A Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Waste (MC Shan)

Gangs usually roll as a savage pack Once sworn in, there's no turnin back Initiation, manhoods are tested Do crime, you'll fail by becoming arrested Get beat down the line, cautiously steppin Always watchin your back with your hand on your weapon You blink for a minute and get brutally beaten Every time you diss the colors it will keep on repeatin When you say you knew somebody that was a gang member You can't say you know him, you can only remember You have to live life all nervous and worried But joinin a gang means you want to be buried It's either that or jail cause there's no other place And a mind is a terrible thing to waste Just a walk on the block, they tell you it costs Willingly pay - or be forced Once your color is set you gotta be stern A bad influence for the young that are eager to learn The rules of a gang is fightin and killin Did you ever stop to think that was blood you were spillin? Duckin from the cops most the time Because you live life devoted to crime Gangs are mainly based on colors and races Not everywhere, just in particular places Hang on the corner or on the stoop Fightin people lookin just like a terrorist group Gangs give a rank at society level Wear a tatoo skull with the mark of the devil You have to live life all nervous and worried But joinin a gang means you want to be buried It's either that or jail cause there's no other place And a mind is a terrible thing to waste No turnin back [repeated] Had many bad dreams, nights stayin awake Joinin a gang was the fatal mistake Just to fill your head with knowledge till your mind goes blank And rumble with boys and dispose of the shank GANG can be spelled with capital letters Yo, while you're sweepin the streets, does it make you feel better? Some gangs lack action, they're basically talk Until their brains get scattered on the sidewalk Your obligation is to serve as a marionette And by society you're treated like a homeless pet You want to live the life of crime doin negative things When Al Capone died, so did gangster kings To live the life of a gangster is all out of place Because a mind is a terrible thing to waste Gangs are always violent but jail is rough You go a man and you may leave a cream puff You say you do crime cause you're poverty stricken And so is everybody that you're robbin and vickin Gangs ain't gonna be around much longer If 5 out of 10 become mentally stronger My mother said bein in a gang ain't nothin I didn't listen to her cause I thought she was bluffin I thank her from my heart that she stayed on my case Made sure my mind didn't just become another waste