I was an outcast, outsider
Trouble-maker
A lost soul, outta control
In danger
Didn't have a care in the world
My feelings were numb
Never showing emotion
Is easy for some
I don't know how it happened
How I got to this point
But I needed a way out
I was stuck in a ploy
I needed another path or I'd self destruct
I was down on my luck
My head was so fucked
A menace rollin' the streets is what I was
Holdin' my heat and rollin' with the serious thugs
You couldn't tell me a thing
I was like my brother
Words went in one ear and out the other
Slangin' and bangin'
With a chip on my shoulder
An insane, hit the brain
Certified street soldier
So close to the grave
You at an early age
Can't tell you the price I've paid
[Chorus]
Oh, the sky overhead
Is like a canvas of gray
I dunno how much time
I'm beginnin' to save
From the first spring to light
To the end of the day
I'm just livin' my life
Till they come carry me away
I've been there in LA nights
In the block where I came up
My pops used to hate
When we hanged with them bangers
Guess he knew one day that we'll become us
That's just how it is when you live where we come from
Fight, don't run
Is the motto we live by
Get 'em on the ground
And stomp a mind about ten times
Sure we was just kids back then
I had no remorse for what we did back then
Six of us, one call, we'd all pack in
Hit the strip, and go and get the shit crackin'
Gun wars, and drug deals, I seen 'em happen
When I started losin' homeboys I wasn't laughin'
I looked all around and seen
None of 'em there
That's when I figured out
That nobody cared
If we lived or die
We'll just get high and ride
And I wasn't gonna let this happen one more time
[Chorus]
My mother would stand for me
Every step of the way
She did not judge me
She told me I'd win some day
When I was at my lowest
When I had no focus
She pulled me out the gutter
Said I wasn't hopeless
Every night she prayed for me
I was out on the street
Chillin' on the corner with the hand on my heat
Eyes open wide for the pigs and foes
It's an every day hazard when you hustle for doe
So many nights I didn't come home
She thought the worst
Maybe somebody shot me down
Without any remorse
Maybe I hurt somebody and I was stuck in a cell
Well, I regret all those times that I put her through hell
When I reflect back on those days, my heart aches
And everybody I lost or let down
I wish I could take it all back
And make it better, but I can't
So I try to make amends
And be there, through thick and thin
[Chorus]
Come carry me away
Come carry me away
Come carry me away
Come carry me away