16 on Death Row

[Intro]

Death Row

That's where motherfuckers is endin' up

[Verse 1]

Dear Mama, I'm caught up in this sickness

I robbed my adversaries but slipped and left a witness

Wonder if they'll catch me or will this nigga snitch?

Should I shoot his bitch or make the nigga rich?

Don't wanna commit murder, but damn, they got me trapped

Hawkin' while I'm walkin' and talkin' behind my back

I'm kind of schizophrenic, I'm in this shit to win it

‘Cause life's a Wheel of Fortune, here's my chance to spin it

Got no time for cops who trip and try to catch me

Too fuckin' trigger-happy to let them suckers snatch me

Niggas gettin' jealous, tryna find my stash

Whip out the nine, now I'ma dime off your ass

Peter picked a pepper, but I can pick a punk

Snatched him like a bitch and threw him in the trunk

The punk thought I was bluffin', but swear I'm nothin' nice

Before I take your life, first wrestle with these mites

I listened to his screams until he went insane

I guess the little mites had finally found his brain

New Rovers pull me over, I'm sentenced to the pen

Remember that little bird? He snitched and told a friend

It's trouble on my mind, I'm with the old-timers

And fuck five-0! (Blaow, blaow!) Turn 'em into forty-niners

[Chorus]

Bye bye, I was never meant to live

Can't be positive when the ghetto's where you live

Bye bye, I was never meant to be

Livin' like a thief, runnin' through the streets

Bye bye, and I got no place to go

Where they find me; sixteen on Death Row

[Verse 2]

Dear Mama, these cops don't understand me

I turned to a life of crime ‘cause I came from a broken family

My uncle used to touch me, I never told you that

Scared what you might do, I couldn't hold you back

I kept it deep inside, I done let it fuel my anger

I'm down for all my homies, no mercy for a stranger

The brother in my cell is sixteen as well

It's hard to adapt when you're Black and you're trapped in a living hell

I shouldn't have let him catch me

Instead of livin' sad in jail I coulda died free and happy

And my cellmate's raped on the norm and passed around the dorm

You can hear his asshole gettin' torn

They made me an animal

Can't sleep, instead of countin' sheep, niggas countin' cannibals

And that's how it is in the pen

Turn old and cold and your soul is your best friend

My mama, pray for me

Tell the Lord to make way for me, prepare any day for me

(Why?) ‘Cause when they come for me they find a struggler

To the death I take the breath from your jugular

The trick is to never lose hope

I found my buddy hangin' dead from a rope; sixteen on Death Row

[Chorus]

Bye bye, I was never meant to live

Can't be positive when the ghetto's where you live

Bye bye, I was never meant to be

Livin' like a thief, runnin' through the streets

Bye bye, and I got no place to go

Where they find me; 16 on Death Row

[Verse 3]

Dear Mama, they sentenced me to death

Today's my final day, I'm countin' every breath

I'm bitter ‘cause I'm dyin', so much I haven't seen

I know you never dreamed your baby would be dead at sixteen

I got beef with a sick society

That doesn't give a shit and they too quick to say goodbye to me

They tell me the preacher's there for me

He's a crook with a book, that motherfucker never cared for me

He's only here to be sure

I don't drop a dime to God 'bout the crimes he's committin' on the poor

And how can these people judge me?

They ain't my peers and in all these years they ain't never love me

I never got to be a man

Must be part of some big plan to keep a nigga in the state pen

And to my homies out buryin' motherfuckers

Steer clear of these Aryan motherfuckers

‘Cause once they got you locked up

They got you trapped, you're better off gettin' shot up

I'm convinced, self-defense is the way

Please stay strapped, pack a gat everyday (Everyday)

I wish I woulda known while I was out there

Now I'm straight headin' for the chair

[Chorus]

Bye bye, I was never meant to live

Can't be positive when the ghetto's where you live

Bye bye, I was never meant to be

Livin' like a thief, runnin' through the streets

Bye bye, and I got no place to go

Where they find me; sixteen on Death Row

[Outro]

Sixteen on Death Row, Death Row

Death Row, Death Row

Sixteen on Death Row, Death Row, Death Row

It's to all my partners in the penitentiaries

Uh, sixteen on Death Row