In the streets of new york 
Dope fiends are leaning for morphine 
The tv screen followed the homicide scenes 
You live here  you're taking a chance 
So look and i take one glance  there's a man inside an ambulance 
Crowds are getting louder  i wonder how the 
People want to go fight for the white powder 
People hanging in spots 
They waited until the blocks got hot 
And got raided by the cops 
I'll explain the man sleeping in the rain 
His whole life remains inside a bottle of night train 
Another man got his clothes in a sack 
Cause he spent every dime of his rent playing blackjack 
And there's the poor little sister 
She has a little baby daughter 
Named sonya and sonya has pneumonia 
So why's her mother in a club unzipped though? 
Yo that's her job, sonya's mommy is a bar stripper 
Drug dealers drive around looking hard 
Knowing they're sending their brothers and sisters to the graveyard 
Every day is a main event, some old lady limps 
The pushers and pimps eat shrimps 
It gets tiring, the sight of a gun firing 
They must desire for the sound of a siren 
A bag lady dies in an alleyway 
She's seen the last of her days inside the subways 
More and more down the slope, the kid couldn't cope 
So he stole somebody's dope and a gold rope 
Now my son's on the run, he's a wanted one 
Had fun then was done by a shotgun 
Upstairs i cover my ears and tears 
The man downstairs must have drank too many beers 
Cause every day of his life he beats his wife 
Till one night she decides to pull a butcher knife 
Blind man plays the sax 
A tune called “the arms on my moms show railroad tracks” 
Many lives are cut short 
That's when you're living 
In the streets of new york 
<break> 
Baby needs new shoes 
But his papa uses all the money for booze 
A young girl is undressed in the back seat of a caddy 
Calling some man daddy 
Three men slain inside an apartment 
All you could see was the sparks when it darkened 
Daylight broke, cops roll on the scene 
The drug war, daily routine 
Gambling spots, just a poor man's jackpot 
You winning a lot, you get shot 
The drug dealing fanatics 
But you don't want no static 
Cause they got crack addicts with automatics 
Shoot-outs for a desire for territory 
A kid got caught in the crossfire 
A tired mother can't take no more 
She grab the bottle full of sleeping pills and took about 24 
Human beings are laying on the pavement 
Cause they're a part of a mental enslavement 
The cop snipers, little babies in dirty diapers 
This type of life is making you hyper 
People scouting a torched-out building 
And got killed when the cold air filled in 
Is hell really suggested? 
No more persons arrested, a child molested 
A little kid says, "yo 
I got a color tv, cd player and car stereo 
And all i want is a castle 
I also got a .38, don't give me no hassle" 
One kid heads straight for the top 
And gets stopped and popped by a crooked cop 
Look behind you when you walk 
That's how it is in the streets of new york