Simple Back Then

[Intro]
Sometimes I like to go back
You can call me sentimental if you want but
It's just how I'm built

[Verse 1]
On the corner summer hotter than a mix plate
Me and Lou was makin' mixtapes at his place
Gameboys with the big face, north Dade on the border
Madie Ives on a kids case
I was only like 9 back then
I ain't really want to get the shit grades
But math was not my thing, I like the music though
That a boy, show interests in the things you like
Fight through what you can't avoid
And so I did that, Choc milk with the Kit Kats
Pop dipped in a tilt cap
After him my mom had a split crack, but
We kept in touch we visit him for like a couple months
Up out the year we fly to NY, just a couple runts
Flyin' all alone the chaperone would watch us from the front
I know it sounds complicated but
It was all that we knew

[Chorus]
We used to play, used to play
Back when I was just a little heathen
Momma used to say, used to say
Don't you be out there where I can't see ya
It was simple back then
We was packed in to a little half den
Back before this life had even tried to crack in
Put the pressure on just to make our backs bend
It was simple back then, yeah uh
It was simple back then, yeah hmm
Simple back then, yeah uh
It was simple back then, yeah
It was simple back then

[Verse 2]
In the fifth grade
I was duckin' under lift gates
Bumpin' Snoop in my discman
Talking to the girl with thick braids
Fam moved us to Hollywood
New kids, new schooling now
Didn't know not a single soul
I was nervous they would never cool it down, but
I skated in, I made some friends
Hey mama look at me
Nobody's dissin' on my thrift gear
Or my crooked teeth
I thought I fell in love a couple times
Well I was young and dumb
We broke into the old abandoned cinema for summer fun
I was still drug free
Learnin' to love me
Learnin' to stand up as a man
And grow to run, see
Them days were some scene
We stayed above sea
Learning to navigate the waves
Cause it was all that we knew

[Chorus]
We used to play, used to play
Back when I was just a little heathen
Momma used to say, used to say
Don't you be out there where I can't see ya
It was simple back then
We was packed in to a little half den
Back before this life had even tried to crack in
Put the pressure on just to make our backs bend
It was simple back then, yeah uh
It was simple back then, yeah hmm
Simple back then, yeah uh
It was simple back then, yeah
It was simple back then
It was simple back then
It was simple back then
It was simple back then