I grew up around dope fiends and dust heads;
I’m from where the hearts are cold and the eyes are blood red.
Where the clouds were black and the garden was bloodshed.
I’m from where children were sent to corner stores to get a dollar worth of cold cuts – “make they’re sliced thin”.
I grew up in an era when you abided by the credo “snitching is a sin.”
I grew up where they found a body over here and a head over there;
but hands and feet were neither here nor there.
I’m from where the average household income was less than ten thousand;
I grew up in an era when the police were afraid to police public housing.
Where the church preyed on those that prayed through the bible.
I’m from where there’s only one rule in the jungle – SURVIVAL.
–@StevieStreets | from THE CRACK ERA COLLECTION: Survival
steviestreets.wordpress.com 