Guilty by Affiliation

[Verse 1: W.C.]

From hood to hood, city to project, the project

Nigga what's the motherfuckin' dialect?

Gangstas, caught in a shuffle

Niggas tryin' to turn a constant struggle to the positive hustle

Whether it's the yay or the 9-to-5

The pills or the chronic, we hustle to stay alive

And if you ain't Reggie Bush runnin' a rock

You better be good as Kobe slangin' a jumpshot

Cause round here the odds of success is nimble

It's like Russian Roulet with five bullets in the barrel

I'm located on the map, with latinos and black

American dream is pistol and a dope sack

Where they process, strip us down to scan us

Lock us up and ban us, the city of bandanas

Where we, grind steadily and move to the 12-gauge melody

Just livin' in the hood is a felony

[Chorus: Ice Cube]

And if you guilty by affiliation

And you're subject to humiliation

And you're facin' incarceration

Probation or under investigation

Throw your hands up to the sky

Oh Lord please tell me why

My own people gon' testify

I'm in the hood and I don't have a alibi

[Verse 2: W.C.]

I'm lookin' at my TV. The commercials keep

Tellin' me, nigga 'Be All You Can Be'

But if ain't BET or in the backseat

Of the LAPD I'd barely see me

It's a trip, the whole world finna rap

But when it's time to shine, where all the real niggas at?

Do a nigga gotta be rich, just to get over?

Do a gotta be a bitch to sit next to Oprah?

It must be the walk but I'mma keep it O.G

I'm a nigga that like soul food and to smoke weed

And stay breaded, hit the corner on the hog

With my middle finger twisted, index and pinky spreaded

A sellout nigga, I'm the wrong type

West Coast nigga, take flight on site, I know they

Hate to see me comin' but, I gots to put the blue

Chucks on the pedal and rep it for the ghetto

[Chorus: Ice Cube]

And if you guilty by affiliation

And you're subject to humiliation

And you're facin' incarceration

Probation or under investigation

Throw your hands up to the sky

Oh Lord please tell me why

My own people gon' testify

I'm in the hood and I don't have a alibi

[Verse 3: W.C.]

Fo-fo' up under my zipper

Cause bein' black ain't a job it's a motherfuckin' adventure

Look, the gun shots won't cease

And rollin' by, if it ain't my enemies then it's the police

I'm askin', which one will kill me faster?

Is it that drive-by, or the cigarette causin' cancer?

God made a promise that we all gon' die

Along the ride nigga might as well ball and get high

So I'm sittin' back with the zig-zag, grabbin' and snappin'

The gank back for action just in case I gotta get to clappin'

Cause niggas is playin' elimination

And where I'm from every nigga's guilty by affiliation

That's why we ride and the young die

And you lucky if you live to pass 25 that's why they

Hate to see me comin' but, I gots to put the blue

Chucks on the pedal and rep it for the ghetto

[Chorus: Ice Cube]

And if you guilty by affiliation

And you're subject to humiliation

And you're facin' incarceration

Probation or under investigation

Throw your hands up to the sky

Oh Lord please tell me why

My own people gon' testify

I'm in the hood and I don't have a alibi

[Verse 4: W.C., (Ice Cube)]

I gotta rep where I'm from (Where you from?)

South Central where the good die young

(Where you at?) Western & Imperial

It's the pure West Coast, comin' out your stereo (West Coast)

I gotta rep where I'm from (Where you from?)

South Central where the good die young

(Where you at?) Western & Imperial

It's the pure West Coast, comin' out your stereo