[Chorus]

1. You better listen to L rhyme
2. 'Cause being street struck'll get you nothin' but a bullet or jail time
3. So pay attention to L rhyme
4. 'Cause being street struck'll get you nothin' but a bullet or jail time

Annotation:

L’s warning that by becoming Street Struck, captivated by the allure of money, hoes, and chilling with your bro’s, you’ll never get anywhere.

In fact, in not going anywhere and involving yourself with these sorts of pleasures in his area, you’re just bound to end up getting shot or going to jail– that’s simply the nature of those pleasures in the area of 139 and Lennox Ave, located in Harlem, NY.

The choices for what one can do are too limited by what the adolescents in his community believe they “should” be doing.

“Street Struck” serves as a cautionary tale about staying away from the criminal activity associated with the street life to avoid prison or death. In an interview with HipHopDX, Lord Finesse revealed that the record label pushed Big L to balance out the darker content of the album, and this song was one of the songs cultivated from that directive:

"When he was raised in Harlem he seen a lot of things and he witnessed a lot of things and he wanted to put it on wax. But at the same time, Sony made him come with something that can also leave a message to young kids that are listening to your music, and that’s what he came up with, 'Street Struck.'"

Unfortunately, Big L himself fell victim to some of the dangers in this song. He was murdered in a drive-by shooting four years after this song was released.^[[1]https://genius.com/Big-l-street-struck-lyrics]