Featuring: O.F.T.B. Big Syke

Songwriter: O.F.T.B. Big Syke 2Pac

Producer: Johnny J

[Intro: 2Pac]
Lookin’ for these better days
You ain’t lyin to me, who dat
O.F.T.B. up in this bitch

[Hook: 2Pac]
Better days, heyy, better days
Got me thinkin’ bout better days
Better days, better days, better days, heyy, better days
Got me thinkin’ bout better days

[Verse 1: 2Pac]
Time to question our lifestyle, look how we live
Smokin weed like it ain’t no thang, so even kids
Wanna try now, they lie down and get ran through
Nobody watches the clockin’ the evil man do
Faced with the demons, addicted to hearin victims screamin’
Guess we was evil since birth, product of cursed semens
'Cause even our birthdays is cursed days
A born thug in the first place, the worst ways
I’d love to see the block in peace
With no more dealers and crooked cops, the only way to stop the beast
And only we can change
It’s up to us to clean up the streets, it ain’t the same
Too many murders, too many funerals and too many tears
Just seen another brother buried plus I knew him for years
Passed by his family, but what could I say
Keep yo’ head up and try to keep the faith
And pray for better days

[Hook: 2Pac]
Better dayz, better days, better days, heyyy
Better dayz, better days
Got me thinkin’ bout better days

[Verse 2: Big Syke]
Heyy, it seems like yesterday, I used to play
Around the way, those were the better dayz
Growin up as a child carefree
Mama said I was wild by 3
Even pops showed me love he was there
I remember hangin out playin truth or dare
Cowboys and Indians when your belly run
When the only thing we sprayed was water guns
We didn’t have much so we made the best of
What we could afford but we had love
Tryna be grown might sneak and curse
One T.V. set got, to cut it on the first
Back in the good times and the Jeffersons
When your next door neighbour was your best friend
Those are the days I miss and reminisce
So I steady wish..

[Verse 3: FlipSide]
Down memory lane, I walk and stalked the streets
Searchin for real to leave the past behind me
It’s ’96 ain’t nothing change but the years
I shedded some tears, I had it up to here
See I want something more in life
3 strikes ain’t no joke, these white folks
Got us on the tight rope
Knowin we down to fall
Us niggas we ball, we want it all
Kill each other over somethin small
It’s time to wake up, yo I’m callin all those
That want to listen, take a look around
Observe your position, do you like what you see
Poverty and frustration, aggravation, temptation
They bought a bottle posse mo’termination
They kept the real and keep it real
That’s why I say, heyy
Got me thinkin bout better dayz

[Hook: 2Pac]
Better days, better days, better days, heyyy
Better days, better days
Got me thinkin’ bout better days

[Verse 4: Low MB]
It’s mad to get out of the ghetto and get some
And when you get it, don’t forget where you came from
Sleepin with the enemy, livin on they block
And neighbourhood watch go to cops
Sayin you settin up shop
A kingpin from the slums, ain't that about nuttin
They can’t stand to see a black man havin somethin
Stereotype, television got em twisted
Check the statistics, black folks with businesses
Legitimate investments, yea we comin up
And they scared of us, for many years they mistreated us
Beaten us, left us swingin from the rope
Now ask yaself who’s supplyin the dope
Who be keepin us down, in these fucked up scoop
Whoever said it so good, must be a muthafuckin fool
Now when we do it, Armageddon come
Are they willin to die for they unlawful acts
It’s goin to leave a lot of muthafuckaz stunned
It’ll take a nation of million to hold us back
It’s time for a homie reuinion
We gotta stop meetin at these muthafuckin funerals
Let’s show some love in the right way
So we can all live and see better days, dayyys
Thinkin bout better days

[Hook: 2Pac]
Better days, better days, better days, heyyy
Better days, better days
Got me thinkin’ bout better days

[Verse 5: Busstop]
Now after so many years, ain’t shit changed
That’s why we hang, where we bang
That goes to slang
Waitin on the day for us to overcome
All the obstacles set forth to keep us dumb
Everybody got a destiny they gotta control
Spend your life behind bars and the rest on parole
We know nobody gives a fuck about the boys on the bottom
Wanna see us in a cell somewhere, where you can rot
So you do what you gotta do to stay alive
Survival is a must so I kill to survive
I see moms on her knees every night she prays
Beggin the Lord to bring better dayz
Better days

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.