[Intro: Common]

Uh, yeah, yo

We 'bout to take y'all to the tip, to the crib

Let's do it, Mike (Yeah)

[Chorus: Mike Shinoda]

Back home (Back home), everybody's searching for

Something but all they can find's a whole lot of nothing

Back home (Back home), ain't nobody hopin' and prayin'

'Cause they feel like nothin' can save 'em

And they try to hold out but they can't fight the fact

That life goes black when those lights go out

But I guess you gotta just watch out for your own

'Cause ain't a damn thing free back home (Back home)

[Verse 1: Common]

Back home, they holla "disciple" and "blackstone"

Same block they freebase, yo, we trapped on

Where our grandmothers marched, the guns clap on

There's liquor stores, beauty supplies and rap songs

I travel the world just to come back to it

The crib got a lot of soul like black music

I'm attached to it, in many ways this city raised me

And gave me the drama, honor and bravery

The streets seem hollow, when I go to Chicago

It's cheap wine and sorrow, times is hard to swallow

In search of God's tomorrow, I borrow words from the

Bible and use them for survival

Gangs rival, signs painted on walls like hieroglyphics

I tell them that this is all tribal

Used to do dirt, shorty's goin' through the same cycle

And trials like Michael, tryin' not to stay idle, back home

[Chorus: Mike Shinoda]

Back home (Back home), everybody's searching for

Something but all they can find's a whole lot of nothing

Back home (Back home), ain't nobody hopin' and prayin'

'Cause they feel like nothin' can save 'em

And they try to hold out but they can't fight the fact

That life goes black when those lights go out

But I guess you gotta just watch out for your own

'Cause ain't a damn thing free back home (Back home)

[Verse 2: Ryu]

Back home, it's not Compton but close, the same problems

Exist and the pain throbbin' and folks are so common

It don't really bother us much, we just swallow it

Uh, crack the bottle and smoke

Hope tomorrow somethin' magical happens that'll put me back in the biz

But the chances of it actually happening's kinda slim

Back home, we get the good life at a glimpse

In the form of a rap star, drug dealers and pimps

I'm back, home

[Verse 3: Tak]

Back, home

I try my best to keep it together, it's cold (cold)

Like the Windy City streets of December

I pace back and forth, lookin' for the courage to shine but can't

Tap the source, need somethin' to nourish my mind

I know we all lose quite a bit in life, only to gain some

Life or the dark winding roads we came from

But I move with the night so I'm used to the shade and never

Lose sight, bringin' truth back to the game

[Verse 4: Mike Shinoda]

Back, home

We've got a lot of shit on our minds

We're always behind on somethin' cause there's not enough time

And we're non-stop, bottom line, doin' what we gotta do

To get some food in the fridge and stay out of the hospital

Back home, there's people callin' us hopeless

People tryin' to tell us all we need is some focus

But, focus, focus is overrated

'Cause you see every blemish and mistake and can't change it

Back home is Alvarado, K-Town and J-Town

Or Little Tokyo for those that don't know

Where figures shiver, livin' right in the litter

Where kids write bigger, right inside the L.A. river

On the concrete, a symbol of our everyday way

It's that color and concentration over heavy and gray

And by the time the ink dries on this page

I'll be half a day away from the place where I stay (Yeah)

[Chorus: Mike Shinoda]

Back home (Back home), everybody's searching for

Something but all they can find's a whole lot of nothing

Back home (Back home), ain't nobody hopin' and prayin'

'Cause they feel like nothin' can save 'em

And they try to hold out but they can't fight the fact

That life goes black when those lights go out

But I guess you gotta just watch out for your own

'Cause ain't a damn thing free back home (Back home)

[Outro: Common]

We takin' it back home, y'all

Yeah, it's Common Sense (Yeah)

My guy Mike (What up, Com?)

S.O.B. (Uh-huh), yeah

This time we rotate, it's G.O.O.D. Music (Ha ha ha)

Hip-Hop (It don't stop) yeah, uh

It's home for me, baby, yeah