The Product

By Ice Cube

On Kill At Will

Released on December 18, 1990

7K Views

Thumbnail

[Intro]

(Are you ready?)

(Fuck that, Ice Cube coming back at you with another motherfucking bomb)


[Verse 1]

I was told, 'cause I didn't witness the whole act

In and out was the movement of the bozack

It was hot and sweaty and lots of pushin'

Then the nut came gushin'

And it was hell trying to bail to the ovary

With nothing but the Lord lookin over me

I was white with a tail

But when I reached the finish line, young black male!

One cell made two, and two cells made fo'

And so on, so now I'm a embryo

Then I got a hunch

That I'mma be on lockdown, for nine months

Chillin', with my mother to guide me

And nuttin' but a stomach to hide me

From all that worry and bullshit

Nine months later, I elbow pull and kick

'Cause my time is up and I don't care

With one big push, I'm outta there

June 15th, it's just my luck

In 1969, a nigga is the product

(Ghetto-ass nigga, you ain't shit

And you ain't gon' never be shit!)


[Verse 2]

I learned how to walk and talk and all that

They put me in school, but it don't matter

'Cause I'm sitting in history

Learning bout a sucker, who didn't give a fuck about me

They try to shape us

But I know Uncle Sam is a motherfucking rapist

So I stopped paying attention

Ice Cube, headed, straight to detention

Fuck that shit, I roam the hallways

I'm sent home and I don't got all A's

A high school dropout

My father had beef so I tried to knock pops out

But I got tossed, he's the boss

I'm out of there and mad 'cause I lost

Now being on my own is a factor

So I become, the neighborhood jacker

Gimme your car, run your jewels

Making a living robbing fools

And if I let my nine rang out

You know, it'll make your brains hang out

So what's your fate?

Am I the nigga you love, or the one you love to hate?

The wrong answer is said, the nigga fled

I pump lead, now he's in a puddle of red

And if you got a buck, you're shit out of luck

Stuck up by the motherfucking product

(Uh-uh motherfucker you gots to get a job

If you wanna stay in my motherfucking house)

(Many young men reject the traditional values

That are important to their parents

Church, school and family

Have been replaced by street, turf, and gang)


[Verse 3]

Twenty-one now, and paid in full

Feeling bad, from all the shit I pulled

On people back in the day

Plus, I got a little baby on the way

So I'm trying to go straight

I'm with my baby's momma, out on a date

Til the punk ass cops ran my plate

Now I'm on a bus upstate

"Oh, the young nigga done caught a case!"

(Eating in the mess hall, saying my grace)

Sent to a concrete ho-house

Where all the products go, no doubt

Yo momma, I gotta do eleven

Living in a five-by-seven

Dear baby, your man's getting worn out

Of seeing young boys getting they assholes torn out

And then he got shanked with a spoon

And he was supposed to get out soon

Is it my fault, he was caught in production

Where a young black life means nothin'

Just because, I didn't want to learn your grammar

You say I'm better off in the slammer

And it's driving me batty

'Cause my little boy, is missing daddy

I'm ashamed, but the fact is

I wish pops let me off on the mattress

Or should I just hang from the top bunk

But that's going out like a punk

My life is fucked

But it ain't my fault, 'cause I'm the motherfucking product

(He ain't shit)