[Chorus]

The righteous way to go

Little one would know

Or believe if I told him so

The righteous way to go

Little one would know

Or believe if I told him so

[Verse 1]

Through fights with mom and long nights you're gone

Through all types of wrong, I love my pops

Through penitentiary drug addiction and misery

You defeated the enemy, I love my pops

Twenty some odd years wiping my little sister's tears

She missed dad, but where was my pops?

Too proud to tell us he was running from his demons

And we're thinking that nothing could ever budge my pops

But I used to wonder what put my moms under

My pops and kept 'em together for seventeen summers

I reminisce in my mind me and my pops would find

The time we spent it never seemed funner

But I remember the day that he left, him and my mama

They never nurtured their relationship, and it went

From Bonnie and Clyde to problems with money and pride

Together they couldn't decide...

[Chorus]

The righteous way to go

Little one would know

Or believe if I told him so

The righteous way to go

Little one would know

Or believe if I told him so

[Verse 2]

Through parental separation and miscommunication

I love my mama more than I love myself

Along with grandmamma they played my two parents

So you know I love them more than I love myself

In and out of prison for stealing, illegally making a living

But she taught me how to love myself

Pops wasn't there to teach me 'bout the man inside

I had to learn who he was myself

I was the man of the house so my younger siblings

Looked up to me as the father that they never had

Resentful of the fact my sister would talk smack

And call him "sperm donor", but never call him "dad"

It's sad, I know it gets lonely for my only brother

Cause him and his father never really got to know each other

And those days I vowed for sure

If I ever had a child, I would choose...

[Chorus]

The righteous way to go

Little one would know

Or believe if I told him so

The righteous way to go

Little one would know

Or believe if I told him so

[Verse 3]

I became a parent at the age of twenty-one

With no doubts or questions cause I love my son

I fell for a woman same name as my mama

Maintained heavy drama, but I love my son

Eleven years of love, lies and fears

Closed our eyes and ears, but because my son had

Nothing to do with the reason we would fight for days

We kept it together to raise my son

In the beginning, we would ditch school to see each other

She quit school and ran away so we could be together

Before I got paid for working my tongue

The greatest moment that we shared was the birth of my son

Another eight years passed till the day that I left

And why's that? We never nurtured our relationship

And it went bust and die cause of problems with trust and pride

Together we couldn't decide (the righteous way)

[Chorus]

The righteous way to go

Little one would know

Or believe if I told him so

The righteous way to go

Little one would know

Or believe if I told him so