Hold on... [lighter flicks up]
  Yeah it's gonna be alright, don't trip baby [inhales]
  It'll get better... [coughing]
    Ay do this Thug style main, Thug style
  When this whole beat drop we just gon' run it to em bet
  It's all good, uhh
    I never had much, ran with a bad bunch
  Little skinny kid sneakin weed in my bag lunch
  And all through Junior High, we was just gettin by
  And drivebys robbed my homies of their young lives
  I never did cry, and even though I had
  pain in my heart, I was hopeless from the start
  They couldn't tell me nothin, they all tried to help to help me
  The marijuana had my mind gone it wasn't healthy
  I travelled places, caught cases, what a ill year
  I felt the pain and the rain but I'm still here
  Never did like the police, let the whole world know
  Now I gets no peace, cause they chasin me down
  And facin me now, what do I do?
  These thangs that a Thug goes through
  And still I rise so keep ya head up, and make ya mind strong
  It's a struggle every day but you gotta hold on
    [Chorus: repeat 4X]
    Hold on, be strong, hold on
  Be strong, hold on
  When it's on it's on
    There's, never a good day, cause in my hood they
  let they AK's pump strays where the kids play
  And every Halloween, check out the murder scene
  Can't help but duplicate the violence seen on the screen
  My homies dyin 'fore they get to see they birthdays
  These is the worst days, sometimes it hurts to pray
  And even God turned his back on the ghetto youth
  I know that ain't the truth, sometimes I look for proof
  I wonder if heaven got a ghetto, and if it does
  Does it matter if you blood or you cuz
  Remember how it was, the picnics and the parties in the projects
  Small time drinkin gettin high with them armies
  Just another knucklehead kid from the gutter
  I'm dealin with the madness, raised by a single mother
  I'm tryin to tell you when it's on
  You gotta keep your head to the sky and be strong, most of all hold on
    [Chorus]
    [Interlude:]
    Hold on, be strong
  I know them ain't tears comin down your face
  When it's on it's on but
  Wipe your eyes
  Hold on, be strong
  In this world
  When it's on it's on but
  Only the strong survive y'know
  Hold on, be strong
  Hmm, I know it's hard out there
  When it's on it's on but
  Welfare
  Hold on, be strong
  AIDS, earthquakes
  Cause when it's on it's on but
  Muggings, carjackings
  Hold on, and be strong
  Yeah we got problems
  Cause when it's on it's on but
  But believe me when I tell you
  Hold on, and be strong
  Things always get better
  Cause when it's on it's on but
  God don't like ugly
  Hold on, and be strong
  And God don't like no quitters
  Cause when it's on it's on but
  You know what Billie Holiday said bay-bee
  Hold on, and be strong
  God bless the child that can hold his own
  Cause when it's on it's on but
  Y'know?
  Hold on, and be strong
  You got to stand strong
  Cause when it's on it's on but
  And when these bustas try to knock you out your place
  Hold on, and be strong
  You stand there to they face
  Cause when it's on it's on but
  Tell em hold on, and be strong
  Hold on, and be strong
  The game don't stop
  Cause when it's on it's on but
  Hmmm
  Hold on, and be strong
  This here is black main
  Cause when it's on it's on but
  If you don't never leave nothin, learn one thing
  Hold on, and be strong
  It don't stop, til the casket drop
  Hold on
  Thug, for Life... feel me?
  All my homeboys and my homegirls, stay strong
  When things get bad, especially come the first and the fifteenth
  Stay strong, and stay ballin, hold on
  I'll catch y'all at the next life, we in traffic