2Pac

Featuring: Prince Ital Joe Big Syke

Songwriter: 2Pac Big Syke

Producer: Johnny J

[Verse 1: 2Pac]
Raised by thugs, schooled by killers
I learned mathematics from big-time dealers
So now them busters love to see a nigga falling
Cocked the Glock, suckers plotting on a player cause he's ballin'
Up early in the morning, four deep
Creeping in my Jeep nigga, real thugs don't sleep
You'll never kill a real G feel me
How many cops gotta drop 'fore they kill me?
Murder in the motherfucking worst way
Turned to a killer on my twenty-first birthday
"Boom, boom" on a crooked cop, drawback
Living like a thug 'til the niggas get the block back
Oh shit, deep in motion, until we get a grip
My motherfucker's won't quit
Living that Thug Life, tryna make a million off that drug life
I got a Glock named Cop Killer
So read the papers, another Cop caught the vapors
Might spend a little time with a bitch let her know
I'm married to the dope, I live the Thug Life

[Chorus]
*Born in the ghetto as a street thug*
(Gunshots)
*Labelled as a cop killer*
I live the Thug Life
*Born in the ghetto as a street thug*
(Gunshots)
*Labelled as a cop killer*
Thug Life
*Born in the ghetto as a street thug*
(Gunshots)
*Labelled as a cop killer*
Thug Life
*Born in the ghetto as a street thug*
(Gunshots)
*Labelled as a cop killer*

[Verse 2: Big Syke]
The rules of the street I'm living by
It ain't no rules, so niggas got to die
Should I change or rearrange it keeps coming
My TEC-9 will never stop gunning
Motherfucker's down, homies they keep trippin'
Fuck with me and yo' ass'll come up missing
I'm just a young nigga starving
I need a fucking vest for the bullets I've been dodging
I'm living on the edge, blast the lead
Wanted by the feds, they got to take me dead
But I got to get paid first, before they roll me off in the motherfucking hearse
'Cause I'm living the Thug Life fool
Staying strapped and letting that Evil Mind rule
'Cause I'm more like a killer nigga
Put the pressure down and leave your ass disfigured
Got a TEC-9 pointed at your dome, so you know it's on punk as bitch
Better grab the chrome
I refuse to be broke, have to keep trying
So who gives a fuck about dying nigga
If you feel you want to take then take me
I be a dead motherfucker 'for you break me
From the [?] to the grave you a ghost
Spraying cops down as I kick in they fucking door
And lay your wife down, lay your kids down
And slice they neck, then I get respect
Even though I might pay the price
I'm living the Thug Life, yeah

[Chorus]
*Born in the ghetto as a street thug*
(Gunshots)
*Labelled as a cop killer*
Thug Life
*Born in the ghetto as a street thug* (How you livin'?)
(Gunshots)
*Labelled as a cop killer*
Thug Life
*Born in the ghetto as a street thug*
(Gunshots)
*Labelled as a cop killer*
Thug Life
*Born in the ghetto as a street thug*
(Gunshots)
*Labelled as a cop killer*

[Verse 3: 2Pac]
I drink Gin, hit Chronic, run with a wild bunch
Thinking of the dead niggas that I knew that die young
Is there a heaven for a nigga up to no good?
Or is it just another fucking hood?
I'm having talks with my nigga Little G from down the street
And the nigga been dead for three weeks
I'm going crazy, damn is a nigga loc'd
Finger on the trigger, trying not to get smoked
Rolling through the hood with my closest
Niggas keep my finger on the trigger 'cause I'm hopeless
What's wrong with a motherfucker coming up
Making mo' bucks that's why them ho's fuck
Had enough of these punks, thug for life
Can't stand bitches, now fuck a wife
I told ya once you can't trust her
Don't go out like a buster, fuck her (Cause)
Money bring bitches, bitches bring lies
Ho's get horny and motherfuckers die
Never turn your back on the game
I'll be letting off shot's 'til this shit change, I live the Thug Life

[Outro: Prince Ital Joe]
Yeah watch them blood-clot Police boy
Them love to fire at young black man with a gunshot
Me not afraid of none of them
Bust my blood-clot gun
In a second its kill or be killed that's not gangsta
All I trying to do is put food on table for my family
So Police boy come fuck with me
[?] for drugs
Me no sell drugs, make music song
Chill
Me bust gun at the whole of them
That boy make me feel like me wanna kill the whole of them still

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.

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