16 On Death Row
2Pac Lyrics

Death Row
The place where people are sentenced to end their lives

That's where motherf***ers is endin up
People are ending up on death row

Dear mama, I'm caught up in this sickness
The singer is stuck in a violent and dangerous lifestyle

I rob my adversaries, but Slick done left a witness
He steals from his enemies, but Slick betrayed him by testifying against him

Wonder if they'll catch me, or will this n**** snitch
He wonders if he'll get caught or if someone will betray him

Should I shoot his b****, or make the n**** rich?
He debates whether to shoot a person or to make a deal with them

Don't want to commit murder, but damn they got me trapped
He's not interested in murder, but he feels like he has no other option

Hawkin' while I'm walkin', and talkin' behind my back
He feels like he is being watched and talked about behind his back

I'm kind of schizophrenic, I'm in this s*** to win it
He has a mental disorder, but he is determined to succeed in his life of crime

'Cause life's a Wheel of, Fortune here's my chance to spin it
He sees life as a game of chance and is trying to take advantage of it

Got no time for cops, who trip and try to catch me
He has no patience for police officers who try to arrest him

Too f***in trigger happy, to let them suckers snatch me
He is too quick to use his gun when he feels threatened

N****z gettin' jealous (jealous) tryin' to find my stash
His peers are envious of his success and are trying to find his hidden possessions

Whip out the nine, now I'm a dive and pump your a**
He pulls out his gun and threatens to shoot someone

Peter picked a pepper, but I can pick a punk
He makes a reference to a children's rhyme to express his confidence in being able to handle situations

Snatched him like a b****, and threw him in the trunk
He overpowered someone and locked them in the trunk of a car

The punk thought I was bluffin', but swear I'm nothin nice
His victim underestimated him, but he is actually quite cruel

Before I take your life, first wrestle with these, mics
Before he takes someone's life, he wants to face them in a rap battle

I listen to him scream, Tray Deee went insane
The singer listened to a man named Tray Deee scream as he lost his mind

I guess the little, mites had finally found his brain
He speculates that Tray Deee became sane as he went insane

New Rovers pull me over, I'm sentenced to the pen
He was stopped by police and sentenced to prison

Remember that little, bird, he snitched and told a, friend
Someone informed on him to the police

It's trouble on my mind, I'm with the old timers
He's worried and surrounded by older, experienced criminals

And f*** five-oh, blaow blaow.. turn em into forty-niners
He curses the police and threatens them with violence

Bye bye, I was never meant to live
He feels like he was never supposed to have a long life

Can't be positive, when the ghetto's where you live
He finds it difficult to be optimistic because he lives in a poor, dangerous area

Dear mama, these cops don't understand me
He feels misunderstood by the police

I turned to a life of crime, cause I came from a broken family
He believes that his difficult upbringing led him down a path of crime

My uncle used to touch me, I never told you that
He reveals that he was sexually abused by a family member

Scared what you might do, I couldn't hold you back
He didn't tell his mother because he was afraid of how she would react

I kept it deep inside, I done let it fuel my anger
He kept his trauma from being abused inside and it fueled his anger

I'm down for all my homies, no mercy for a stranger
He is loyal to his friends, but doesn't show mercy to strangers

The brother in my set, is 16 is wet
One of his peers in his gang is young and inexperienced

It's hard to adapt, when you're black and you're trapped in a livin Hell
He finds it hard to adjust to life when he's black in a poor, violent area

I shouldn't a let him catch me
He feels regretful for getting caught

Instead of livin' sad in jail I could a died free and happy
He thinks he would have been happier dying than living in prison

And my cellmate's raped on the norm
His cellmate is regularly sexually assaulted

And passed around the dorm, you can hear his a**hole gettin' torn
His cellmate is repeatedly abused by multiple people

They made me an animal
The prison system caused him to become more violent

Can't sleep, instead of countin' sheep, n****z countin' cannibals
He has trouble sleeping and instead thinks about violent things

And that's how it is in the pen
Prison life is full of violence and abuse

Turn old and cold, and your soul is your best friend
Prison changes people, and they become hardened and isolated

My mama prayed for me
His mother prayed for him to be safe

Tell the Lord to make way for me, prepare any day for me (why?)
He wants his mother to pray to God for him to find a way out of his situation

'Cause when they come for me they find a struggler
If the police catch him, he will resist and fight back

To the death I take the breath from your jugular
He will fight violently to defend himself

The trick is to never lose hope
He believes that staying hopeful is the key to survival

I found my buddy hangin' dead from a rope, 16 on Death Row
He discovered that his friend committed suicide in prison

They tell me the preacher's there for me
The prison provides a preacher to help him cope

He's a crook with a book, that motherf***er never cared for me
He doesn't trust the prison preacher

He's only here to be sure
The preacher is only there to make sure he doesn't cause trouble

I don't drop a dime to God bout the crimes he's commitin'
He doesn't confess to the preacher about his crimes

On the poor, and how can these people judge me?
He doesn't understand how people who live in poverty can be judged for their actions

They ain't my peers and in all these years, they ain't never love me
He doesn't feel understood or loved by his peers or by society

I never got to be a man, must be part of some big plan
He feels like he was never able to mature into a responsible adult

To keep a n**** in the state pen
He believes that the system is designed to keep black people in prison

And to my homies out buryin motherf***ers
He addresses his friends who have killed others

Steer clear of these Aryan motherf***ers
He warns his friends to avoid white supremacists in prison

'Cause once they got you locked up
If the white supremacists catch you, you'll be trapped

They got you trapped, you're better off gettin' shot
He believes it's better to die than to be caught by white supremacists in prison

Where you find me? 16 on Death Row
He's currently on death row at age 16

16 on Death Row
A reminder that he's just a young person facing a death sentence

It's to all my partners in the penitentiaries
A message to his peers in prison