He made a deal with these streets
When he was just a kid
Gave himself to the group
And the group let him live.
He found safety in these numbers
Found love on streets of stone
And what a kid won’t do for love
When he ain’t get no love at home.
Gives himself to the group
Form an unspoken bond
Vulnerable in your youth
In the group man you strong.
They say there is strength in numbers
But strength comes in your mind
And that can be the very thing you sacrifice
To the group over time.
Group got its own mentality
Got its own rules
A lot of people here are hiding their reality
And are scared to look like fools.
But he learned quick
He learned to save face
Step back boy
Now know your damn place.
Don’t do anything too brave
Don’t make yourself look soft
For that kind of name
Is hard to shake off.
Now leader’s can normally do what they want
But a leader, that ain’t him
He’s just trying to get out the house
He just wants to fit in.
Just wants to escape his home
And all that goes on there
And right now streets of stone
Are a breath of fresh air.
Made a deal with these streets
When he was just a kid
He gave himself to the group
And the group helped him live.
There are dangers out there
You ain’t got to look too far
Sometimes you get beat up
For just being who you are.
Some of them bigger kids hate
Some of them bigger kids taunt
And the feeling of somewhere safe
Is all this little kid wants.
He’s young and weak
But out here starts to feel like he belong
When the one’s meant to protect him
Are normally the one’s that do him wrong.
Just looking for some peace
When that peace is hard to find
He go out and hit the streets
Laugh away his troubled mind.
He made a deal with these streets
When he was just a kid
Gave himself to the group
And the group let him live.
Ain’t many bad kids here
Just escaping bad times
Looking for a little bit of love
Anywhere that they can find.
There’s love in this circle
They got each others back
Step to one, step to all
But they don’t just get down like that.
They laugh, they listen
For each other are always there
Give each other something they’ve been missing
But of what, they are maybe not even yet quite aware.
You look down your nose
They make you look somewhere else
Protection’s not something they don like clothes
That’s something they built themselves.
They kind of grew as one
Maybe a little more out than in
Trouble went hand in hand with fun
Now trouble’s more often what they’re in.
Made a deal with these streets
When they were just kids
They gave themselves to the group
And the group let them live.
Time ticks on
He gets older too
Some others now doing to them little kids
What them big kids used to do.
That don’t sit right
And it don’t sit easy
But hey that’s life,
Thinks,’I remember when them kids used to tease me’.
In rows a lot
Reminds him of what he was running from
And the peace that he once got
Well, he’s wondering where it’s gone?
Made a deal with these streets
When he was just a kid
Now the deal’s starting to look less sweet
Wonders what other deal there is?
Made a deal with these streets
When they were just kids
They gave themselves to the group
And the group let them live.
© Daniel Breslin