Verse 1

Reminiscin' back when I was only a child

Back in the days of livin' carefree lifestyles

As long as we wasn't caught bein' bad was cool

and we were never at a loss for something to get into

Children in the neighbourhood down at the park

Sunny days when we played at the old schoolyard

where kickin' it live was a familiar scene

Kenny M. and Big Gene know what I mean

But nowadays it seems life just ain't the same

Everybody's involved in the game or a gang

and when we die, it seem like nobody cares

It ain't no love in they cold-hearted stares

Thinkin' of payback, of makin' a hit

Now Cowboys and Indians become real-life shit

and life means nothin' when the heart is cold

It ain't the same as the days of old.

Yeah...it ain't the same as the days of old.

Verse 2

It's a unity thing, much love for my people here

But what good is love if the people don't really care?

The triggers are cold at the O.K. Corral

but it ain't O.K. when my people live foul

Another sad case of the black-on-black

It's a fact, some of our people don't know how to act

Can't go to the club, can't to the store

Can't chill with your girl, can't go to the show

Can't do anything without some fool actin' up

You start to believe that black folk are savage but

before you do, allow me to say

that in the old days we didn't act that way, see

Kings and Queens were the names of the righteous

but the sons of slaves are insane and we might just

self-destruct and erupt without a chance to grow

This ain't the days of old.

Damn...this ain't the days of old.

I