Prince

Released: November 19, 1996

Featuring: Scrap D.

Songwriter: Scrap D. Prince

Producer: Prince

[Intro: Scrap D.]
Da, da, da, da
Da, da, da, da, da
(Yeah y'all, it's like that y'all, it's like "Bet Your Life")
Yeah
It's like rolling in a Bronco pumping them pumps
You know what I'm saying?
On Broadway or something, you know what I'm saying?
Yo yo, straight up
Yeah, yeah, yeah

[Verse 1: Scrap D.]
Hey yo, call the paddywagon, I've seen a black boy cash stacking
Smirk on my face screaming, "Fuck the Grand Dragon"
For the fast cash, we be thinking to slow
Clowning each others on the damn talk shows
I don't wanna house but I gotta stick and rob
I got a disease, it's called "Can't find a job"
Smoking on the herbs help me see a little better
Looking for a job in this cold ass weather

[Chorus: Prince]
Watch out, I'm trying to get my shit together (Da, da, da, da, da, da, da)
Yeah - da, da, da, da (Da, da, da, da, da, da, da)
(Got to keep it going, gotta keep it going)
It's been kind of lonely (Da, da, da, da, da, da, da)
Da, da, da, da (Da, da, da, da, da, da)
(Got to keep it going, got to keep it going)

[Verse 2: Scrap D.]
Hey yo, as soon as I come home, I'm stressed by my mama
Questioning my whereabouts like I'm the Unabomber
Question mark, comma, freeze all the drama
Intensive care flows for all you hoes smacked with trauma
As I sit back with my blunt and gin
Grab a pen, write a song about a million black men
Trying to blame all this violence on gangs
What about those fools who kill for nothing and hijack planes?
(Let me hear you...)

[Chorus: Prince]
Get your shit together (Da, da, da, da, da, da, da)
Da, da, da, da (Da, da, da, da, da, da, da)
(Got to keep it going, got to keep it going)
Da, da, da, da (Da, da, da, da, da, da, da)
Da, da, da, da (Da, da, da, da, da, da)
(Got to keep it going, got to keep it going)

[Verse 3: Scrap D.]
Yo, I'm going for the gold like an Olympic sprinter
Fuck the bullshit, steaks for dinner this winter
Yo, I've seen a murder scene that left a fool scarred
Plus I saw a prisonyard way before a schoolyard
Time's rough plus time's running out
My mom said if I trip one more time, I'm getting kicked out
And I ain't trying to make excuses
But looking for a job in the ghetto is fucking useless (Let me hear you sing)

[Chorus: Prince]
Get your shit together, straight up (Da, da, da, da, da, da, da)
Yeah, uh - da, da, da, da (Da, da, da, da, da, da, da)
(Let me hear you sing)
Da, da, da, da (Da, da, da, da, da, da, da)
Da, da, da, da (Da, da, da, da, da, da)

[Bridge: Prince]
Ask yourself your destination
What the source of your inspiration be
And you will find a spirit trying to get back to the mind
How you was in your mama's belly
Live and let live was the order of the day
What you say?
Loving one another is the only way!

[Chorus: Prince]
Da, da, da, da, da, da, da
If you believe in one thing, if you believe in to things
(Da, da, da, da, da, da, da)
If you believe in anything then let me hear you sing
"Da, da, da, da, da, da, da"
Keep on believing (Da, da, da, da, da, da)

[Outro: Prince & Scrap D.]
Lord
(Yeah you all, it's like that y'all, it's like "Bet Your Life")
(Yeah you all)
(Come on)
(Yeah you all)
(Yeah you all)
(It's like "Bet Your Life")
(Yeah you all, it's like "Bet Your Life")
(Yeah you all, it's like "Bet Your Life")
(Yeah you all, it's like "Bet Your Life")
(Yeah)

An American singer-songwriter, musician, multi-instrumentalist, and actor that produced 22 RIAA-platinum albums during his 40-year career, Prince may be known for one of many different things – his turn as “The Kid” in the iconic film/album/8 ½ minute ballad “Purple Rain”, being the writer behind the acclaimed anthem “Kiss,” rivaling Michael Jackson at the pinnacle of his career, being the inspiration behind censorship laws, or being the artist addressed as an unpronounceable symbol throughout the 1990s—but while many know of Prince, most don’t fully understand the impact his legacy left on this world.

Going by many aliases throughout his life, Prince Rogers Nelson was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on June 7, 1958 with his father’s (John L. Nelson) stage name as his own given one. Growing up, Prince suffered from serious epileptic seizures at a very young age, but he had wrote his first composition of many by age seven, and outside of his love for basketball, he wanted music to be his purpose in life. His tumultuous childhood, witnessing alcoholism and abuse, caused him to find refuge in neighbor André Cymone’s home in his teens, where the two competed in local band competitions, leading to Prince’s introduction to Morris Day alongside music with his cousin’s band 94 East, leading him to be courted by record labels and ultimately signed to Warner Bros. Records with complete creative control; at 19, his debut album, For You (1978) was released – Prince played all 19 instruments on the record.

Influenced by the likes of Miles Davis, Rick James, and James Brown, Prince desired to form a music dynasty and after the success of his next albums – the platinum-selling Prince (1979), the sexually-charged Dirty Mind (1980), and politically-motivated Controversy (1981) – he negotiated for the ability to form his own label and manage artists of his own. Prince’s trademark sexual/religious rhetoric within pop-and-dance, funk-rock sound gained him a following, but his opening slates for Rick James and The Rolling Stones were both negatively received and facing bankruptcy, the young artist began to reach for mainstream popularity. Cashing on the drug-influenced doomsday mania of the times, 1982’s 1999 easily achieved that mainstream appeal, landing him on MTV, music charts, and radio stations across the world.

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