I Don't Know Why

Ooh, ooh, ooh, hey yeah, ahh no
So much yeah, ooh

There's so much trouble in my life
Sometimes it gets so bad I just breakdown and cry
I got my rent to pay and it's overdue
Don't wanna sale my body just to make it through
You see I can't depend upon no man
To be responsible or even understand
It's just the way it is at this point and time
Sometimes it gets so scared unless it blows my mind
Me and my homegirls, we got a plan
Every night at seven we'll take things in our own hands
Now we can play around, let's make some ends
I got my hustle on cause money's my best friend

I wanna be stress free, rest easy at night
But there's so much drama goin' on in my life
These days, nights missed get you labeled naive
And commons get taking for stupidity
So I keep my guard up in this macho world
Cause everybody's running game on mama's little girl
We getting babies from shady, wanna-be playas
Who wanna lay us, stick ya, hit ya, forget ya while we stay up
Crying till our eyes are swollen
Single mothers got the weight of the world on they shoulders
Want em' to hold us and tell us it's gon' be alright
Even the hardest sister needs a good man in her life
I paid the price and my life is still in a damper
After times of dirty dancing, get the babies pampers
And don't talk about the welfare and how they knock us
Knowing that chump change can't provide nothing proper
While the doctors give us new-age birth control
They make the swollen to skinny
Bleeding constantly or missing monthly, scrapping pennies
While my kid's daddy slinging those Z's
But ain't doing shit for neither one of these
Should I ease up, grab a case, and set it off like Jada
Break with the paper, get in a comfort zone from pullin' capers
Makes us wanna holler, scream, and shout and say
Oh father, why I got live this way

[Chorus]
I don't know why I live this way (I don't know why I live this way)
I don't know why I live this way (Ooh, ooh, ooh, yeah, yeah)
I don't know why I live this way (I don't know why I live this way)
I don't know why I live this way (Don't know why, I live this way)

All my sisters keep ya head up, we ain't giving up without a fight
There's been a struggle but pretty soon we gonna bubble
Though trouble be knocking on my door like every 24-7
Heaven knows that I like to keep the bills in check and
Letting my kids down on they birthday
Gnaws at my heart and tears me apart
Can't let it go like this
Racing through the malls at Christmas time, Babylon
Got my mind on trip, December 25th ain't gotta bit
To do with Christ or his birth
Greedy devils give us pagan, holler
And profit off us give praise for better days
Better be ahead of what I said
Third, I can see I can destroy the mental chains on our enslaved brains
Cocaine, be the aim, be the means of profit
But logically it tells me I'm going to jail and getting killed
Oh well, I gotta do what I gotta
Until a new day when I don't have to ask why I live this way

[Chorus]