Maintain

Artist: Masta Ase Inc Album: Sittin On Chrome 12" Song: Maintain Verse One: Masta Ase I'm surrounded, by psychopathic, little fellas Ghetto dwellas With ammunition in their cellas And no remorse in their hearts When the shit starts it don't end Until somebody's gone with the wind And I'm tryin' to keep a level head so instead Of goin' out to die, I write rhymes on my bed And little kids at the playground Better stay down Keep duckin' Cause somebody else is buckin' Don't seem to be no relief from the beef Only nigga round my way without the gold teeth And the gold chain, with the whole name on my neck Jewelries your worse enemy without a tech I'm tryin' to maintain, but it ain't workin' Niggas keep lurkin' Through the darkness I see the Grim Reaper smirkin' Could it be that he's smilin' at me Not tryin' to see fatal injury, injury What must I do to avoid the pain It seems insane, but I gotta maintain I can feel the pressure on my brain Feel the strain But I gotta maintain CHORUS: Workin' hard may help ya maintain Be able to maintain Be able to maintain Workin' hard may help ya maintain Be able to, be able to Be able to maintain Workin' hard may help ya maintain Be able to maintain Be able to maintain Workin' hard may help ya maintain Be able to, be able to Be able to maintain Verse Two: Lord Digga Back in the days I use to do a little dirt Now that's comin' back around, and man it hurts To see everbody gettin' on But I got to wait cause of the things I done wrong In my life, I regret it But the man upstairs won't let me forget it Everytime I think of doin' somethin' right Here comes a dark tunnel with no signs of a light I got to fight to keep my head above water Dollars are real tight, I be askin' bums for quarters I had enough of the quick cash So I got to find a way to make the shit last In the past I woulda just gave up But there's more days to come, I know they bring ya good luck So I'm a keep doin' what I'm doin' Sippin' on the brew and catchin' wreck wit my crewin' I feel stuck with a lot of aches and pains And it's stressin' me, but I gotta maintain (Maintain, maintain)/ I gotta maintain (Maintain, maintain)/ I gotta maintain CHORUS Verse Three: There's too much pressure and stress on my chest Life's a mess And I feel depressed Seems so hard to survive and stay alive Jump in my ride and I drive, doin' 95 With my system blastin' I'm passin' cars in the right lane, light change I'm gasin' No, destination But I'm racin' With my lights on, I got my brights on Play the right song And the sweat beeds my five Drive past Five-O and now they givin' chase They'll probably want to know where the fire's at Or where the drug buyers at Fuck, my tire's flat I guess I'm pullin' over, to take a loss But it won't be the loss of my life from drivin' off course God knows I need to be here to shap me son's brain So I gotta maintain CHORUS CHORUS (fades out)