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Artist: Masta Ase
Album:  Take a Look Around
Song:   The Other Side of Town


 Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen.  Sorry to bother you today.  My name is
 Joe.  And, um, I'm not on crack, I don't do drugs, I'm just trying to get
 something to eat.  If you can give just a penny, a nickel..a dime, a
 quarter..anything will be greatly appreciated.  Thank you for your time...
 and have a nice day.
 
  How do you do?
  I'm from the other side of town
  The place where the only skin you see is the color brown
  The sun never shines in this place where I live
  And it's hard to do right when you feel negative
  I have no compassion
  I only know agression
  And there is nothing great about this opression
  People I see on TV, in there towns live the good life
  But I live out of bounds
  Where nobody comes unless they're forced to come
  In school, they call me the bum from the slum
  But they don't know
  My sista has no food to eat
  And her hand-me-down shoes are too tight for her feet
  The way I see things, life isn't fair
  So I never learned how to share or to care
  But to hope - and hope
  Instead of feeling down
  And that's how it is
  On the other side of town
 
 I live on the other side of town
 
  Pardon me, brotha
  As you stand in your glory
  I hope you don't mind as I tell the whole story
  Some people livin life like fun in the sun
  But yo, others are givin strife, and that's all they know
  I feel no comfort in talks from the President
  So put back on Cosby
  A shack is my resident
  I think if I ever die, it might be a blessin
  Some say I never try, but why are they stressin
  I'll never get ahead; my raps have a better chance
  I'm livin on Wonder Bread with holes in my leather pants
  I'm not on the drug scene; they call me a crack head
  I just had a bugged dream that I was a black man
  Workin in the hospital
  Then in came in a half-dead rich bitch
  Yo, they must be insane
  You think I would save her?
  Yo, she wouldn't save me
  I asked for a quater once, and guess what she gave me
  A fuckin penny
  A ?quarter? costs half a mill
  If it's up to me, yo, she's pushin up dafodils
  In a casket
  Payback's a female dog
  Yo, send her ass to the morgue
  Then I woke up, and I sat with a frown
  Damn, I woke up
  But on the other side of town
 
 The other side of town
 
  My teacher's a fat man
  Yo, how can they tempt me so
  Fuck geometry, my stomach is empty, yo
  Can't you teach me to win this crazy game?
  You and I are in so many ways the same
  People tell me, but I don't believe that shit
  Why do you sell me a dream, then leave me spit?
  The truth is bare, and so is my cupboards, too
  I wonder what could even L. Ron Hubbard do
  Because my mind right now is on the brink of breakin
  Yo, look how I think
  I think I'll stick up the store with the Arab guy
  I'm sick of him anyway; his prices are too high
  Or maybe I'll start sellin Avon door-to-door
  Then pull a jammy, and make a bigger score
  Nah, maybe I'll start sellin dope for my cous
  Then I could drive the same car he does
  The life of a poor man
  Consider me desperate
  I sleep in a cold room
  And wish I could just get
  A piece of the pie
  Is that asking too much?
  I can't even reach what others have in their clutch
  I wish I could go on, but I have to end this
  And get back to livin a life that is winless
  There's no use swimmin, so I might as well drown
  In my sorrows
  Cause tomorrow's the other side of town
 
 The other side of town
 The other side of town