"Tip The Scale" lyrics - THE ROOTS

THE ROOTS
"Tip The Scale"
(K. Jenkins / Tariq Trotter / B. Wright)
feat. Dice Raw

[Hook: Dice Raw]
Homicide or suicide, heads or tails
Some think life is a living hell
Some live life just living well
I live life tryna tip the scale my way
My way
My way
My way

[Verse 1: Black Thought]
Yo, I'm always early, I never take off
'Cause I've got a job: rob Peter to pay Paul
Now, I realize it's the winner that takes all
Do what I gotta do because I can't take loss
Picture me, living life as if I'm some animal
That consumes its own dreams, like I'm a cannibal
I won't accept failure unless it's mechanical
But still, the alcohol mixed with the botanical
I guess I be referred to the owners' manual full of loners
Full of all the homeless throwaways and the stoners
Soldiers of the streets with eighth-grade diplomas
And the world awaiting their shoulders as a bonus
Look, let he without sin live without sin
Until then, I'll be doing dirty jobs like swampmen
Counting the faces of those that I might've been
It's like living that life, but I won't live that life again

[Hook: Dice Raw]
Homicide or suicide, heads or tails
Some think life is a living hell
Some live life just living well
I live life tryna tip the scale my way
My way
My way
My way

[Verse 2: Dice Raw]
Lot of niggas go to prison-how many come out Malcolm X?
I know I'm not; shit, can't even talk about the rest
Famous last words: "You under arrest"
Will I get popped tonight? It's anybody's guess
I guess a nigga need to stay cunning
I guess when the cops coming, need to start running
I won't make the same mistakes from my last run-in
You either done doing crime now, or you done in
I got a brother on the run and one in
Wrote me a letter-he said, "When you coming?"
Shit, man, I thought the goal's to stay out
Back against the wall, then shoot your way out
Getting money's a style that never plays out
'Til you in a box, and your stash money's paid out
The scales of justice ain't equally weighed out
Only two ways out: digging tunnels or digging graves out

[Hook: Dice Raw]
Homicide or suicide, heads or tails
Some think life is a living hell
Some live life just living well
I live life tryna tip the scale my way
My way
My way
My way

[Instrumental interlude]

[Hook: Dice Raw]
Homicide or suicide, heads or tails
Some think life is a living hell
Some live life just living well
I live life tryna tip the scale my way
My way
My way