I swear to tell the truth and nothin but the truth...
  so help me GOD
  I just felt like tellin the story of my life
  Felt like, maybe somebody could be inspired, you know?
  We all feel pain, we all go through things
  But it's time to overcome all that
    [Verse One: LL Cool J]
    If your plane crashed in the water and everybody died
  would you drown on purpose or try to survive?
  I was born handicapped my arm wouldn't move
  They called me a cripple pops caught an attitude
  Beat my moms smoked lye drove trucks
  My moms had a miscarriage, he didn't give a fuck
  He sniffed some coke, come home
  Beat up on my moms cause she's talkin on the phone
  Come on
    [Chorus: LL Cool J and singers]
    (all I ever wanted)
  All I ever wanted
  (all I ever needed)
  All I ever needed
  (was a father)
  was a father
  (that's all)
  That's all!
  (all I ever wanted)
  All I ever wanted
  (all I ever needed)
  All I ever needed... was a father
  (was a father)
    [Verse Two: LL Cool J]
    Moms got tired of the beatings said, "Yo, we got to go"
  Packed up her bags we bounced out the do'
  She said, "I ain't takin these whippin's no mo'
  I wanna live to see my little Todd grow"
  I remember tear drops on my pops face
  Lookin down at me standin on the staircase
  Handsome brother with a smooth goatee
  Makes me wonder why he act so ugly, you feelin me?
  (I'm feelin you)
    [Chorus]
    [Verse Three: LL Cool J]
    My pops got drunk when me and my moms bounced
  Swigged some Jack Dan', sniffed up a ounce
  Grabbed the shotty left Long Isle for Queens
  Possesed by a demon... a devil it seemed
  I was too young to understand the risk
  when your moms come home off the midnight shift
  She turned around heard the shotgun click
  My pops said, "You think that you could leave me?"
  He blasted my moms in the back
  She fell down screamin I can't forget that
  My grandfather tried to close the do'
  He got shot ten times in the stomach yo, for real
    [Chorus]
    [Verse Four: LL Cool J]
    My head was spinnin, I had never seen blood
  Four years old, this don't feel like love
  Anyway, pops dissapeared
  Grandpops and moms healed up over the years
  This therapist got up in her head
  Led her to believe without him she'd be dead
  You know, they fell in love with one another
  Everything seemed right that's word to mother
  until I started gettin beatings everday
  Sometimes for going outside to play
  Late at night on my knees I'd pray
  a young child, wishin the pain would go away
  Dad where was you when he made me strip
  Beat with belts like a slave with a whip
  Kicked me down steps outside in the snow
  Punched me in the chest stomped me out on the flo'
  That's just the tip of the iceberg look
  It's too long for a song but perfect for a book
  Word is bond, that's real baby
    [Chorus]