Back Home

[Intro: Common]
Uh, yeah, yo
We 'bout to take y'all to the tip, to the crib
Let's do it, Mike (Yeah)

[Chorus: Mike Shinoda]
Back home (Back home), everybody's searching for
Something but all they can find's a whole lot of nothing
Back home (Back home), ain't nobody hopin' and prayin'
'Cause they feel like nothin' can save 'em
And they try to hold out but they can't fight the fact
That life goes black when those lights go out
But I guess you gotta just watch out for your own
'Cause ain't a damn thing free back home (Back home)

[Verse 1: Common]
Back home, they holla "disciple" and "blackstone"
Same block they freebase, yo, we trapped on
Where our grandmothers marched, the guns clap on
There's liquor stores, beauty supplies and rap songs
I travel the world just to come back to it
The crib got a lot of soul like black music
I'm attached to it, in many ways this city raised me
And gave me the drama, honor and bravery
The streets seem hollow, when I go to Chicago
It's cheap wine and sorrow, times is hard to swallow
In search of God's tomorrow, I borrow words from the
Bible and use them for survival
Gangs rival, signs painted on walls like hieroglyphics
I tell them that this is all tribal
Used to do dirt, shorty's goin' through the same cycle
And trials like Michael, tryin' not to stay idle, back home

[Chorus: Mike Shinoda]
Back home (Back home), everybody's searching for
Something but all they can find's a whole lot of nothing
Back home (Back home), ain't nobody hopin' and prayin'
'Cause they feel like nothin' can save 'em
And they try to hold out but they can't fight the fact
That life goes black when those lights go out
But I guess you gotta just watch out for your own
'Cause ain't a damn thing free back home (Back home)

[Verse 2: Ryu]
Back home, it's not Compton but close, the same problems
Exist and the pain throbbin' and folks are so common
It don't really bother us much, we just swallow it
Uh, crack the bottle and smoke
Hope tomorrow somethin' magical happens that'll put me back in the biz
But the chances of it actually happening's kinda slim
Back home, we get the good life at a glimpse
In the form of a rap star, drug dealers and pimps
I'm back, home

[Verse 3: Tak]
Back, home
I try my best to keep it together, it's cold (cold)
Like the Windy City streets of December
I pace back and forth, lookin' for the courage to shine but can't
Tap the source, need somethin' to nourish my mind
I know we all lose quite a bit in life, only to gain some
Life or the dark winding roads we came from
But I move with the night so I'm used to the shade and never
Lose sight, bringin' truth back to the game

[Verse 4: Mike Shinoda]
Back, home
We've got a lot of shit on our minds
We're always behind on somethin' cause there's not enough time
And we're non-stop, bottom line, doin' what we gotta do
To get some food in the fridge and stay out of the hospital
Back home, there's people callin' us hopeless
People tryin' to tell us all we need is some focus
But, focus, focus is overrated
'Cause you see every blemish and mistake and can't change it
Back home is Alvarado, K-Town and J-Town
Or Little Tokyo for those that don't know
Where figures shiver, livin' right in the litter
Where kids write bigger, right inside the L.A. river
On the concrete, a symbol of our everyday way
It's that color and concentration over heavy and gray
And by the time the ink dries on this page
I'll be half a day away from the place where I stay (Yeah)

[Chorus: Mike Shinoda]
Back home (Back home), everybody's searching for
Something but all they can find's a whole lot of nothing
Back home (Back home), ain't nobody hopin' and prayin'
'Cause they feel like nothin' can save 'em
And they try to hold out but they can't fight the fact
That life goes black when those lights go out
But I guess you gotta just watch out for your own
'Cause ain't a damn thing free back home (Back home)

[Outro: Common]
We takin' it back home, y'all
Yeah, it's Common Sense (Yeah)
My guy Mike (What up, Com?)
S.O.B. (Uh-huh), yeah
This time we rotate, it's good music (Ha ha ha)
Hip-Hop (It don't stop) yeah, uh
It's home for me, baby, yeah