[Verse 1: Jay Rock]
Growin' up, I was a knucklehead
"Boy, you never listen to me," that's what my mama said
I'm from the projects, I ain't never had shit
Me and my older brother, we had to share a mattress
No heat, no lights, had to keep them candles lit
My daddy left me at eight, in and out my life and shit
Gangbangers, dope dealers replaced my father
Neighborhood hustlers taught me to get them dollars
That's when I became a problem, product of my environment
It's hard to grow up be a doctor or a fireman
When you constantly seein' that G ride tires screechin'
And them shots firin' all the time, it happens frequently
The hood inspired him to be a G
I bled for the game, did it all for the letter B
The big homie gave me the name Jay Rock
This ain't no rap gimmick, this a real live story of Watts livin', n***a

[Chorus: Kendrick Lamar]
You can take me out the hood, but you can't take the hood out me
And that's the way that it will forever be
And I can't help it, I'm gutter
Why should I change now
When all my life I been gangbanged out?
That project shit run deep in my veins now
And I can't help it
Oh, my Lord knows that I can't help it
[Verse 2: Jay Rock]
Let me take you on a detour, Eastside Watts
N***as'd go in projects, follow me home to my black-and-white apartments
Police roll through with caution, scared to death
The homies got tats across them, capital BH over they necks
Since birth, bangin' the set
Even hoes bangin' the set
Some ain't, but most is hood rats
They lookin' for the buck
Them trash cans lay in the street
Ghetto techniques for drive-bys
For the low, them five dollars'll get you high
Dice games, YGs, fist fights
Six-fours, El Cos, G rides, and minibikes
Might see a couple of zombies late night
Off what? Off pipe, membrane dead, right, no lie
Something in the bushes, either the AK or the four-five, no lie
Raised in the ghetto with rats and roaches
Smokers on porches gettin' high off yola
It's colder north, but my city's the coldest
Where we ain't promised to see the mornin', n***a

[Chorus: Kendrick Lamar]
You can take me out the hood, but you can't take the hood out me
And that's the way that it will forever be
And I can't help it, I'm gutter
Why should I change now
When all my life I been gangbanged out?
That project shit run deep in my veins now
And I can't help it
Oh, my Lord knows that I can't help it
[Verse 3: Jay Rock]
You could take me out the hood, but the hood will never leave me
I'm still bangin', I'm still hangin'
The only difference is I'm not slangin'
Nickel and dimes, more like slangin' these rap lines
Verses of truth when I step in the booth
N***as know I pour my soul for the strugglin' youth
For that fatherless son who needed love, so he ran with a crew
Grew up before his older brother did, gin and juice
Replaced the pain I knew, carryin' thangs to school
Them n***as was trippin', I wasn't bangin' the blue
But they had to respect me, I never ran from who?
Nobody, put my faith in God
It's amazin' how I overcame them odds
On my mama, this past year, my life has slightly been revised
But notice I said slightly
'Cause me bein' absent from where I came from, that's unlikely, n***a

[Chorus: Kendrick Lamar]
You can take me out the hood, but you can't take the hood out me
And that's the way that it will forever be
And I can't help it, I'm gutter
Why should I change now
When all my life I been gangbanged out?
That project shit run deep in my veins now
And I can't help it
Oh, my Lord knows that I can't help it