You Played Yourself

This is it, dope from the fly kid

The Ice mic is back with the high bid

Suckers you've lost, 'cause players you're not, gangstas you ain't

You're fainting, punk, if you ever heard a gunshot

Yo, the pusher, the player, the pimp, gangsta, the hustler

High roller, dead pres folder

Is cold lamping like a Black king on a throne

Evil E, turn up the microphone

So I can ill and break on the rolling tape

Another album to make? Great

Islam, turn the bass kick up a bit

Hype the snare, now I got a place to sit

And ride the track like a Black mack in his 'Lac

Hit the corner slow, where the girls are at

And kick game the way it should be done

How you gonna drop science? You're dumb

Stupid ignorant, don't even talk to me

At school you dropped Math, Science, and History

And then you get on the mic and try to act smart

Well, let me tell you one thing, you got heart

To perpetrate, you're bait, so just wait

Till the press shove a mic in your face

Or you meet Boogie Down or Chuck D

Stetsasonic or the Big Daddy

And they ask you 'bout the game you claim you got

Drop science now, why not?

You start to sweat and fret, it gets hot

How'd you get into this spot?

You played yourself

Yo, yo, you played yourself

I'm no authority but I know the D-E-A-L

When it comes to dealin' with the females

What you got, they want, cash is what they need

Slip sucker and they'll break you with speed

But you meet a freak, you try to turn her out

Spendin' money's what I'm talking about

But you fool out, your pockets got blew out

And after the date, no boots, you got threw out

Mad and shook 'cause your duckets got took

Call her up, phone's off the hook

But who told you to front and flaunt your grip?

You can't buy no relationship

You played yourself

Yo, homeboy, you played yourself

I'm in the MC game, a lot of MC's front

And for the money they're sell out stunts

But they claim that they rich and that they keep cash

Yo, let me straighten this out fast

Two hundred thousand records sold

And these brothers start yellin' 'bout gold

You better double that, then double that again

And still don't get sooped, my friend

You think you've made it, you're just a lucky man

Guess who controls your destiny, fans

But you diss 'em 'cause you think you're a star

That attitude is rude, you won't get far

'Cause they'll turn on you quick, you'll drop like a brick

Unemployment's where you'll sit

No friends 'cause you dissed 'em too

No money, no crew, you're through

You played yourself

That's right, you played yourself

You played yourself

Yo, yo, you played yourself

You got problems, you claim you need a break

But every dollar you get you take

Straight to the dope man, try to get a beam up

Your idle time is spent trying to scheme up

Another way to get money for a jumbo

When you go to sleep, you count Five Os

Lying and cheating, everybody you're beating

Dirty clothes and you're skinny 'cause you haven't been eating

You ripped off all your family and your friends

Nowhere does your larceny end

And then you get an idea for a big move

An armed robbery, smooth

But everything went wrong, somebody got shot

You couldn't get away, the cops roll, you're popped

And now you're locked, yo, lamping on Death Row

Society's fault? No

Nobody put the crack into the pipe

Nobody made you smoke off your life

You thought that you could do dope and still stay cool? Fool

You played yourself

You played yourself

Ain't nobody else's fault, you played yourself