Wannabe G's - Baba Brinkman

Ghetto boys

Die by twenty-five

Or catch a quick three-to-five

From a young white Canadian

Wannabe G’s perspective

Baby baby

Reminiscin' back

To when I wanted to be part of gangster rap

To be a gangster, or not to be a gangster, that is the question

Do you find it impressive or do you find it offensive?

Well now I find it offensive, but if I go back to the exact moment

My own hormonal clock ticked over into adolescence

God damn!

I don’t understand these rules, man

It’s like they’re just designed to hold me back, but gangster rap

Now that seems cool, yeah, that Ice Cube attitude

And 2 Live Crew, like «Unh me so horny» — yeah me too!

I just wanna screw everything that moves, but these high school chicks

Man, is it me or do they only like guys who act like huge dicks?

I’m lookin' for role models and all I can find is Bruce Willis

And Slick Rick, and my parents want me to plan for the future?

Man, fuck that!

What I need is some swagger to compete with these bastards

For female attention — I’m not tryin' to get a teenager pregnant

But at least me and my henchmen need to be seen as contenders

And these gangsters on TV, man, they could be our secret weapon

I mean, I’m not a killer, but I roll with some pot dealers

So yeah, I’ve got a rebellious side, and I bet lots of these guys

Who live in villas are about as real as the zombies in Thriller right?

Obviously I was vanilla, but I just had this feelin'

This visceral attraction to rap;

it was just like I just had to listen

Plus I was an avid mimic, so I guess my gangster obsession

Made me a poster boy for the natural selection of inaccurate perceptions

The evolution of self-deception

Emulating ghetto boys

Even if we’re not in ghetto streets

Exaggerating the threat of violence

It’s a state of mind

That dictates reality

Evolution has no foresight

It moves like a person through a dark forest by torchlight

With no map, no compass, no divine oversight

So we can’t expect it to behave nice or known what’s right

Suppose you knew your death would be on March 17th when you’re 73

What kind of person does evolution predict you would be?

It predicts men will breed slightly more promiscuously and women

Slightly more selectively ‘cause their investment is relatively extreme

But since co-parenting is so very beneficial

To your adorable little genetic vessels, the sexual

Differences are often negligible — what the longevity really predicts

Is a constant investment in your long-term potential

You would plan for the future, and be a contributor to your community

And make a long-term winner out of a short-term loser

Now imagine you knew you would die at thirty-five

What does evolution predict that you would do to survive

And reproduce?

If you’re a man, it predicts you would fight

Thug life, fuck the world, yeah, what, ready to die

Why?

‘Cause these young girls get pregnant quick

And if they don’t, well then they don’t get to spend much time with their kids

And they only hook up with the guys that are rich

The ones who cut throats and leave their victims to die in a ditch

So why are adolescents prone to pro-gangster biases?

Maybe because they don’t know how long they’re likely to live

Emulating ghetto boys

Even if we’re not in ghetto streets

Exaggerating the threat of violence

It’s a state of mind

That dictates reality

So what up G, are you a real G or just a studio G?

How many people do I have to body for you to believe?

None really, it’s a front really, I just want you to feel me

In reality I’m a civilian, I think thuggin' is silly

But if I’m bein' threatened, then hell yeah I can be aggressive

I’ll fight you straight up, unless you come at me with a weapon

‘Cause weapons are the democratization of physical strength

So I’ll pack a weapon too, except I’ll fill it with blanks

I’ll just use it for threat displays, but if I get tested

Then I’ll get disgraced, so it’s time to go load up the tech and spray

Mutherfuckers like Scarface, yeah, Tony Montana — explode some shells!

My threat level is more effective the less I know myself

‘Cause these dogs can smell fear, so I’m fearless, hell yeah

I’m a twelve-year-old gangster;

you better steer well clear

And that’s how you go from a well-intentioned adolescent male

To another thrill-seeking statistic in jail

But hip-hop culture isn’t about causing harm for no reason

In a way it’s an artistic arms-control agreement

I thought it was survival of the fittest, but instead it

Turned out to be survival of the illest lyrics in the minds of listeners

So now my ex-gangster obsession gets exapted

To something less graphic, like trading Gladiator for X-factor

So instead of bellyaching on the generation gap

Why don’t you try bangin' some gangster rap and see if it takes you back