Verse one: masta ase
Iâm surrounded, by psychopathic, little fellas
Ghetto dwellas
With ammunition in their cellas
And no remorse in their hearts
When the shit starts it donât end
Until somebodyâs gone with the wind
And Iâm tryinâ to keep a level head so instead
Of goinâ out to die, I write rhymes on my bed
And little kids at the playground
Better stay down
Keep duckinâ
Cause somebody else is buckinâ
Donât seem to be no relief from the beef
Only nigga round my way without the gold teeth
And the gold chain, with the whole name on my neck
Jewelries your worse enemy without a tech
Iâm tryinâ to maintain, but it ainât workinâ
Niggas keep lurkinâ
Through the darkness I see the grim reaper smirkinâ
Could it be that heâs smilinâ at me
Not tryinâ to see fatal injury, injury
What must I do to avoid the pain
It seems insane, but I gotta maintain
I can feel the pressure on my brain
Feel the strain
But I gotta maintain
Chorus:
Workinâ hard may help ya maintain
Be able to maintain
Be able to maintain
Workinâ hard may help ya maintain
Be able to, be able to
Be able to maintain
Workinâ hard may help ya maintain
Be able to maintain
Be able to maintain
Workinâ hard may help ya maintain
Be able to, be able to
Be able to maintain
Verse two: lord digga
Back in the days I use to do a little dirt
Now thatâs cominâ back around, and man it hurts
To see everbody gettinâ on
But I got to wait cause of the things I done wrong
In my life, I regret it
But the man upstairs wonât let me forget it
Everytime I think of doinâ somethinâ right
Here comes a dark tunnel with no signs of a light
I got to fight to keep my head above water
Dollars are real tight, I be askinâ bums for quarters
I had enough of the quick cash
So I got to find a way to make the shit last
In the past I woulda just gave up
But thereâs more days to come, I know they bring ya good luck
So Iâm a keep doinâ what Iâm doinâ
Sippinâ on the brew and catchinâ wreck wit my crewinâ
I feel stuck with a lot of aches and pains
And itâs stressinâ me, but I gotta maintain
(maintain, maintain)/ I gotta maintain
(maintain, maintain)/ I gotta maintain
Chorus
Verse three:
Thereâs too much pressure and stress on my chest
Lifeâs a mess
And I feel depressed
Seems so hard to survive and stay alive
Jump in my ride and I drive, doinâ 95
With my system blastinâ
Iâm passinâ cars in the right lane, light change Iâm gasinâ
No, destination
But Iâm racinâ
With my lights on, I got my brights on
Play the right song
And the sweat beeds my five
Drive past five-o and now they givinâ chase
Theyâll probably want to know where the fireâs at
Or where the drug buyers at
Fuck, my tireâs flat
I guess Iâm pullinâ over, to take a loss
But it wonât be the loss of my life from drivinâ off course
God knows I need to be here to shap me sonâs brain
So I gotta maintain
Chorus
Chorus (fades out)