Advisory - the following lyrics contain explicit language:
Alright coming up now another request
This time from the boys down at Anna's Pizza Paradise
A new arrangement of a great oldie in rhythm and bluesIn the heart of the city you was born and bred
You grew up smart or you wound up dead
Things moved fast, but you knew the scoop
And your savior was a rhyme and a beat and a rap groupA modern day production of the city street
You said I didn't have it that I couldn't compete
So the sleeper did sleep but the sleeper shoulda woke up
Now you're in my sight, the Buddha sees you smoke upThat's the element you carry your rhymes on
That style of rhyme won't let you live long
'Cause a strong song to you is what I sent
'Cause I'm a product, of the environmentThere it is, black and white
There it is, black and whiteOn the streets of far Rockaway Queens
Seagram Boulevard, B-17
Redfern houses where no MC would ever go
Is where I did my very first showHad the crowd had the rhymes going, I never fess
His reward, was almost a bullet in his chest
And on that stage, is where I first learned
Stick out my chest to be a kid and get burnedYou're so foolish, but I think you knew this
That on the the microphone punk I can do this
And doing this, is what life meant
'Cause I'm a product, of the environmentThere it is, black and white
There it is, black and whiteBack in the days when kids were mack daddies
Striped Lee jeans, playboys and Caddies
Long Beach, the M.O.K. center
He almost caught a bad one when he tried to enter our wayBang! Bum rush the back door
Then scatter, onto the dance floor
Me and my boys, skeezin' the cuties
Never had static, cuz everybody knew meLocal DJ's, tearin' up the wax
And out on the corner, some kid gets taxed
After the party, crack open a forty
Vicked it from the store yo the man never caught meWent up to the arcade, cranked the bass
And then the five-oh chased us from the place
Hop on the railroad, play the conductor
Everywhere I went I always tucked
A marker in my jacket to tag where I went
'Cause we were just products, of the environmentThere it is, black and white
There it is, black and whiteI wanna tell you something that gets me kind of mad
It's about my dear old dad
He's tired, and worn, and works a nine to five
Clockin' thirty G's a year to surviveBut I know kids who in a month or so
Make that money sellin' ya-yo
Pushin' a drug, I can't understand
Destroyin' a life with a buck in the handPlay rotten slum chain, local street hero
But if you ask Serch, you're just a bunch of zeros
Too bad 'cause when you're older, you won't have a cent
'Cause you're a product, of the environmentThere it is, black and white
There it is, black and whiteYou hear it in the strength of my voice and in my rhythm
Now you know, how I was livin'
It happened to me, like it happened to Serch
Prime Minister Pete Nice'll kick the verseIn Bed-Stuy with my boy, Kiwai Height
The K to A Kingston, Wednesday night
To the Empire, show slammin'
Open for Dana, crew flamin'Mouth open wide, or listenin'
Dumb dope with a forty in my system
Unprotected but respected for my own self
'Cause of talent, no shade, or nothin' elseA time of tension, racially fenced in
I came off and all the brothers blessed him
I left more than a mark, I left a dent
'Cause I'm a product, of the environmentSerch, skin is just a color of the mind and the soul
And a brother ain't a brother if his heart is cold
You know what I'm sayin' fellas?Word and I think we need a positive Kause in a much damaged society
Word up man nubians killin' nubians, brothers just don't understand
Word maybe it's some of that crime that's stoppin' the growin'
The drug pollution and all needs to calm downWord man, cause that's what we need, we need Griff Productions
We need a K.M.D. man to uplift the race and bring
Kause in the beginnin' and a Posse called, 'Get Yours'
Yeah there it is, to all y'all bigots who want us to bend
We're just products of the environment, peace, hopefullyThere it is, black and whiteThere it is, black and white