Released: July 1, 1997

Featuring: Kelly Price The Notorious B.I.G. JAY-Z

Songwriter: Tumblin’ Dice Sauce Money The Notorious B.I.G. JAY-Z

Producer: Tumblin’ Dice

[Intro: The Notorious B.I.G.]
(Man! I'm back man!)
Uhh, check it out, uhh
I steps in, where the Mo's and the hoes at, baby?
Fuck all that pretty shit
Taking it back to the gutter for you motherfuckers
Niggas know the deal
Niggas know who the Don is
Live from Bedford-Stuyvesant, the livest one
Peep game, uhh, what, what, what

[Verse 1: Puff Daddy]
Out of this world like Mars, when I spit these bars
Come fuck with these stars up in luxury cars (yeah)
We built in radars to stay free from the cops
Crucial choices to make, like A-C or the drop (haha)
Are we gonna stop? Shit man, if my squad go broke
Your squad oughta choke
Watch your circle vanish like cigar smoke
Ain't no joke, when your ones don't show
Nigga I know, might say 'Been There Done That' like Dre (uh-huh)
Through hard work I earn the vault
Promise God to never look back or I turn to salt (yeah)
Got nice watches, nice cars, nice bitches and rings (c'mon)
Guess it's safe to say a nigga like me got nice things (that's right)
Can't relate to motherfuckers, who ain't go no cake (uh-uh)
When you all fucked up, and can't get no break (uh-huh)
When your fake ass friends don't help you out when you need it
Be on some real bullshit, politely tell you to beat it (uh)
Fuck that, get your own nigga, don't ask me for shit
That's what I did, now they all asking for hits (yeah)
Nigga it's on for the simple fact I let it be known
We still fly but separately 'cause now I charter my own (c'mon)
Propellers, Goodfellas, leave all 'em playa haters jealous
Billboard charts should tell us (yeah)
They can't touch us, why niggas bring the ruckus?
Because release date's bigger than Mandela's, motherfuckers

[Chorus: Kelly Price]
Just some ghetto boys
Living in these ghetto streets (These ghetto streets)
And every day, they gotta fight to stay alive
It's just reality

[Verse 2: Jay-Z]
Yeah, make you a deal, check
These here's the dog years and motherfuckers don't shed
I try to bring you life but motherfuckers want dead
So I travel with the barrel, with the chrome, with the lead
'Cause when it's on, then it's on, the shots flown through your head
I been rich, I been poor, I saved and blown bread
Some say I been here before because of the way I zone
Some said, Jigga zone's like the falling of Rome
Reoccurring, that he thinks like that 'cause he's observant
Won't be known until I'm gone and niggas study my bones
Mentally been many places, but I'm Brooklyn's own
In the physical, unseen like Allah's body
In fact my thoughts don't differ much from that of God body
But it's the R-shottie, that got cats, likening me
To the mob John Gotti, rap dudes biting me 'cause
I got it locked like the late Bob Marley
Pardon me, y'all, the great Bob Marley
Solemnly, we mourn all the rappers that's gone
Niggas that got killed in the field and all the babies born
Know they ain't fully prepared for this New World Order
So I keep it ghetto like sunflower seeds and quarter waters
You walk 'em through it, you know, talk 'em through it
Know these beats is more than music whenever I talk to it
Destined for greatness, and y'all knew this when I doubled the pie
Had a shorty in a girdle coming out of B-W-I
(In school) I hated algebra but I loved to multiply
And I told my nigga Big I'd be multi before I die
And it's gon' happen, whether rapping or clapping, have it your way
'Cause if that's my dough you're trapping, I'm clapping your way
It's for the ghetto...

[Chorus: Kelly Price]
Just some ghetto boys
Living in these ghetto streets
And everyday they gotta fight to stay alive (stay alive)
It's just reality (reality)

[Verse 3: The Notorious B.I.G.]
Damn, it feel good to see people up on it (uh)
Flipped two keys in two weeks and didn't flaunt it (uh-huh)
My brain is haunted, with mean dreams
GSs with BBs on it, supreme schemes
To get richer than Richie, quickly, niggas wanna hit me
If they get me, dress my body in linen by Armani, check it
My lyrical carjack, make your brains splat
High caliber gats is all I fuck with, now peep the rough shit
In my circumference, mad bitches with mad lucci
Bulletproof vestses under they Coogi's
Spittin' my Uzi, don't lose me, my trigger niggas represent
Driving dirty in J-30s gettin' bent (uh-huh)
And to my hit hoes, my murder mamis
I be smokin' trees in Belize when they find me
While you still killin' niggas with punani, like heiny
And Cyrus up in Cypress fuck you raw, you on the floor with the virus
While I just, slang coke, smoke pounds of choke (uh-huh)
Got lawyers watching lawyers so I won't go broke, now check it
Them country niggas call me Frank White
I'm squirtin' often in my loft, of course I know my shit's tight
Sunrise, open my eyes, no surprise
Got my shorty flyin' in with keys taped to her thighs
With all the utensils, who hang my china thing
She half-black, half-oriental, eighty-six, she got me rental
The situation ain't accidental
What? From a, from a young G's perspective, uhh...
What? From a, from a young G's perspective, uhh...

[Chorus: Kelly Price]
Just some ghetto boys
Living in these ghetto streets
And everyday they gotta fight to stay alive
It's just reality, it's just reality
Just some ghetto boys
Living in these ghetto streets
And everyday they gotta fight to stay alive
It's just reality

Diddy

Sean “Diddy” Combs (also known as Puff Daddy, Puffy, Sean John, and P. Diddy) is a recording artist, record producer, entrepreneur, and actor from Harlem, New York.

He started in the music business as an intern and talent director at Uptown Records under his mentor Andre Harrell. While at Uptown, Puffy helped launch the careers of R&B superstars Jodeci and Mary J. Blige. After he was fired from Uptown, Puff started his Bad Boy Entertainment label in 1993 as a joint venture with Clive Davis' Arista Records. His first artists were Craig Mack and The Notorious B.I.G., with Mack releasing the hit “Flava In Ya Ear” before Biggie hit with his Ready To Die album. Following their success, Puff went on to sign successful R&B artists such as Faith Evans, 112, and Total, as well as rappers Ma$e and The LOX.

Puff Daddy was an in-demand producer, working with acts such as Usher, TLC, Jay-Z, Lil Kim, and Boyz II Men among others before he decided to become an artist himself. He released his first album, No Way Out on July 1, 1997, a few months after Biggie was killed in Los Angeles on March 9th. The single “I’ll Be Missing You” was created as a tribute—it debuted at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and topped the chart for 11 weeks. The album was a multi-platinum success and won the Best Rap Album Grammy Award in 1998.