Caine and O'dog's story relate to alot of what's still going on today. In the streets, You'll only end up dead like Caine. Or locked up like O'dog. At the end when police are putting him in the squad car.
Either
"WE"
f*
"I'M" f*

It's a nice thought, but part of the Hughes Brothers/Tyga Williams' message here is that sadly once a lot of these young guys come around to realizing they should've lived better, it's often too late. Just like Caine says in the voice-over as he's bleeding out. Once he finally realized he wanted to live, it was past the point of no return.
Also, Caine would've been an accessory after the fact to the killings at the convenience store. He knew about the crime, witnessed it, and did nothing to either try and help the Korean store owners, nor did he report the shooting. So he definitely would've gone down, especially seeing as how he'd already been to jail on his first offense earlier. Even if he survived, if he were caught there'd be no going anywhere except jail most likely and probably for a good few years.

That many gunshot wounds to the chest, puking up blood, sorry bit Caine dint oull through even in the mist optimistic of moods I couldn't buy that for one second lol