Influence of the song
It is very obvious that this song is about his life when he was young. When he was abandoned by his parents and had to get discriminated by his friends for having no parents. In this song, Coolio mentions "I can't live a normal life, I was raised by the street" It shows that he was never taught by his parents on how to live a life, instead he had to figure it out himself. His own decisions lead him to be a young gangsta when he was young. Therefore, he started to think he was a gangsta and living in a "paradise" The chorus of this song is a proof that he spent his life living like a gangsta. He also wanted to live like a normal life but nobody was there to guide him. "They say I gotta learn, but nobody's here to teach me", this line shows that he was alone and nobody really cares enough to help him. Furthermore, Coolie talks about how he is so blind for hurting you and me in this line, "Tell me why are we so blind to see.That the ones we hurt are you and me?" While he was being a gangsta, he was actually hurting others and himself because he obviously did not like to hurt anyone yet he was too dumb to realise.
