Released: February 13, 1996

Featuring: Storm C-Bo Outlawz

Songwriter: 2Pac Napoleon (Outlawz) E.D.I. Mean Kastro C-Bo Storm

Producer: Mike Mosley Rick Rock

[Intro: 2Pac]
A military mind, nigga
A military mind mean money
A criminal grind, nigga
A criminal grind mean hustle
You know

[Chorus: 2Pac]
We tradin' war stories, we Outlawz on the rise
Jealous niggas I despise, look in my eyes
We tradin' war stories, we Outlawz on the rise
Jealous niggas I despise, look in my eyes

[Verse 1: 2Pac]
Now can your mind picture, a thug nigga drinkin' hard liquor
This ghetto life has got me catchin' up to God quicker
Who would figure that all I need was a hair trigger
Semi-automatic MAC-11 just to scare niggas
Pardon my thug poetry, but suckers is born everyday
And feared men grow on trees
Criminal ties for centuries, a legend in my own rhymes
So niggas whisper when they mention
Machiavelli was my tutor, Donald Goines, my father figure
Mama sent me to go play with the drug dealers
Henceforth, we thug niggas and we came in packs
Every one of my niggas strapped sippin' on 'Gnac
In the back, my AR-15
Thuggin' 'til I die, these streets got me cravin' thorazine
My lyrics are blueprints to money makin'
Fat as that ass that honey shakin'

[Chorus: 2Pac & Kastro]
My nigga tradin' war stories, we Outlawz on the rise
Jealous niggas I despise, look in my eyes
My nigga tradin' war stories, we Outlawz on the rise
Jealous niggas despise, look in my eyes

[Verse 2: Kastro]
I bust a trey-trey, buggin an' shit
They call it overthuggin' and shit
But I was just a younger nigga, gettin' older and lovin' this shit
But what was I doin' in this place?
To the fakes without a pistol in the first
Facin' termination in the worst
But I figured to play the wall; to watch all
These playa hatin' niggas position for I could see 'em all
Made it up out of there, lucky to be here to tell you
But it'll never be a repeat, people, I'm tryna tell you

[Verse 3: E.D.I. Mean]
Now picture the scenery, I'm thugged out smokin' greenery
Considered a BG, but I'm off in this game something D-P
My eyes only see deez, that's why I'm young and burnt out
Learned the know how, well how to do now, by 18 turned out
And wide open, the ridin' and smokin'
Collidin' with foes in the worst place
Y'all shouldn'ta fucked with us, in the first place
Y'all real OGs, droppin' game to the youngsters
Y'all don't want no funk 'cause
Y'all be the next in the long line of war stories

[Chorus: 2Pac & C-Bo]
We tradin' war stories, we Outlawz on the rise
Jealous niggas I despise, look in my eyes
We tradin' war stories, we Outlawz on the rise
Jealous niggas I despise, look in my eyes

[Verse 4: C-Bo]
I breaks them off with this gangsta war story tale
Stacking loot up in the coupe that I protect with a Mack 12
Slap my clip in the chamber; fool, your life's in danger
No one will remain when I come through dumping insane
Call me Bo Loc Major Pain, gun-slang and moving 'caine
I be the nigga that's pulling the trigger
And dumping the hot ones up in your brain
More bigger balls than RuPaul, Thug Life ain't a ball
We bust that ass up against the wall (up against the wall)
Never been no sign for men call
How we bucks them down on the way to the ground
Ain't nothing but the hog in me
Plus, stompin' steel toed, killin' up hoes and keep mobbin' G
It ain't no calling the funk off
Don't be funking with my sawed off
Bust they dirty-ass drawers off
And had them bitch niggas hauled off

[Chorus: 2Pac & Napolean]
We tradin' war stories, we Outlawz on the rise
Jealous niggas I despise, look in my eyes
We tradin' war stories, we Outlawz on the rise
Jealous niggas I despise, look in my eyes

[Verse 5: Napoleon]
My whole family been raised on shit that ain't okay
Ain't nothing on this earth will make a nigga like me stay
I'm reminiscing, and catchin' flashbacks when niggas ran up
In my house and I was too young, to try to blast back
What happend then? No one would tell me since I was three
Heard that God took my peoples, now they living somewhere free
But fuck that, you got what's mines and I want that
Never drop my guard, been on the squad, since ways back
And now I'm sitting, holding in anger because my parents missing
Thugging Immortal when got some war stories for you

[Verse 6: Storm]
Now look at me, straight Outlaw Immortal
Never gave a fuck 'cause I was nobody's daughter
Outlawing from my tits to my clits, don't try to figure
'Cause the murderous tendencies in my mind
Can't be controlled, nigga
So who's the bigger, who's the quickest killer?
Would you try to trip with my finger on the 9 milla
When I got you on kay-nine-fourths
Prayin' to God as your life goes back and forth
We tradin' war stories

[Chorus: 2Pac]
We tradin' war stories, Outlawz on the rise
Jealous niggas I despise, look in my eyes
We tradin' war stories, Outlawz on the rise
Jealous niggas I despise, look in my eyes
We tradin' war stories, Outlawz on the rise
Jealous niggas I despise, look in my eyes
We tradin' war stories, Outlawz on the rise
Jealous niggas I despise, look in my eyes
We tradin' war stories, Outlawz on the rise
Jealous niggas I despise, look in my eyes
We tradin' war stories, Outlawz on the rise
Jealous niggas I despise, look in my eyes
We tradin' war stories, Outlawz on the rise
Jealous niggas I despise, look in my eyes
We tradin' war stories, Outlawz on the rise
Jealous niggas I despise, look in my eyes
We tradin' war stories, Outlawz on the rise
Jealous niggas I despise, look in my eyes
We tradin' war stories, Outlawz on the rise
Jealous niggas I despise, look in my eyes
We tradin' war stories, Outlawz on the rise
Jealous niggas I despise, look in my eyes

[Collision: 2Pac]
War stories nigga; hahaha, what players do
Thug Life, Outlaw Immortalz
Motherfucking 2Pac a.k.a. Makaveli
Can you feel me?
Just so you know, it's on Death Row
My niggas love that shit
Dramacydal in this motherfucker, heheheh
Yea nigga! Shout out to my niggas Fatal N Felony
C-Bo, the bald head nut, what?
You know what time it is

2Pac

Tupac Amaru Shakur (June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an actor and a highly influential rapper who is considered by many to be the greatest of all-time due to the revolutionary spirit and thug passion he mixed into his music. During his music career, he made appearances in movies such as his acclaimed debut in Juice (1992), Poetic Justice (1993), and Above the Rim (1994).

Born in Harlem, New York City to Black Panther Party members Billy Garland and Afeni Shakur, Tupac would later move to Baltimore before settling in the Bay Area cities of Oakland and Marin City in the late 1980s. There, he joined his first rap group Strictly Dope with Ray Luv before connecting with Shock G and Digital Underground. He was a roadie and backup dancer for the group before his breakthrough performance on their 1991 song “Same Song.”

2Pac released his debut album 2Pacalypse Now in 1991, which featured intense storytelling on singles such as “Trapped” and “Brenda’s Got a Baby.” His sophomore album Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z featured one of his signature songs, the Digital Underground-assisted “I Get Around.” After working on the Thug Life group album in 1994, 2Pac released Me Against the World the following year, which is considered by many to be his best album, peaking at #1 on the Billboard 200 and receiving a Grammy nomination—all while he sat in prison.