RESTING ONE EYE UP

Jay-Z: December 4th
From The Black Album (Def Jam, 2003)

Chi-Lites: That’s How Long
From Toby (Brunswick, 1974)

Goodbye to the game/all the spoils/the adreneline rush.
Your blood boils/you in a spot knowing cops could rush.
And you in a drop/you so easy to touch,
No two days are alike/except the first and fifteenth pretty much.
And “trust” is a word/you seldom hear from us.
Hustlers we don’t sleep/we rest one eye up.
And the drought can define a man when the well dries up,
You learn to work the water without workin’/thirst ’til you die (yup!)
And n_____ get tied up for product,
And little brothers ring fingers get cut up/to show mothers they really got em.
And this was the stress I lived with/until I decided/to try this rap shit for a living,
I Pray I’m forgiven/for every bad decision i made/every sister I played,
Cause I’m still paranoid to this day.
And it’s nobody fault I made the decisions I made,
This is the life I chose/or rather the life that chose me.