Released: February 19, 1991

Songwriter: GZA

Producer: Easy Mo Bee

[Verse 1]
I see youngsters, y'know, teenagers
Walking around with beepers and pagers
And who's beeping them? Oh it's the boss
Making sure no one is taking a loss
On his multi-thousand dollar operation
But how does he thank them for their participation
Whatever the pay, it's still not enough
Cause what they got into is some serious stuff
Hours a day back and forth on the strip
Sending customers far on a trip
And this roots of all evil brings about war
Cause you wanna open up another crack store
Children can't play in the parks and things
Because a stray bullet might be headed for the swings
You never though about that, oh I guess not
All you thought about was owning your own spot
To putting more and more people to sleep
But ya heading for a pothole six feet deep
You see the problem has gotten more serious
And the community is getting more furious
Get it deep in your head I told you so
It goes way beyond just saying no
Stop the nonsense

[Verse 2]
Remember Steve with the blue Jag?
They found him cut up and stuffed in a bag
He had his own operation uptown
And there was plenty other drug dealers he would cut down
In other words, he was living foul
Shootin up neighborhoods acting wild
He said he had to protect his drug trade
Which we manufactured throughout arcades
He made sure his enemies felt the pain
Whoever he felt was a threat, got slain
Like Donna, who was only sixteen
And she was employed on another drug scene
She try to set up a hit on Steve
But he sliced her throat until she could not breathe
This is what happens when you deal
You don't care on who you got to kill
I might walk outside and get shot
Because I live next door to a drug spot
And I don't need this stuff in my vicinity
Of me being shot for mistaken identity
This is the stuff that Steve was on
Now he's dead long and gone
With his old nonsense

GZA

The oldest member and co-founder of the Wu-Tang Clan, Gary “GZA” Grice was the only member of what became the Wu-Tang Clan to release an album before the group’s 1993 release Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), with his 1991 album Words From the Genius.

GZA’s 1995 solo album Liquid Swords is widely regarded as a hip-hop masterpiece.