[00:00.16]Memories memories
[00:15.21]Oh
[00:19.80]I am the first son of Betsy and Edward Mensah
[00:23.97]Made love and made a legend Woodlawn and 47th
[00:27.70]Gunshots outside my window drug deals out by the Citgo
[00:31.67]But mama always made sure the tooth fairy found my pillow
[00:35.44]My pops was always working he put the family first
[00:39.38]Chicago Saturdays in the park and Sundays at church
[00:43.35]Kept me from off the corner where Stones and GDs was warring
[00:46.97]And Kings and BDs and VLs all had dreams of being Jordan
[00:50.91]Even **** fiends was scoring swish tryna be like Mike
[00:54.89]Shooting through that baseline in their veins tryna reach that height
[00:58.97]I was a little rockstar dressed up like Jimi Hendrix
[01:02.81]In Hyde Park in the good part in the hood like Hemi engines
[01:06.54]Teachers didn't see my vision had me in IEPs
[01:10.68]Kicked out of kindergarten they didn't know that I was me
[01:14.54]Tattooed my tears wrote my story in my skin
[01:17.87]Because even as a boy I always knew I'd be the man
[01:21.56]In my dreams in my dreams
[01:24.76]I saw it in my sleep yeah
[01:28.63]The city will be mine all mine all mine all mine all mine all mine
[01:37.17]Memories
[01:40.63]On 47th street yeah
[01:44.38]One day it will be mine all mine all mine all mine all mine
[01:48.83]All mine
[01:53.69]At age 12 I learned the difference between white and black
[01:57.59]Police pulled me off of my bike I landed on my back
[02:01.31]Back to reality oops a victim of gravity
[02:04.81]Where they pull you down and keep you there
[02:07.04]Depending on how you keep your hair
[02:08.85]Now it's **** 'em up and bumping nothing but NWA
[02:12.13]Smoking a 7 or an 8th way before 7th grade
[02:16.25]My classmates selling yay
[02:18.39]Sebastian got me high that first time
[02:20.78]In the back of an abandoned truck by Webster place
[02:23.72]Couldn't feel my face
[02:25.19]Spraying paint to see my name on trains try not to catch a case
[02:29.08]Age 13 at s granny house watching him shoot up the ace
[02:32.87]He took the needle out and waved it in my face
[02:35.94]If I ain't tell that boy be easy dog
[02:38.43]I coulda died of AIDs
[02:39.85]I started realizing my talents about the time I was 15
[02:43.76]Tryna take over the world like pinky and the brain
[02:47.69]Selling kush and hitting stains still in true religion jeans
[02:51.61]16 I was shining just like a Stanley Kubrick scene
[02:55.51]Sneaking into Lollapalooza I fell off of that bridge
[02:59.31]15000 volts went through my elbow fell over 30 feet
[03:03.31]The doctor said I should be dead still alive and still ain't scared
[03:07.22]In the hospital bed writing these rhymes in my head
[03:10.92]In my dreams in my dreams
[03:14.06]I saw it in my sleep yeah
[03:17.92]The city will be mine all mine all mine all mine all mine
[03:22.54]All mine
[03:26.46]Memories
[03:29.75]On 47th street yeah
[03:33.54]One day it will be mine all mine all mine all mine
[03:37.41]All mine all mine
[03:43.64]In a land of desperation we often turn to self medication as a coping mechanism
[03:48.24]Some make a living as hood pharmacists
[03:50.66]While some just inhale to remove them from hell
[03:54.03]I watched from the window of a gated community until I grew old enough
[03:57.61]There was no immunity from allure of the life