Corner Store Stories

[Verse 1]
I remember drinking 50 cent nutties sittin' on the stoop, listenin' to 'Gimme The Loot'
The truths were hard and the lies were in abundance
Back when all that mattered was vaginas you done bust in or the fights that you done won, shit
You needed some stories, old heads told you bout 'back in the day'
Speaking passionately, we lusted for our own tails
But now I'm older, hear our stories get retold by all my friends and shit, an honest recollection be like so rare
Cyclical embellishment be only to our detriment, 'cause we going on decades of money, pussy, weed fetishes
Rhetoric be redundant, heaven be when the blunt lit, discussion rarely meanders to waters we ain't accustomed, it's hard
Remember after dark, we used to bring the gloves out, and back further we was playing manhunt
We didn't know the cops was playing too on anybody with a tan
But got a little older and began to understand what the city about
Shit, the beauty and the wickedness, profundity and simpleness
We right up in the thick of it, grab a 40 and listen to tales of glory and sinnin'
If our best days behind us, we ain't gon' never forget 'em

[Chorus]
New York, New York, I'm a Hell's Kitchen baby
Born with a pitchfork, you could never play me
Born with the shit talk, I don't need that praise, B
Shouts to the city that raised me
You can take my blocks, you ain't takin' my pride
Catch me at the corner store, I be waitin' outside
I'm from 'round here, yeah, motherfucker I'm from 'round here, yeah

[Verse 2]
I remember when Pat punched dude off his skateboard for breathing
When Mike fought on 48th street to squash the beef
When every year, it was lit at the 9th ave. festival
Throwin' stink bombs under tables, shit, just to mess with you
Hittin' chicks in staircases, roofs, and playgrounds too
I'm paintin' you a picture, ain't always say I was proud to, hey
It's what it is, those days when we was kids lasted longer for some
I seen that quandary become unbearable for a few now
Watch my big bro lose his mind to the stress, he walkin' round without a crew now
Ain't always stick to the script but the loyalty the glue now
When push comes to shove I hold everyone in my crew down
But see, the thing is in New York, even that corner store know that any minute, shit
He could get evicted and replaced by some fucking organic spinach
So it's every man for himself and that's just how we live in New York

[Chorus]
New York, New York, I'm a Hell's Kitchen baby
Born with a pitchfork, you could never play me
Born with the shit talk, I don't need that praise, B
Shouts to the city that raised me
You can take my blocks, you ain't takin' my pride
Catch me at the corner store, I be waitin' outside
I'm from 'round here, yeah, motherfucker I'm from 'round here, yeah
You can take my blocks, you ain't takin' my pride
Catch me at the corner store, I be waitin' outside
I'm from 'round here, yeah, motherfucker I'm from 'round here, yeah