[Spoken Intro]

His name was Rasool

Caramel-complected boy from the 22

Rough on the outside, but inside, he was cool

Rasool was a king, but also a fool

[Verse]

Back on the block again with the same crew

Tariq from the West Side, Little John from the avenue

Always seen 'em about a quarter to 2

Shaking hands with everybody

But at the same time, sharing the blues

And, oh, he passed it on

Shaking hands 'til what was in his pockets was gone

He'd be outside in the cold with his bubble-goose on

But inside, somehow I knew he wasn't warm

Around 10:30 on that dreary night

His boys said they were hungry, wanted to get a bite

Now they didn't send a runner, Rasool knew it wasn't right

But he stayed anyway tryna get the chain he liked

Ooh, how the shots rang in the streets

Hitting everybody in the surrounding vicinity

Children of children, one young father-to-be

And Rasool lay dead in my north Philly street

At fifteen years old, it was the first death I'd seen

But in years to come, there'd be many, many

Brothers slain tryin' to win at the game

But the game ain't designed for no kind of winning

Oh, this is a friend of Rasool begging you

To think about what you do and who you call your crew

The very choices you make may make a Rasool out of you

Now you don't want that, do you?

You don't want that, do you?

Do you? Do you? Do you? Do you?

You don't want that

You don't want that

You don't want that

You don't want that

You don't want that