Happy to Be Here

[female singer - repeat in background] I'm just happy to be here! [E-40 over singer] Hard times, the struggle The ups and downs, the highs and the lows You know just goin through it man, ghetto politics Tryin to make a way out of no way I was the oldest, so I had to be, the daddy of the family Momma had to work three jobs, oooh Feet stickin through my shoes, skid marks in my drawers Garage sales and flea markets, we never shopped at malls No dental plan, no medikit - we poor like rain Colored folks think that castor oil cures everythang Pork chops and chicken, we like our food fried Hypertension, Prenavil pills and hydro-chlorizide Some of my family still living, some of my family died Health complications, natural causes and homicide Just tryin to survive, nothin to lose but plenty to gain Started hustlin, flea flickin and servin that candy cane Put all my cars in my lady name, as a true hustler should She had a 9 to 5, worked at Planned Parenthood While I was in the hood, up to no good With a hoodie over my head, tryin to outslick the feds Or should I say cops, at this point in time I only had rocks Went from a little a jelly jar up to a soup pot The fast quarter my negro, don't want the slow nickel I done seen yola the same color as peanut brittle I done seen hella people relapse I done seen my homey grandparents go back to crack How sick is dat? Beggin my loved ones to send some pictures Pray for me over the phone and read me some scriptures Oooh; it's gloomy out here, dark days ahead God got my back but the devil he want my head [Chorus: D.D. Artis] I'm just happy to be here right now Lot of my folks been locked up or laid down See I'm sayin I ain't shed no tears, no But I'm just happy to be here [E-40] Listen to this, oooooh The devil-me side know that some of y'all done seen it Somebody's momma washin her son or her daughter's bloodstain off the cement Wrong place at the wrong time, infiltrators drop a dime Mistaken identity, bullets start flyin In every direction, hit a pregnant teen, she passed But her baby live through a see-section I know it sound foul and sound hecka rude, it ain't cool But it go down like that sometime when you're funkin, and you're puttin down a move We heartless and shrewd in this day and age, it ain't the same Our parents need to beat us with a belt, like Poody Tang I be high like an airplane I be smokin and perkin, takin out anger and stress on the wrong person Re-uppin and coppin turf an' just servin the soil block Grittin tryin to put some gifts in my kid's Christmas stock' Ooooh - pour out some liquor and shed a tear For the homies that never made it and family that ain't here [Chorus] [D.D. Artis] So happy You know I'm happy to be Said I'm happy, so happy just to be here To beeeeeee, to beeeeeeeeeeee To beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee (I'm so happy) (Oh I'm so happy) I'm so happy to be, to beeeeeeee-heeeeeeeeee To beeeeeeeee (to be here)