Kendrick Lamar - Hood politics

K-Dot, pick up the phone, nigga.
Every time I call, it's going to voicemail.
Don't tell me they got you on some weirdo rap shit, nigga.
No socks and skinny jeans and shit. [Laughs]
Call me on Shaniqua's phone!


[Estribillo]
I been A-1 since day one, you niggas boo boo.
Your home boy, your block that you're from, boo boo.
Lil hoes you went to school with, boo boo.
Baby mama and your new bitch, boo boo.
We was in the hood, 14 with the deuce-deuce.
14 years later going hard, like we used to on the dead homies.
On the dead homies.


I don't give a fuck about no politics in rap, my nigga.
My lil homie Stunna Deuce ain't never comin' back, my nigga.
So you better go hard every time you jump on wax, my nigga.
Fuck what they talkin' bout, your shit is where its at, my nigga.
Came in this game, you stuck your fangs in this game.
You wore no chain in this game, your hood your name in this game.
Now you double up, time to bubble up the bread and huddle up.
Stickin' to the scripts, now here if them benjamins go cuddle up.
Skip, hop, drip, drop, flip, flop with the white tube sock.
It goes "Sherm Sticks, burn this".
Thats what the product smell like when the chemicals mix.
50 nigga salute, out the Compton zoo, with the extras.
El Cos, Monte Carlos, Road Kings and dressers.
Rip Ridaz, P-Funkers, Mexicans, they fuck with you.
Asians, they fuck with you, nobody can fuck with you.


[Estribillo]
I been A-1 since day one, you niggas boo boo.
Your home boy, your block that you're from, boo boo.
Lil hoes you went to school with, boo boo.
Baby mama and your new bitch, boo boo.
We was in the hood, 14 with the deuce-deuce.
14 years later going hard, like we used to on the dead homies.
On the dead homies.


Hopped out the caddy, just got my dick sucked.
The little homies called and said: "The enemies done cliqued up".
Oh, yeah? Puto want to squabble with mi barrio?
Oh, yeah? Tell 'em they can run it for the cardio.
Oh, yeah? Everythin' is everythin', it's scandalous.
Slow motion for the ambulance, the project filled with cameras.
The LAPD gamblin', scramblin', football numbers slanderin'.
Niggas names on paper, you snitched all summer.
Streets don’t fail me now, they tell me it's a new gang in town.
From Compton to Congress, set trippin’ all around.
Ain’t nothin' new, but a flu of new Demo-Crips and Re-Blood-licans.
Red state versus a blue state, which one you governin’?
They give us guns and drugs, call us thugs.
Make it they promise to fuck with you.
No condom, they fuck with you,Obama say, "What it do?"
Obama say, "What it do?"
Obama say, "What it do?"


[Estribillo]
I been A-1 since day one, you niggas boo boo.
Your home boy, your block that you're from, boo boo.
Lil hoes you went to school with, boo boo.
Baby mama and your new bitch, boo boo.
We was in the hood, 14 with the deuce-deuce.
14 years later going hard, like we used to on the dead homies.
On the dead homies.


Everybody want to talk about who this and who that.
Who the realest and who wack, or who white or who black.
Critics want to mention that they miss when hip hop was rappin’.
Motherfucker, if you did, then Killer Mike'd be platinum.
Y’all priorities fucked up, put energy in wrong shit.
Hennessy and Crown Vic, my memory been gone since.
Don’t ask me ‘bout no camera blocking at award shows.
No, don’t ask about my bitch, no, don’t ask about my Vogues.
'Less you askin' me about power, yeah, I got a lot of it.
I’m the only nigga next to Snoop that can push the button.
Had the Coast on standby.
“K. Dot, what up? I heard they opened up Pandora’s box”.
I box ‘em all in, by a landslide.
Nah homie we too sensitive, it spill out to the streets.
I make the call and get the coast involved then history repeats.
But I resolved inside that private hall while sitting down with Jay.
He said "it's funny how one verse could fuck up the game".
I been A-1 since day one, you niggas boo boo.


I remember you was conflicted.
Misusing your influence.
Sometimes I did the same.
Abusing my power full of resentment.
Resentment that turned into a deep depression.
Found myself screaming in a hotel room.
I didn't want to self-destruct.
The evils of Lucy was all around me.
So I went running for answers.
Until I came home.
But that didn't stop survivors guilt.
Going back and forth.
Trying to convince myself the stripes I earned.
Or maybe how A-1 my foundation was.
But while my loved ones was fighting.
A continuous war back in the city.
I was entering a new one...