[Intro: R. Kelly]
(I don't know how we made it..)
January boy, Crack..
[Verse 1: Fat Joe]
Yo, it was all a dream, couldn't save B.I.G. and Pac
Right in broad day watch the fiends bodies drop
And at night you gotta turn your TV volume up
'Cause the cop sirens blast up and down my block
Shit ain't been the same is what you hear on my block
Bunch of old school gangstas telling tales on my block
Came home tatted tears and a plan to get paid
You put it in a pot, said a prayer and it came
What can make you smile'll be the thing to bring you pain
Is what my daddy told my momma going through her labor pains
Is what my momma told me as the cops took me away
Eazy-E said "fuck 'em", yeah I feel the same way
Another dead body is just another homicide
But niggas trying to kill us, why we call it Darkside
The streets is, ruthless, even sold to my own blood
No love, just a youngin' trying to blow up
[Chorus: R. Kelly]
So tell me how did we, how did we, how did we get here?
From the middle of no where
Came up out these streets we made it, yeah
So tell me how did we, how did we, how did we get here?
(How did we get here?)
From the middle of no where, somebody tell me, how?
[Verse 2: Fat Joe]
Me and my niggas taking pictures trying to freeze time
Jus' some lil' niggas doing shit we can't rewind
Know what I'm saying?
Shit is real, fuck what y'all thought
Too many niggas getting killed on the ball court
They was chasing hoop dreams and I was busting sawed offs
And if your jewels gleamed, I would take 'em all off
Extend my organization, the crib swarming with agents
Moms crying, we pacing like lions in cages
Mob giants turned into some clients with cases
Some niggas made statements
Some niggas made the papers, damn
What part of the game is that?
I mean to hustle all my life, but I do love rap
They got my knees straight, put the battery in my back
This is around the same time Calderon got clapped
He told me put my life in music, "Joey, broaden your dreams
You can do it, look at Finesse, it ain't as hard as it seems"
[Chorus: R. Kelly]
So tell me how did we, how did we, how did we get here?
From the middle of no where
Came up out these streets we made it, yeah
So tell me how did we, how did we, how did we get here?
(How did we get here?)
From the middle of no where (Oh), somebody tell me, how? How?
[Verse 3: Fat Joe]
Ain't this nice I'm bigger than life
In a Jacuzzi, smoking a Cohiba but this ain't a movie
Before I wasn't attractive, now I pack the house with groupies
Rubbing shoulders with actors, just imagine how would you be
Rocking the latest fashion, this is Juicy, all over again
2010, its like B.I.G. is living through me
Chances (?) from crack to rap, now the paper's greater
Trying to see me on that block, I'll see you haters later
I'm so high, I defy gravity, nigga fuck a star, I'm a galaxy
So out of space they can't grab at me
Feds ain't nabbing me, I'm all legit
My bankroll much thicker, blame it on the hits
I started off with bricks, now I own offices
Who would have thought I got all this from talking slick?
Yeah, we went from day-breakers to tax payers
It was once all a dream, now the labels pay us
[Chorus: R. Kelly]
So tell me how did we, how did we, how did we get here?
From the middle of no where
Came up out these streets we made it, yeah
So tell me how did we, how did we, how did we get here?
(How did we get here?)
From the middle of no where (Oh), somebody tell me, how?
[Verse 4: R. Kelly]
I was supposed to be dead (Oh)
I was in them streets real bad (real bad)
Dreams of houses in the hills
I was hustling just to make it real
But now I came up and I'm number one (Number one)
Y'all know the story, mo' money mo' problems
In these streets (In these streets), live or die (Live or die)
And I lived, I don't know why
[Chorus: R. Kelly]
So tell me how did we, how did we, how did we get here?
From the middle of no where (No where)
Came up out these streets we made it, yeah
So tell me how did we, how did we, how did we get here?
From the middle of no where (No where, no where), somebody tell me, how?