(Yes I did... I made a mistake... yes I did)

Huh..ya know living this type a life

makes you grow up faster than you'd expect to sometimes...

fuck around and be in your late twenties...

feelin like a old man and shit...

yeah for real son... let em know

It's hard to breath and hard to run when your lung's blackened

Coughing up blood like what the fuck happened

Raising my risk of cancer's the answer homie

But after drinking something there's nothing like puffing a bogie

Now I can blame the same product placement in movies,

Or the commercials, or Scarface in a jacuzzi

But now I'm living it

Damn I should a never took that first cigarette

(I made a mistake)

I fucked up, like your girl was riding on top of me

I should of took her to trial and never copped a plea

But this ain't a Christian nation motherfucka please

America never taught me to turn the other cheek

Cause I'm from Harlem, the north of Manhattan

We knock niggas out and make em bounce like Ricky Hatton

But wildin on the corner got me turned back from the Canadian border

(I made a mistake)

I knew she was a virgin, when I first met her

Rockin stockings and poppin out of the catholic school sweater

Mom told her she could do better than a criminal

Seventeen year-old psychotic, trying to be lyrical

I never meant to break her heart or fuck up her life

But I was careless, instead of treating her right

I seen her again at some club strippin and wondered

If I could have made her life different

(I made a mistake... yes I did...)

[Tech talking over the beat:]

Damn shortie, you got me on some singin the blues shit...

but you gotta stop looking backwards and remember to look ahead...

this is for all my dudes on patrol in the desert right now... for real

(I made a mistake)

Yeah..yeah... I joined the army looking for money to go to college

But they ain't pay me a quarter of what they fucking promised

Extended my tour, treating me like a sucker

That's the reason officers get fragged motherfucker

Don't give me speeches on how you respect and you love me

But no body armor in a lightly armored humvee?!

My family's lonely and you want me to reenlist for 30 grand homie?

(I made a mistake)

When I was young I got signed to a record label

The deal looked so good when it was on the table

It paid for my cable, cribs, cars and jewelry

The studios, the women there's nothing they wouldn't do for me

Except stop screwing me for publishing and royalties

How the fuck are you my dawg, when there's no loyalty?

Word to the street

I should've gone independent like Immortal Technique

(I made a mistake)

Some people learn from mistakes and don't repeat them

Others try to block the memories and just delete them

But I keep em as a reminder they not killing me

And I thank God for teaching me humility

Son, remember when you fight to be free

To see things how they are and not how you like em to be

Cause even when the world is falling on top of me

Pessimism is an emotion, not a philosophy

Knowing what's wrong doesn't imply that you right

And its another, when you suffer to apply it in life

But I'm no rookie

And I'm never gonna make the same mistake twice pussy