Lyrical Breakdown of m.A.A.d city - A Journey through Words and Rhymes

If Pirus and Crips all got along

They'd probably gun me down by the end of this song

Seem like the whole city go against me

Every time I'm in the street I hear

"Yawk! Yawk! Yawk! Yawk!"

Man down, where you from, nigga?

Fuck who you know, where you from, my nigga?

Where your grandma stay, huh, my nigga?

This m.A.A.d city I run, my nigga

Brace yourself, I'll take you on a trip down memory lane

This is not a rap on how I'm slinging crack or move cocaine

This is cul-de-sac and plenty Cognac and major pain

Not the drill sergeant, but the stress that weighing on your brain

It was me, L Boogs and Yan Yan, YG Lucky ride down Rosecrans

It got ugly, waving your hand out the window, check yourself, uh

Warriors and Conans, hope euphoria can slow dance

With society, the driver seat the first one to get killed

Seen a light-skinned nigga with his brains blown out

At the same burger stand where - hang out

Now this is not a tape recorder saying that he did it

But ever since that day, I was looking at him different

That was back when I was nine, Joey packed the .9

Pakistan on every porch is fine, we adapt to crime

Pack a van with four guns at a time

With the sliding door, fuck is up?

Fuck you shooting for if you ain't walking up, you fucking punk?

Picking up the fucking pump, picking off you suckers

Suck a dick or die or sucker punch, a wall of bullets coming from

AK's, AR's, "Ayy y'all, duck"

That's what momma said when we was eating the free lunch

Aw man, goddamn, all hell broke loose

You killed my cousin back in '94, fuck your truce

Now crawl your head in that noose

You wind up dead on the news

Ain't no peace treaty, just pieces BG's up to pre-approve

Bodies on top of bodies

IVs on top of IVs

Obviously the coroner between the sheets like the Isleys

When you hop on that trolley, make sure your colors correct

Make sure you're corporate, or they'll be calling your mother collect

They say the governor collect all of our taxes except

When we in traffic and tragic happens, that shit ain't no threat

You moving backwards if you suggest that you sleep with a TEC

Go buy a chopper and have a doctor on speed dial, I guess, m.A.A.d city

Man down, where you from, nigga?

Fuck who you know, where you from, my nigga?

Where your grandma stay, huh, my nigga?

This m.A.A.d city I run, my nigga

If Pirus and Crips all got along

They'd probably gun me down by the end of this song

Seem like the whole city go against me

Every time I'm in the street I hear

"Yawk! Yawk! Yawk"

Wake your punk ass up

It ain't nothin' but a Compton thang, G-yeah

Real simple and plain

Let me teach you some lessons about the street

(Smoke somethin' nigga), hood (sup cuz?)

It ain't nothin' but a Compton thang, G-yeah, how we do

Fresh outta school 'cause I was a high school grad

Sleepin' in the living room in my momma's pad

Reality struck, I seen the white car crash

Hit the light pole, two niggas hopped out on foot and dashed

My Pops said I needed a job, I thought I believed him

Security guard for a month and ended up leaving

In fact, I got fired 'cause I was inspired by all of my friends

To stage a robbery the third Saturday I clocked in

Projects tore up, gang signs get thrown up

Cocaine laced in marijuana

And they wonder why I rarely smoke now

Imagine if your first blunt had you foaming at the mouth

I was straight tweaking, the next weekend, we broke even

I made allegiance that made a promise to see you bleeding

You know the reasons but still won't ever know my life

Kendrick, a.k.a. Compton's Human Sacrifice

G-yeah, cocaine, weed

Niggas been mixin' shit since the 80s, loc

Sherm sticks, butt nakeds, dip, make a nigga flip

Cluck heads all up and down the block and shit

One time's crooked and shit, block a nigga in

Alondra, Rosecrans, Bullis, it's Compton

I'm still in the hood, loc, G-yeah, that's cool (G-yeah)

The hood took me under so I follow the rules

But G-yeah, that's like me, I grew up in the hood where they bang

And niggas that rep' colors is doing the same thing

Pass it to the left so I can smoke on me

A couple drive-by's in the hood lately (G-yeah)

Couple of IVs with the fucking spray-can

Shots in the crowd then everybody ran

Crew I'm finna slay, the street life I crave

Shots hit the enemy, hearts turn brave

Mount up, regulators in the whip

Down the boulevard with the pistol grip (G-yeah)

Trip, we in the hood still

So loc, grab a strap 'cause G-yeah, it's so real (G-yeah)

Deal with the outcome, a strap in the hand

And a bird and ten grands where a motherfucker stand

If I told you I killed a nigga at sixteen

Would you believe me?

Or see me to be innocent Kendrick you seen in the street

With a basketball and some Now and Laters to eat?

If I mentioned all of my skeletons

Would you jump in the seat?

Would you say my intelligence now is great relief?

And it's safe to say that our next generation maybe can sleep

With dreams of being a lawyer or doctor

Instead of boy with a chopper

That hold the cul-de-sac hostage

Kill 'em all if they gossip

The Children of the Corn, they vandalizing

The option of living a lie, drown their body with toxins

Constantly drinking and drive

Hit the powder then watch this flame

That arrive in his eye, listen coward, the concept is aim

And they bang it and slide out that bitch with deposits

A price on his head, the tithes probably go to the projects

I live inside the belly of the rough

Compton, U.S.A. made me an Angel on Angel Dust, what?

M.A.A.d city

Compton

Nigga, pass Dot the bottle, damn

You ain't the one that got fucked up

What you holding it for?

Niggas always acting unsensitive and shit

Nigga, that ain't no word

Nigga, shut up! Hey, Dot, you good, my nigga?

Don't even trip, just lay back and drink that