Only the Strong Survive

On the microphone in 1993

Short Dawg made me

And he don't stop to the beat

Nothing but a menace to society

I always heard that you gotta be strong if you wanna survive

Get your diploma, go to college, get a nine to five

Every year, you're makin' 30

Gs a popWorkin', see, and you're tied to the white man's jock

Movin' out of the ghetto 'cause it troubles you

Makin' payments on a

BMWI know you never would settle for the minimum snaps

And have to live in the ghetto where the blacks be at

And send your kids to a school that don't really teach

How could

I care about a college degree?

You think

I wanna get cha

Take you to the motel and straight get richer

You must be crazy, smokin' that chronic

I take you to the motel and then put my rubber on it

And hope it don't bust so

I can stay alive'

Cause only the strong survive

Only the strong survive

Only the strong survive

Only the strong survive

Only the strong survive

Only the strong survive

So tell me what it is, man, tell me what you want

Not talkin' 'bout the music but we likes to funk

Ain't no such thang as a

Oakland punk

It don't matter who you are, you'll be in the trunk

You come twenty-five deep or maybe ten

If I let your push me, then you push me again

He was six foot four, they used to call him '

Sir'But he was smooth, gunned down by a teenage gangsta

No bigger than me, never could be his self

Always tryin' to act like someone else

There just ain't no future for us young black men'

Cause we always get killed or sent to the pen

But even Malcolm

X was a ex-convict

And you can bet

I won't go fo' it next time

I'm kinda strong with my bullets in the clip

That's why

I never trip 'cause only the strong survive

Only the strong survive

Only the strong survive

Only the strong survive

Only the strong survive

Only the strong survive

Only the strong survive

Only the strong survive

You say, "Be a man, let's go toe to toe"

But that was like fifteen years ago

They say, "Only the strong will survive"

But brothers be strong and still they die

But you gotta get around that bush

All the things we used to do, we can't push

No more 'cause ain't nobody trippin' on us

You wanna fight, mess around and get shot up

See you layin' there, bleedin', losin' the fight

All behind a broad and that just ain't right

You could live or die, it just doesn't make a difference'

Cause everybody knows about your sorry ass, simpin' for a hoe

I thought you knew life is but the punk's so fake, he can't handle his

So you weak fizz news ain't no surprise 'cause only the strong survive

Only the strong survive

Only the strong survive

Only the strong survive

Only the strong survive