivin my mother crazy

Me and my brother Nicholas Alexander, baby!

I hadda dream when I was young to be a frontman in the limelight

Always performnin at family functions, the time's right

I didn't care of I was good or I sucked

Because the thing that really matters is that I would grow up

But then in high school, where fat kids are not cool

I met a bunch of dudes and I joined they group

I guess the tru inspiration is all these bands that I'm playin

I love it all but Green Day's always been in heavy rotation

I'm bumpin, Kid Rock, ICP, Twiztid, and Blaze

Tech N9ne, C-Murder, Master P, No Limit for days

I got the ground work, then I started talkin to people

I'm gonna make this thing happen or I'll die tryin we'll

Be the first to break out, I'm lovin it no doubt

And it's time something happened cuz it's been 10 years now

You wanna know what it's like to be me now

I've been grindin and hustlin up in the U Town

People think they know me, but ain't down

Callin me a fake a phony like I should stop now

I do this for a greater power, not just myself

Look at the underlying message of the song that you felt

I speak of free speech, while you other rappers on these streets

I love America the beautiful in poverty

You say I can't make a change because I swear to much

But I gotta be explicit now to get my point across

If you don't understand, then this just isn't for you

You shoulda never bought the CD in the first place dude

This is every emotion, this is all of my thoughts

This is how magic happens and I will show you it all

From the pen to the pad, from the pad to your head

From your head to the microphone and something is said

It ain't gotta be much like what just ruined your day

You could put it in a rhyme and everything'll be great

I hate the fact that people tell you what you can and can't do

But they hate you even more when you speakin the truth

You wanna know what it's like to be me now

I've been grindin and hustlin up in the U Town

People think they know me, but ain't down

Callin me a fake a phony like I should stop now