No one knows what to expect at birth.

I didn’t choose this life, life choose me

It's just meant to be.

No one can choose,

I had to learn to adapt

It was either that, or end up on my back.

There’s really only one thing you can do

That’s use what you got, and make do.

 

Some are born rich and set,

While others are poor and need to work for what they get.

Why do I need an education, I’m already set for life.

I can’t get an education, I’m already destined to work forever till I die.

Excuses come from all,

But in the end it will be our fall.

 

Growing up, saw some things

That should have been left unseen.

People were suffering, but what was that to me.

I mean what could I do, I was only a teen.

So I just let it go by, and didn't do a thing.

 

The youth was able to get away from the pain

Through some time during the day, school.

That helped many kids get by,

It was either that, or to get high.

Some took it serious because they knew what it meant

Others laughed at them because they were content.

The value of education among my peers was weak,

Because they didn't understand that it was the key.

 

 

Many were content with minimum wage jobs

Not understanding what life was like living with it.

Others took the risk of selling dope,

It made money but was it really worth it though.

Money is what makes the world go round

But living in poverty made it hard to see,

What success looks like beyond these ghetto boundaries.

 

We can agree things have changed

Looking at the mirror, I know I am not the same.

Threw away the hood mentality in which;

Why should I care about anyone?

What have they done for me?

 

 

But now I see, what I needed to see.

Today I see what the hood needs,

A role model that made it out.

Like an explorer that found new land and riches,

And brings it back home to share with the rest of the village.

 

Me, I’m at Michigan State University.

Although most expect me to fail,

I use that to motivate me and excel.

I cannot consider myself a role model yet,

Because I have my flaws.

But if someone wishes to follow me in this journey

Then I will gladly guide and assist them, by giving them all.

 

Everyone needs some love to move forward,

That one person that believes in you.

They are hard to find in the world we live today.

We live in a society filled with revenge and anger,

Ultimately leading to no success, just failure.

Jealousy is a beautiful art, a cunning deadly one

It will make you lose sight and destroy all those you love

I can’t be jealous anymore, it’s just not worth it

I’ve changed, the hood mentality left

Not all of it, but most.

 

 

I know what I want, I’m tired of seconds.

No more being average, I don’t work that way.

What is minimum wage to a degree’s pay?

There’s one way out, and one way only

We must change the views on education to the youth

And also, those they follow.

Because in the end, they are the roots, they are the future.

Do we want a tree that does not produce for anybody?

Or a tree that can feed everybody.