Released: June 25, 1996

Featuring: Sean Lett

Songwriter: Common Sean Lett No I.D. Mike Gee Norma Jean Wright Afrika Baby Bam Allan Felder Keni Burke

Producer: No I.D.

Intro: Common

Yeah, one two, bless
Yeah yeah, check it
I got my mellow Sean Lett
He gonna get down for y'all Chicago style
Eighty-seven, you know the bidness, check it

Chorus: Common, Sean Lett

After eight years of my life, of smoking and drinking
The world keeps spinning, so lately I've been thinking

After eight years of my life, of smoking and drinking
The world keeps spinning, so lately I've been thinking

Verse One: Common

Nearest to the go gothic, a cash flow prophet
Methods of gettin scratch and talkin slick I've adopted
Palms in the lock with stunts whose hearts be game
Hoes in the stable, none do I claim
Niggas with nothin to shoot for, at they only aim
Gramps in the choir singin it's gonna rain
In the midst of precipitation, I make the power
Manipulations, so my offspring'll be straight for generations
Got connections in the nation
To incarceration, to general population
More lyrics than Jason, look me in the face when you speak to me
You got a tattoo? Bitch youse a freak to me
Seeking the, good sess material
Asking when's my next video
Bitch get a job and get your ass in somebody's university
Enroll your youngun in a nursery
And cleam him up, comb his hair, cover yourself
You want a man to love you you ain't loving yourself
I'm discovering wealth watches wisdom in ways
To make it in the last days, now bring it on

Chorus

Verse Two: Sean Lett

I feel blessed I survived two decades in this world
Then Ninety slid in naked now I got a baby girl
Ain't this a bitch, myself still a child
I want to hang on eighty-seven corners act wild on Stoney Isle
Better school her, so presence is your seed in society
Parks of envy jealous niggas crack fiends yes indeed
I won't misleed and you can best believe
I'm just a blink away shorty anytime that you need
See I know right now, you're just too young to understand
Asking questions, why pops and moms don't be holding hands
Don't you worry about it yet, in due time we'll explain
Why having you, created just an everlasting shame
Bringing joy witcha smiles, tripping when you first walked
Knowing somebody's child is gettin outlined in chalk
Just relieved it ain't you, I got much love for you boo
Cause it ain't nuthin that these skanless niggas in these streets won't do
Stop me if I'm lying, see my race is steady dying
Short methods to making cream, bullets sprays and shatters dreams
See basically, Chi-town's game-related and designed
Niggas store up theirs and down opposite signs

Chorus

Outro: Sean Lett, Common

It's like that y'all (yeah yeah)
Common Sense and dirty mizer on the set y'all
Sean Lett

We gonna get down like that
My man Eddie C on the board
We coming through y'all for eighty-seventh street
Seventy-first and everybody in South show
We coming through for niggas on the West side
Down in the ickies, all up and down state
We gonna keep it straight like that
We straight out for gold
You call it Chi-town it's still our town
Holding it down like this with that eighty-seven sound

We talking about rocking niggas state to state nationwide
On the real it's like that
Straight up South side is where we loaf
Shit be real around these parts, I'm serious
YouknowhatI'msayin? Hear me
You know what? We out though

Common

Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr. (born March 13, 1972), better known by his stage name Common (previously Common Sense), is a Grammy and Oscar-winning rapper and actor from Chicago, Illinois. Common’s inspired mix of poetic flow and hip-hop soul has helped him earn his status as one of the most respected rappers in the game.

After being a ball boy for his hometown Chicago Bulls as a teen and attending Florida A&M University for business administration, Common Sense kicked in and he left school to become a rapper. He gained national attention after being featured in the Unsigned Hype column of The Source magazine in 1991. He released his debut album Can I Borrow a Dollar? through Relativity Records in 1992, followed by his breakthrough second album Resurrection in 1994, which features his hip-hop classic single “I Used To Love H.E.R.”

As his career began to take off, he was sued by the music group Common Sense over the name, leading Common to drop the “Sense” and allude to the change in the title of his third album, One Day It’ll All Make Sense (1997). He has released several critically acclaimed albums, including Like Water For Chocolate (2000), which features his J Dilla-produced hit single “The Light”, and Be (2005), which was released under fellow Chicago musician Kanye West’s G.O.O.D. Music imprint. He also joined musicians Karriem Riggins and Robert Glasper to form the group August Greene, and the trio released their self-titled album in 2018.