The Product - Ice Cube

I was told, cause I didn't witness the whole act

In and out was the movement of the bozack

It was hot and sweaty and lots of pushin

Then the nut came gushin

And it was hell tryin to bail to the ovary

With nuttin but the Lord lookin over me

I was white with a tail

But when I reached the finish line, young black male!

One cell made two, and two cells made fo'

and so on, so now I'm a embryo

Then I got a hunch

that I'ma be on lockdown, for nine months

Chillin, with my mother to guide me

And nuttin but a stomach to hide me

from all that worry and bullshit

Nine months later, I elbow pull and kick

cause my time is up and I don't care

With one big push, I'm outta there

June 15th, it's just my luck

In 1969, a nigga is the product

"Ghetto ass nigga, you ain't shit,

and you ain't gon' never be shit!"

I learned how to walk and talk and all that

They put me in school, but it don't matter

Cause I'm sittin in history

Learnin bout a sucker, who didn't give a fuck about me

They try to shape us

But I know Uncle Sam is a motherfuckin rapist

So I stopped payin attention

Ice Cube, headed, straight to detention

Fuck that shit, I roam the hallways

I'm sent home and I don't got all A's

A high school dropout

My father had beef so I tried to knock pops out

But I got tossed, he's the boss

I'm out of there and mad cause I lost

Now bein on my own is a factor

So I become, the neighborhood jacker

Gimme your car, run your jewels

Makin a livin robbin fools

And if I let my nine rang out

You know, it'll make your brains hang out

So what's your fate?

Am I the nigga you love, or the one you love to hate?

The wrong answer is said, the nigga fled

I pump lead, now he's in a puddle of red

And if you got a buck, you're shit out of luck

Stuck up by the motherfuckin product

"Uh-uh motherfucker you gots to get a job

if you wanna stay in my motherfuckin house"

"Many young men reject the traditional values

that are important to their parents.

Church, school and family

have been replaced by street, turf, and gang."

Twenty-one now, and paid in full

Feelin bad, from all the shit I pulled

on people back in the day

Plus, I got a little baby on the way

So I'm tryin to go straight

I'm with my baby's momma, out on a date

Til the punk ass cops ran my plate

Now I'm on a bus upstate

"Oh, the young nigga done caught a case!"

"Sittin in the mess hall, sayin my grace" -> LL Cool J

Sent to a concrete hoe-house

Where all the products go, no doubt

Yo momma, I gotta do eleven

Livin in a five by seven

Dear baby, your man's gettin worn out

of seein young boys gettin they assholes torn out

And then he got shanked with a spoon

And he was 'sposed to get out soon

Is it my fault, he was caught in production

Where a young black life means nothin

Just because, I didn't want to learn your grammar

you say I'm better off in the slammer

And it's drivin me batty

Cause my little boy, is missin daddy

I'm ashamed, but the fact is

I wish pops let me off on the mattress

Or should I just hang from the top bunk

But that's goin out like a punk

My life is FUCKED!

But it ain't my fault, cause I'm the motherfuckin product

"He ain't shit"