Maintain

[Intro: Blu] Yeah... Listen... [Verse 1: Blu] I'm trying to find a way up out of this; living at home Trying to find out who my father is, sitting alone Bumpin' Common Sense, blown Not off the chronic, but off the knowledge in his dome Still astonished, but I gotta move on See, my mother thinks my problem is I really ain't accomplish shit 21 without a car, scarred, without a scholarship And some days I don't eat, all I got is pocket lint And I walk around with cold feet and I'm thinner than my wallet is But she don't realize, her son is five times dominant Than most niggas she's honorin' But she don't see the prominence Probably fuck around and change the world like Bob Marley did My talent's apparent, but its fatherless – So how she gon' acknowledge it? I hate running away from my problems without solving it proper I don't wanna be a doctor I just wanna be the father that my father never bothered to be My son ain't never have to follow the streets His role model is me [Hook: Miguel] Life can get you down sometimes We keep movin' on Just keep your head up high All things change with time You-ou-ou-ou-ou-ou... You gon' be alright Never give up your dreams Maintain your fight [Verse 2: Donel Smokes] Up early in the morning, still yawnin', Mama wakin' me up If not church it was school, which I didn't give a fuck about neither A non-believer, you can call me whatever Doin' dumb shit, like ditchin' class – I knew nothin' better Instead of treatin' myself, I was cheatin' myself Trying to be different, when I should have tried being myself It would have helped if Gramps Sr. was around when I was younger Left Mama trying to tell me that the gunshots was thunder I was hearin', trying to sleep over Little Bo Peep A strong woman, kept seein' fallen tears from her cheeks on my sheets Was he strong? Was he weak? I don't know... But it takes something great to leave a family of four Sometimes it makes no sense at all Even though we made it over where you fumbled Mama picked up the ball and scored Lord, help the man, wherever he is And give me the strength, so I won't do the same to my kids That's real [Hook: Miguel] Life can get you down sometimes We keep movin' on Just keep your head up high All things change with time You-ou-ou-ou-ou-ou... You gon' be alright Never give up your dreams Maintain your fight [Verse 3: Co$$] I gotta get up outta here, I'm a prisoner of pain I'm a captive to a mind like it's driven insane It's like I'm livin' for the minute that this livin's explained I gotta know, if after living will our spirit remain? Why we hug up on the block and raise our kids in a gang? And why once we've lived once we never livin' again? Why my pops shot up the juice and what it did to his veins? Was them needles from a victim that was inflicted with A.I.D.S? Is this the reason that he got it? You know why, I suppose I don't know, and not knowin' is like a knife in my soul It's real talk, I ain't sure about the life that's beyond And I don't understand my people, why we fightin' amongst ourselves? God help us, we ain't right in the head And I be dreamin' 'bout my problems every night in the bed I be thinkin' 'bout my path and shit, a nigga feelin' passionate At the same time enraged 'bout the past, I can't get past the shit And lookin' back on it, there ain't nothin' to say I'm too wrapped up in the pain, I feel this numbin' embrace I get a flash of them streets and what they done to my face And when he beat me to my knees, he had a gun in his waist But the beatin' that I took, it wasn't nothin' to take it Trust me, he'd have killed me if he done it today I ain't never been no coward, so fuck that runnin' away You only catch a nigga runnin' if there's something to chase It's young Co$$ [Hook: Miguel] Life can get you down sometimes We keep movin' on Just keep your head up high All things change with time You-ou-ou-ou-ou-ou... You gon' be alright Never give up your dreams Maintain your fight Life can get you down sometimes We keep movin' on Just keep your head up high All things change with time You-ou-ou-ou-ou-ou... You gon' be alright Never give up your dreams Maintain your fight