This is the life I live (the only one I'm owning) This is the chance I got (I put my money on it) These are the hands that hold me in the moment These are the cards This is the time I have (I'm running out of it) The only time I'll know (ain't that about a bitch) It is what it is, but when and where it is not I'm in control (ready set go!) It's a failure of the system, they say Dead or in prison then they Make hundreds of millions off records every single they play A broken record today but they breaking records each day Eight hundred million in worth did we forget Dr. Dre Coming up out of the worst environments ever Compounded with violence generational curses The leverage is harder to find Behind the bars and every measure When the message is they'd be behind bars with any effort They took to improve, but then they took to the booth Invented a product, a process they then took to the youth And now the youth has got the vision they play Dead or in prison but they Make hundreds of millions off records, every single they play This is the life I live (the only one I'm owning) This is the chance I got (I put my money on it) These are the hands that hold me in the moment These are the cards This is the time I have (I'm running out of it) The only time I'll know (ain't that about a bitch) It is what it is, but when and where it is not I'm in control (ready set go!) You're oppressed no you're a mess like all of us More or less it's moral-less when the chore of us Gets cordless y'all can guess who be calling us Primordial pus saying let's be more than just cellmates In a melting pot that we'll date back like four billion years ago When the third rock felt like hells gates cellmates tell me Are we all just like prisoners of some sort of self-hate When we wanna evolve, so we gotta resolve our forms to a higher form In fear of a stalemate Existence got an instinctual insistence That our existence gonna be extinct for all Unless we resist its consistence Like we went from being hit with flying rocks and shit Until we're flying rocket ships to get the fuck-up off this shit This is the life I live (the only one I'm owning) This is the chance I got (I put my money on it) These are the hands that hold me in the moment These are the cards This is the time I have (I'm running out of it) The only time I'll know (ain't that about a bitch) It is what it is, but when and where it is not I'm in control Man, nothing holds a person back more than seeing themselves as a victim A victim is not responsible for their situation Everything is someone else's fault Victims see little change in improving their life How can they get ahead if someone is holding them back? Making them unhappy, frustrated and angry Victimhood becomes their primary identity Their ruling ideology Churches can teach it, parents can pass it to children Schools teach it to students, the media reinforces it Hollywood loves the narrative, ya know But only when it ends victory Victimhood is an industry miss me with all that wizardry Nature ain't on our side, you will find it, don't mind our misery When indivisibly time is dinning on you invisibly Running you out your mind 'til it runs you out of its history ♪ ♪ This is the life I live This is the chance I got These are the hands that hold me in the moment These are the cards This is the time I have (I'm running out of it) The only time I'll know (ain't that about a bitch) It is what it is, but when and where it is not I'm in control This is the life I live (the only one I'm owning) This is the chance I got (I put my money on it) These are the hands that hold me in the moment These are the cards (ready set go!)