The lyrics depict the everyday struggles of ghetto life such as black-on-black crime, constant death, drugs, gun violence, and gangs.
A music video was released for the song and the video version included an extra third verse that was not heard in the regular album version.
The song samples Marvin Gaye's "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)" and The S.O.S.
A sequel song, entitled "Welcome Back to the Ghetto", was later recorded by Spice 1 in 2002 for his album Spiceberg Slim.
2Pac would later sampled the first song from Spice 1's line on the track "Pour Out a Little Liquor" with Thug Life, which first appeared on the soundtrack to the 1994 basketball film Above the Rim and later included on the album Thug Life: Volume 1.