[Intro: Mac Dre]

Man, up, up in this motherfucker trippin', man

Thinkin' about how it was back in the days, you know

Beat soundin' kinda cool (Way cool), feelin' kinda cool (Way cool)

Let me go on and do somethin' to this though

Check it out

[Verse 1: Mac Dre]

Once upon a time, my 9 stayed in the small of my back

I sold crack and drove a Cadillac (Cadillac)

Shot craps, made snaps on the corner by the stop sign

Strapped with my 'gnac, dank sack and my Glock 9

Kickin' it with the homies on the grind for cabbage (Grind for cabbage)

A Double-R soldier, 3C savage (3C savage)

Runnin' from the ones with the nightsticks

High-speed chasin' and racin' in tight shit (Tight shit)

Back in '85 sellin' goop was the shit (Goop was the shit)

Wasn't a thing that them fiends wouldn't do for a hit (Do for a hit)

Bitches sucked dick, niggas rented they cars

While young players like me became street stars (Street stars)

Glued to the track with a sack and a handgun

Steady sweatin' sales, stoppin' cars at random (Random)

Runnin' from the 50, hittin' fences and hidin' out

Seven cars deep is how the homies is ridin' out

(That's how we was ridin' out)

House parties pop, stayed packed with hoodrats (Hoodrats)

Niggas on the mic, drunk, bustin' them hood raps (Hood raps)

Hooked on the dank, Thunderbird we drank

Rollin' in the bucket with the fucked up paint (Fucked up paint)

24/7 on the hunt for coochie

Sportin' Troop, Nikes, Fila, and Gucci (Gucci)

Makin' much money on the dope track

But when the crack slacked then niggas started to jack (Niggas started to jack)

Every young nigga tryna stay in the mix (Stay in the mix)

Was breakin' them tricks and cold hittin' them licks

Jackin' became the quickest way to make some mail (Make the mail)

But some niggas fell and spent years in jail (Years in jail)

Droppin' nine in the pen tryna make they chest bigger

Some niggas died gettin' jacked by the next nigga

But that's the way it goes, you pay the price

When you're deep in the game (Deep in the game), and you're livin' that life

[Chorus: Khayree, Ferg & Shima, Mac Dre]

Everybody wants a little something

(When you're livin' that life)

Cool but you got to give it all

(When you're livin' that life)

'Cause everything in life has a price, you're

(When you're livin' that life)

Livin' the life, livin' the life, livin' the life, oh

[Verse 2: Mac Dre]

I was against all odds, fresh out the womb

My only hope was to soak game, so I consume

While niggas chilled and parlayed, I learned the hard way (Hard way)

Scuffed and roughed up, the game had scarred Dre

Back in the days, all I knew was the hood and rocks (That's all I know)

Lookin' for funk and headed straight for a wooden box (Straight for a wooden box)

Prone to quick cash and gettin' the grit fast

Never really trippin' on how long would shit last

Earnin' my ghetto stripes from scraps and ghetto fights

Fuckin' with hoodrats, them tramps and ghetto types (Ghetto types)

Never givin' a fuck, nah, not even sometimes

Just havin' a fun time, runnin' from one-time

Trippin', and wasn't even peepin' the shit (Peepin' the shit)

Slippin', and steady gettin' deep in the shit (Deep in the shit)

I let the game control me, shape and mold me

Then it treated me coldly, it pimped and hoed me (Pimped and hoed me)

I was sellin' the crack but not stackin' a damn thang

And now that I look back, man, it's a damn shame (Man, it's a damn shame)

Couldn't recognize there was game to peep (Game to peep)

The dank had me gone and my brain is sleep (Brain is sleep)

I finally woke up in the federal pen

Broke than a motherfucker beggin' for ends (Beggin' for ends)

I was a midget, a small digit — forgotten

Game was stale, my name was rotten

Had life by the ass, my shit was twisted

I thought about the hood and how much I missed it

But the life I was livin' wasn't really shit (Really shit)

I was clockin' them ends but wasn't stackin' a grip (Wasn't stackin' a grip)

They had the world thinkin' I was runnin' in vaults

I reassessed my thoughts, and proved my faults

And for the next four years, I kicked and waited

Becomin' top notch while incarcerated

But that's the way it goes, you pay the price

When you're deep in the game (Deep in the game), and you're livin' that life

[Chorus: Khayree, Ferg & Shima, Mac Dre]

Everybody wants a little something

(When you're livin' that life)

Cool but you got to give it all

(When you're livin' that life)

'Cause everything in life has a price, you're

(When you're livin' that life)

Livin' the life, livin' the life, livin' the life, oh

[Outro: Mac Dre]

Goin' through it, you know

Livin' that life

Growin' up in the hood (All that shit), slangin' that cocaine (All that shit)

Fuckin' with them hoo—, hoochies

Runnin' from the rollers

Goin' to juvenile hall, county jail, penitentiary

All that shit (Livin' that life)

But you gotta pay the price, when you're livin' that life (Livin' that life)

If you're soft, homeboy, think twice

It ain't nothin' nice

Got my boy Khayree up in here, man

We just doin' this shit