Released: March 3, 1998

Featuring: Willie D Ice Cube

Songwriter: Scarface Ice Cube Willie D N.O. Joe

Producer: N.O. Joe

[Verse 1: Scarface]
I dedicate this to my road dogs struggling
I hope this letter finds you with peace and all hustling
I'm busting, for y'all niggas, 'cause ya'll my niggas on the reala
We grind in these streets to stack some scrilla
For the dealers, you stay up on your P's and your Q's
And never underestimate with these who do
You get the paper then get out the streets, and y'all remember
You never let the money and the dope to meet
And I could give a G to a nigga starvin'
So we can floss and blow weed when he with the warden
How many niggas on the cut who don't give a fuck
Survivin' struggles, hitting licks after I pick 'em up
I'm just a homie out the hood who done did something
And while you frontin', I'm ten years and I'm still bumpin'
You heard me homie
Fuck tryna cater to the dumdums, they call you niggas
And niggas still forgettin' where they come from
I bring the real for all my homies out grindin'
And help your homie get on his feet, and we all riding
'Stangs, but thangs in this game and that's true
Be sure that you respecting the power, and that you
Never forget the neighborhood where it started
The ghetto South Acres my hood and my heart's with the...

[Hook]
Ghetto
Ghetto
I can't get out of here
Ghetto (Ghetto)
Ghetto
I can't get out of here

[Verse 2: K.B.]
I represent that southeast, that Southeast Atlanta, muthafucka
Decatur, where you at? (One time) Bring the ruckus
'Cause muthafuckas been talkin' that shit for so long
But now I'm down with this Interface clique and it's on
Give a fuck where you from, nigga, Decatur always represented
And I know that for a fact, I lived in it
Now look at me, yup, K.B. still rappin'
And for you niggas talking that shit, I'm still scrappin'
Gorilla slappin' niggas with all that hot cappin'
Niggas thinkin' they can fake their death, it ain't happenin'
When you think we slackin', that Campbellton Road steady packin'
The home of the big dope slangin' and car jacking
Nigga, i ain't acting, Eiffel Court up in this bitch
From the O.P's and all the way down to Eastwick
Even Flat Shoals and Glenwood, it's all good
Boulder Crest to Columbia Drive, it's all hood
The ghetto

[Hook]
Ghetto
Ghetto
I can't get out of here

[Verse 3: Ice Cube]
I got to give it up to my ghetto niggas, and that ghetto bitch
Looking for them ghetto licks, getting ghetto rich
Knowing that the scheme in the book flip the game
Quick to get my telephone turned on in my mama's name
This ghetto slang is some shit that can beat college
You ain't fucking with this hustler with street knowledge
9 to 5, still flipping 20's on the side, drop it by the fence
Making dollars out of fifteen cents
Got the big body Benz with the wheels on it
A cell phone with no bills on it
Ghetto ass, got to feel on it, still want it
Baby, kneel on it, and I can put the kill on it
You got this rap nigga lying like a singer
Put your baby to sleep, and turn off your ringer
You can catch me on Van Wick looking sick in a six
With somethin' Swiss on my wrist, now picture this
You better blow, 'cause too many niggas up at Mr. Jackson's do'
Y'all niggas got to go
The ghetto

[Hook]
Ghetto
Ghetto
I can't get out of here
Ghetto (Ghetto)

[Verse 4: Willie D]
Fifth Ward is the site where the fight for life is twice as shife
Advice to my homies who write me in the pen
Willie know the cell is hell
But keep sending me mail with that Liberty Bell
So I can tell you what’s the haps, and who got capped for riches
And send you pictures of naked bitches
I remember when I used to get beat with extension cord
And be ashamed to show my friends where my house was
Started stealing out my mama’s purse
Now that she’s gone, she lives through my songs and it sure hurts
How come we treat our children worse than we were treated in the ghetto?
And turn our women into widows?
Sick of seeing my homies that I ate with, drank with
Played with, laughed with, dead in a casket
To my folks, we can reach the top, but
You gotta shit or get off the pot, fuck
You see your chance, baby, take it
I was the last motherfucker in the world that they thought would make it
But look at me now, sex on the beach in Greece
Straight from the motherfucking streets of the ghetto

[Hook]
Ghetto
Ghetto
I can't get out of here
Ghetto (Ghetto)
Ghetto
I can't get out of here

Scarface

Brad Terrence Jordan is better known as the legendary rapper/producer Scarface. Hailing from the South Acres neighborhood of Houston, Texas, Scarface entered the rap game as DJ Akshun before he joined the rap group Geto Boys on Rap-A-Lot Records for the group’s 1989 sophomore album Grip It! On That Other Level. In 1991, the Geto Boys released their biggest single “Mind Playing Tricks On Me” and Scarface released his debut solo album Mr. Scarface is Back, which achieved gold status.

Scarface went on to release several critically acclaimed albums, including The Diary (1994), The Untouchable (1997), My Homies (1998), and The Fix (2002), which received a rating of 5 Mics from The Source magazine. In 2000, he was named the president of Def Jam South, and one of his first signings was Ludacris. In 2001, Scarface was named Lyricist of the Year at The Source Awards and he was honored with the I Am Hip Hop lifetime achievement award at the BET Hip Hop Awards in 2015.

He also is a published author, releasing his memoir Diary of a Madman in 2015.