[Intro: 2Pac]

Now I lay me down to sleep

I pray the Lord my guns to keep

If I die before I wake

I pray the Lord my soul to take

God is God

When thugs cry, times is hard

[Verse 1: 2Pac & (2Pac, using a megaphone in Unison)]

Born thuggin', and lovin' the way I came up

Big money clutchin', (bustin')

While evadin' (cocaine busts)

My pulse rushin', semi clutchin' into insanity

(They shot at my cousin, now we bustin' at they whole family)

You coppers wanna see me buried, (I ain't worried)

I got a line on the D.A. ‘cause I'm (fuckin' his secretary)

I black out and start cussin', (Damn) bust 'em and touch 'em all

They panic, and bitches duckin', I rush 'em and fuck 'em all

(I'll probably be an old man before I understand

Why I have to livе my life with pistols close at hand)

Kidnapped my homiе's sister, cut her face up bad

They even raped her, so we blazed they pad

(Automatic shots rang out, on every block)

They puttin' hits out on politicians, even (cops)

I ain't lyin', they got me sleepin' with my (infrared beams)

And in my dreams (I hear motherfuckers screamin'

What is the meanin' when thugs cry?)

[Hook: 2Pac & (Nanci Fletcher)]

Battle-scars and closed caskets are multipied

(I can see it from their eyes)

Muthafuckas die, don't ask why (when thugs cry)

When thugs cry, we don't shed tears, we shed blood

Do you still wanna be a thug? When thugs cry (when thugs cry)

Battle-scars and closed caskets are multipied

(I can see it from their eyes)

Muthafuckas die, don't ask why (when thugs cry)

When thugs cry, we don't shed tears, we shed blood

Do you still wanna be a thug? When thugs cry

[Verse 2: 2Pac & (2Pac, using a megaphone in Unison)]

(Maybe my addiction) to friction got me buggin'

(Where is the love?), never quit my ambition to thug

(Ain't shed a tear) since the old school years of elementary

(Niggas I used to love), enclosed in Penitentiaries

(But still, homie, keep it real), how does it feel?

To lose your life, over something that you did as a kid?

You all alone, no communication, (block on the phone)

Don't get along with your pop, and plus your moms is gone

Where did we (go wrong?) I put my soul in the song

To help us grow in time, but (now our minds are gone)

We went from brothers and sisters to niggas and bitches

We went from (welfare livin') to worldwide riches

(But somethin' changed) in this dirty game

(Everything's strange)

Lost all my homies over (cocaine), man

(See, they ask me if I shed a tear, I ain't lie

See, you gotta get high or die, ‘cause even thugs cry)

[Hook: 2Pac & (Nanci Fletcher)]

Battle-scars and closed caskets are multipied

(Shed a tear from their eye)

Muthafuckas die, don't ask why (when thugs cry)

When thugs cry, we don't shed tears, we shed blood

Do you still wanna be a thug? When thugs cry

Battle-scars and closed caskets are multipied

(When they shed a tear from their eyes)

Muthafuckas die, don't ask why

When thugs cry, we don't shed tears, we shed blood

Do you still wanna be a thug? When thugs cry

[Verse 3: 2Pac & (2Pac, using a megaphone in Unison)]

(And all I see is) these paranoid bitches, illegal adventures

Bustin' motherfuckers with (uppercuts, I leave 'em with dentures)

‘Cause in my criminal mind, (nobody violates the Don

I write your name wit' a piece of paper, now your family's gone) (Cry) Why perpetrate like you can handle my team?

(So merciless in my attack I take command of your dreams)

Leavin' motherfuckers drownin' in they own blood

(Hahaha) (Clownin', takin' pictures later)

Laugh 'bout them punk bitches (that turned snitches)

Regulate my area, (the terror I represent)

Makin' your people disappear

(You wonderin', where they went?)

Am I cold, or is it just (I sold my soul?)

Addicted to these streets, (never find true peace I'm told

Come take my body, God, don't let me suffer any longer!

Smoke a pound of marijuana, so I know it ain't long

Where is the end to all my misery, is there a close?

I suppose that's why I murder my foes; when thugs cry)

[Outro: 2Pac using a megaphone & (Nanci Fletcher)]

(When thugs cry, shed tears from their eyes)

I shed tattooed tears for years (when thugs cry)

For my dead homeboys and my prison peers (why they cry)

Y'all ain't never heard my cries (shed tears from there eyes)

Now you wonder why I want you to die?

Shit I ain't lie, I told you this niggas last year (when thugs cry)

Give me mine or imma ride

When thugs cry, Outlaw riders until we die, ahhh ahhh ahhh