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1. Like Dat

Intro
This is dedicated to all the assholes

Who made my life miserable as a kid

A-B-E its that nerd from grade school

You used to make fun and show hate to

Used to crack jokes and say I was gay dude

Cuz I wanted to be a priest and maybe save you

 

Verse 1

Guess what, I grew up bitch, to be kinda like an atheist

But occasionally I pray for a hell to place you kids

Light up the stove, tell Satan to blaze you in(Haha!)

If you were that important for time wasting

 

But let me tell you what this priest prayed for at night

That his pops wouldn’t get drunk, smash the place or pick fights

That his mom's ain’t need food stamps or loans for the lights

That for having sex too young I’d have forgiveness from Christ

 

That my uncle wouldn’t get deported from selling to under covers

That my cousins wouldn’t find his dad dead under covers

From shooting up, sharing needles, and unprotected lovers

That one day I could take my fam out this fucking gutter,

 

You fucking assholes I got enough shit at home

I ain’t need it in school I had enough shit on my dome

Went from clutching rosaries I’d be praying alone

To attempting to realize suicidal poems, fuck y’all

 

Chorus (2x): 

You seen me around the me, but you don’t know me like that

Yeah I stepped to your face, now you wanna have my back?

Heard the kid flows, now you want me on track?

Yo fuck the past, but don’t act, cuz you don’t know me like that

 

Verse 2

My self defense mechanism was being nice and polite

Scared to say what I saw but ya thought that I was shy

Yeah I swallowed my words and often times my pride

Kept my thoughts to myself hiding what I felt inside

 

Cuz my life was and still is far from being perfect

Try to dissect myself as a wordsmith

So I can better understand where and why the hurt is

So ya know ya aint alone through my verses

 

And to the assholes who made me feel worthless

I ain’t even mad cuz you served your purpose

See your kids most likely made an A-B-E purchase

And everytime they feel pain they consoled by the words spit

 

Ya probly just had fucked up moms and dads

No hard feelings but please don’t give me daps

God told me to tell ya to kiss my ass

And anything else that I want I take in my own hands

 

Chorus (2x): 

You seen me around the me, but you don’t know me like that

Yeah I stepped to your face, now you wanna have my back?

Heard the kid flows, now you want me on track?

Yo fuck the past, but don’t act, cuz you don’t know me like that

1. Like Dat

Verse 3

Forgive me father I’ve had sex before marriage

Aint do lots of drugs but smoked more than average

Drank, blacked out and lost my life’s balance

On a pissed off occasion cursed out both my parents

 

Forgive me father even considered abortion

This BX mentality’s led to some extortion

And yeah with dealers I done a lil consorting

A lil backstabbing and stealing of your portions

 

Forgive me for indulging When I wasn’t thirsting

For all 7 deadly sins I’ve been immersed in

But the worst of them all I know you observing is

Me not forgiving myself or loving my person

 

Actually forgive me for not believing this is real

Ya gotta forgive me there’s nothing for which I badly feel

Nothing I regret or care to conceal

If I had to do it again I’d ask for the same deal

 

Chorus (2x): 

You seen me around the me, but you don’t know me like that

Yeah I stepped to your face, now you wanna have my back?

Heard the kid flows, now you want me on track?

Yo fuck the past, but don’t act, cuz you don’t know me like that

2. For the Kids

 

Chorus 1

This is for the kids

This is for the kids

This is for the

This is for the

This is for the kids

 

Now kiddds, Bop Bop

To the left Bop Bop

To the right Bop Bop

Do whats right Bop Bop

 

Verse 1

Christopher Columbusaint discover america/

He killed indians, He’s a mass murder/

We're glad Obamas the first black president/

But who you think he really represent?/

 

The NDAA law that he signed/

Says he can arrest citizens at any time/

Without a trial even if they’re innocent/

If you don’t think that’s fair I hope you listening cuz/

 

They might take me away after this song plays/

Like Julian Assange for the truth he did say/

And if they do you already know what to do/

Teach your friends this song put it up on youtube/

 

Tell your teachers that you dont give a fuck/

If they think teaching lies to you is wussup/

I'm sure some parents'll say I'm profane/

But fuck a curse when truth is proclaimed/

Chorus 1

 

Verse 2

 

Before we called ourselves niggas in the hood/

White people called us niggers up to no good/

And many people say we could redefine it/

I say fuck it I don’t need a reminder/

 

For everything that’s happened, they can have it/

I say wuttup, "My Nilla" to nigga-shouting crackers/

My Nilla's short for My Vanilla/

Its still sounds ghetto, your can still be a winner/

 

How’s affirmative action’s reverse racism?

They give white people mortgages, Black people prisons/

African Americans fought your wars/

And couldn’t a loan that they'd later pay for?/

 

Not even benefits after their lives were at stake/

And nowadays its teenage lives they take/

For skittles, hoodies, car volumes being high?/

Get over slavery? This shit still alive!/

 

 

Verse 3

 

People are dying Left and right/

From Monsanto and NAFTA tonight/

You’re not supposed to know Companies own private jails/

They want us locked up for Free slave labor sales/

 

People getting killed For being gay/

And that’s not right No matter what nobody says/

And though I’m terrified of the horse and carriage,

I believe in LGBT/ Qi2S and Marriage

 

Cuz nobody, Ain’t no god in the sky/

No authority Should tell you to hide/

Who you love in your heart And whoever tries/

Is a lonely old fart That should probably die/

 

Just kidding kids But tell them to kiss your ass/

To swallow melted crayons Really really fast/

No I’m still kidding They need love too/

You have to show them the way And we believe in you

2. For the Kids

3. Disconnected

 

He's sixteen, pants sag, hoodie back give him that/

confident swag - code the streets respect/

Its not a code of dress for who you try to impress/

the swagger's the anger that bangs like a hammer/

When gangs or a slammer

is the glamorous manner/

to answer the anchor that poverty captures/

this rapture is normal - he fills it with laughter/

every man that has standed up as a man/

has been a boy to this boy

and he read through the bullshit/

Pops shown him a full clip before he was a full 5th/

Years of age- for a 5th of the time/

He's there a 5th of the time, 4/5 of the time/

He’s hung over 4/5 of the time/

4/5s never forfeit a night- but they profit/

in fights between husband and wife-

You trynna tell em to study?

–right, Ask him what he feels like?/

Can't trust his own, but you different- aiiiite.../

He nods, smiles, thinking you ain’t know shit/

Bout head nods while, he seen women of color/           

Lined up single file doing shit you wouldn’t believe/

For white women lined in aisles,

tell him it ain’t racial/

& he’ll show you an uncle who ain’t gone biracial/

he could join the army maybe go navel/

but Maria Full of Grace call him to fill her naval/

His moms up in church but never seen God work/

So he learn his work ethic from dirt at the curb/

Who urge to get in skirts but don’t get caught up wit birds/

Finish school, don’t get burned in the streets like a perm/

Crooked money keep you straight only for so long/

And damn how he long to hurt these herbs gurgling words/

They heard referred to in videos that they observe/

on the verge to let his fist speak first, so absurd/

he’s nice for a kid who ain’t from the burbs/

Till he slip in a blurb that’s provoked and he can’t/

Choke it down-so it Avalanche slope, saying’s there’s no

difference between 3 cocks and a joke/

------------Except ya moms… can’t take a joke/

And oh! there goes gravity, now they so mad at me/

And oh so passionately “He’s a spic!” – Actually,/

Graduated 1st in his class but junior year/

Feel like kindergarten here, He ain’t shy or in fear/

He don’t keep quiet cuz he swallowed way too many tears/

From the hell up in here, It’s cuz the streets are talking/

But he got no patience for barking that’s never/

part of conversation, He don’t go home to demons/

He prays for a Satan, for a chance at soul trading/

Fuck the whole saving of the world he is saying/

As he ignites his fixation for blazing/

This is normal, Stop complaining/

Welcome home, Welcome home…/

3. Disconnected

4. Memory Lane
 

Bridge

Take a, take a, take a ride with me

Take a, take a, take a ride with me

Take a, take a, take a ride with me

Take a, take a, take a ride with me

 

Mad Verses:

I sit back in bed With pen in pad/

Reminisce on the days This was all I ever had/ 

When all I wanted to do was sit back and rap/

about life in the X and all the stress/

 

that growing up in the gutter bring/

in school hide your ring or get sliced for your bling/

if you had nice kicks had to watch 

for bloods and crips/

they’d jack kids for sneakers and jackets/

 

moms was in church pops was dranking/

tias playing numbers tios was slanging/

and everybody had fam in rikers shanking/

good people doing dirt for that money stacking

 

lived on floor 17 halloweens was the worst/

Frozen eggs and platanos shorties would burst/

To see who they could hit firstlike that shit ain’t hurt/

I reflect on the words Play ground/

 

Shit if that’s how we played Imagine throwing down/

Many corners, few prayed  Many hustled, dues paid/

But few made a new day In 2012- brugal paved cement

Cement, candles over Collages of fam that went/

 

The backdrop RIP Graffiti Pieces/

Hoped to be remembered And not deceased/

Before 18 at least Started drinking at 15/

To numb the pain Preparing to be slain/

 

This was just called living To leave this was a dream/

Overdoses & the lotto seemed to conceive/

Liberry was the safestBefore facebook replaced/

Faces in books Before cell phones & pagers/

 

The streets were Our greatest educators/

Ain’t no community centers no places to be mentored/

--This was the South Bronx Remembered-/

By those who lived and love it Not just culture vultured/

 

Hip Hop to fuck it over So don’t venture near/           

Just to vendor hear Many live in the vicinity/

Past the yankees games That you visiting/

So don’t judge when I take my Pop’s advice/

 

For walking home from school Somebody try to fool/

And rob or fight you In your first free momento/

Get religious and offer a bottle thru their temple/

A pen through the ear Mentality saved my life/

 

When dark days appearedCuz hounds smell fear/

Stronger than dog shit and crocodile tears/

And I love all of this Cuz it made me who I am/

 

Not a violence instigator De-escalator in my game/

But in a jungle where rumbles Kills babies over bundles/

For fiends that hung low You better’ve learned your surroundings/

Or how to duck and tumble But still there’s hope/

 

What got us over Was funk, it was soul/

I could hear James Brown Blasting from my neighbors/

Back when The hottest shit was Sega/

And all the Mikes was mike & ike flavor/

 

From Jackson to Jordon to Tyson/

To the Mic control that was always enticing us/

Us to be writing Ken and Ryu/

Vs M. Bison How could we not battle?/

 

When we was always fighting For a better life since/

We ain’t have silver spoons only silver cups /

that Roaches would hide in Iceez was a quarter/

Piraguas fitty cent A dollar a slice/ 

 

And Your money well spent The Bodega had the jams/

Get your groceries Bachata be the dance/

Shit my culture dumb rich We just lack the wealth/

I love my home and if I ask my self/

if I’d trade it for the world? Hellllll No!

 

Chorus:
This is the South Bronx

That live in my heart in my memory’s lane

This is the South Bronx

The place that’s my home, the place from where I came

This is the South Bronx

That live in my heart in my memory’s lane

This is the South Bronx

The place that’s my home, the place from where I came

 

Bridge

Take a, take a, take a ride with me

Take a, take a, take a ride with me

Take a, take a, take a ride with me

Take a, take a, take a ride with me


Chorus:

This is the South Bronx

That live in my heart in my memory’s lane

This is the South Bronx

The place that’s my home, the place from where I came

This is the South Bronx

That live in my heart in my memory’s lane

This is the South Bronx

The place that’s my home, the place from where I came

4. Memory Lane
5. Where I'm At

5. Where I’m At

 

Ain’t no hook

Lets get the story straight on just one take

 

Listen if you got skills

Let me hear that shit

But if you wanna kill a show

You gone need more then spit

 

I’m tired of these boo hoo rappers

I still aint got a deal rapper/

No one feel me

Cuz I’m a really real rapper/

 

Man fuck you!
You put in the work? You put in the research/

You put ya chips up in this

or you chilling witcha chick/

On some but I deserve this shit I been doing this/

Since hmm about ninety six

Im not a rapper by the way/

I’ma word smith Refined poetic/

Never say bitch Fuck you bitch!

 

I came to this spot

With every intention of getting rich/

The nerve to know the worth of my work

And passionate scripts/

 

And no this ain’t a niche, ain’t the type to write and incite/

Twisting fiction into living, Like, "yo Listen/

You gone find yo kids missing, my 4.5 glock 9/

10,11, 12 Is what they gone be tongue kissing/

Desert eagle awwwww!" Shut the fuck up now/

 

Seen glocks  before you had pubes

Now what the fuck does that prove?

there’s little kids around the world

who'll body your ass just for a chance/

to go to public school

I known em, I shown em

Grown men like you

who love thugging a fool/

mean mugging talking slugging

but refuse to show face/

when confronted at disputes

 

All my dudes locked up

Curse the situation

That forced em to chalk up/

None of em glorify dying

Or rock diamonds/

Take that shit to the pawn shop

And apply the payment to pay rent/

Ain’t no vacations to the caymans

And if you came in

With the mentality/

Of intellectuality

Sit down and calm ya fuse/

I got a masters too

A hundred thou in loans?

Academia jacked you/

With no job can you

Articulate boo hoo?

 

And backpack battlers

With battle axes who

Rigorously kill mc’s lyrically

Haven’t figured out their

Figurative speech/

Is literally killing me

With a shitload of stupidity

Whisper to me at least a peep/

Of your real reality

You ain’t lived enough/

Convincingly

I reincarnated

way too much/

Died when I lost lil bro

Died when em dudes

Pulled the gat to my forehead

Against the odds I resurrect

 

(((But aren’t you a Peace Poet??)))

It took a few years

for me to grow into that man/

So please don’t make me forsake

And forget all the things I’d promise/

Never to undertake

In order to help elevate/

My fellow brothers and sisters/

But know that I’m real person

Who bleeds, scars, and pisses/

The world off occasionally

A-B-E’s Divinity’s founded on refining/

Every time that I’m

Found fucking up

Rock bottom grime/

Can’t compose a fucking rhyme

to save my live

All I’m doing is thinking about

fucking and I’m... and I’m... and I’m.......

Watching way tooo much porn!!!

 

If I believed in the Church

I’d go to confession/….

 

But I believe more in myself

And I’m sorry if that offends you/,

but I shelf the belief

that a statue is gonna fix

the stature of my grief/

Rather pick myself up

by the boxer briefs/

Put action into belief

Grow testies and ovaries

But lube on both of these

Sometimes you gotta greeze

squeeze and jerk it

And say fuck life

Cuz it ain’t all picture perfect

But enjoy the curve ball

Cuz your perspective can

Photoshop the directive

 

I been elected as most likely to get

my faction killed/

For yapping my crapping

Out of bounds and having no balance,

It happens mallets and cannons

Fashion the mammoth madness of my canvas

Imagine the ratchet malice that

Inhabits my facets, I’m matchless,

Tyrannous, The plan is

giving Fractions of blankets

Massacring Like

Columbus did Indigenous

Like Europeans did to Blackness

And CIA creating Crackheads

 

Detaching you mishaps, it happens

Outloud I’m yelling

You’re outta fucking practice

In brackets (Fuck ya maxims)

And In captions for those

Who can’t catch the rapid passage

"You hapless hamlets

Are tactless -- Suck my phallis"

Ummm I repeat

Suck my phallis

 

I put in work

Even when I’m napping

On napkins I’m Nat King

The Magic that has the Johnson

To still wagging his Johnson

And if anybody asking

 

I’m Live and Direct from The Bronx

You already know where I’m at

 

A-B-E

 

Holler at Me

6. If I Die

 

Chorus

If I should die tonight

I want it all off chest/

If I should die tonight

If I should die – yeaaa yeaaa

If I should die

 

If I should die tonight

I want it all off chest/

If I should die tonight

If I should die – yeaaa yeaaa

If I should die

 

Verse:

Mom’s you a saint on Earth

I don’t believe in Church/

But to me you holier then Mary

And Jesus birth/

You carried this whole

Family on your back/

And no heaven is ever enough

To pay you for that/

 

Pops it feel good

To speak man to man

To bury our past

And thank you for the man

That you raised me to be

You inspire me

To be my generation’s

Harry B and Jay-Z

 

To my sister Franny

Cherish Mom and Daddy/

Raise my nephew to be a better

Man than his Daddy/

I’m sorry I never made

Enough time to chill/

This obsession won’t stop

To my dreams become real/

 

Frankie, E,

Frantz, and Luke/

Ya forever my crew

Ya my brothers in truth/

What haven’t we been through

But don’t cry no tears for me/

Like you ain’t live me

Like you ain’t experience/

 

A-B-E

In all of his Majesty/

Go Live it up to the fullest

Cuz in life we just tourist/

Let me keep this music real

Like this my real life shown/

Like the first stoge I smoked

When sis ran away from home/

 

Real like the concrete

My knuckles painted in blood/

When Tony drank himself to death

Co-workers ain’t give a fuck

Real like jumping out the car

We drove up to Springfield/

When these tears couldn’t believe

Lil bro’s death was real/

 

Real like Frantz taking us

To LC/

Like all of us from the hood

Getting college degrees/

Like we made it past 18 And

All traveled overseas/

Tell em we lived it up

On Valentine 3B/

 

Tell my first love

You were my greatest betrayal/

You & Money chilled at the beach

Instead of lil bro’s burial/

I hope that’s a pain

You never have to endure/ but

Know you were a bitch for that though

We were young and immature/

 

Tell them that I did everything

I ever dreamt about/

Though there were several doubts

From family, friends, and strangers/

Who’d throw salt in the cut

Like my shit was lacking flavor

Playing these words I paint up

Like I’m some type of failure/

 

Till I savored my haters

Like one day my luck gone change up/

Radio gone play my words           

And after I got crazy paper/

But don’t come asking for no favors

Ya nothing but fucking fakers/

Criticize that I ain’t real

Say I’m average entertainer/

 

Tell your friends that I sold out

thats why I’m in they mp3 players/

Oh thats right

They just study the light saber/

Flow- cuz this Yoda

Playing with the majors/

So he must’a walked in the right

direction a few acres/ I know

 

I know its safer

To talk shit as a speculator/

Then to be an innovator

Waiting for an escalator/

To take you imitators

And lift you to the top/

Without a day of fucking labor/

Ya need to stop

 

Now Lil Bro

I guess its time/

For us to slap box

For you to show me your rhymes/

You had a few years of catch up

In the afterlife/

I hope ya shit is tight for when

We chill in the white light/

 

Tell em I laughed I cried,

There were nights

That I wanted to fucking die/

But you hearing this song

Means it was worth the ride/

 

I just want you to free you

You’re the cage and the key

 

Chorus

6. If I Die

7. Real Wit Yaself

 

Verse 1

I just wanna be able To smoke a fat blunt/

Without worrying about My school loan brunt/

Calling me everyday Like can we expect pay/

Expect whatever - I’ll pay you Next Whenever day/

 

If you in debt cuz of A mortgage/

Got car notes you Know you ain’t affording/

Living morbid Debt enormous/

And you thinking of whoring Selling orphans,

selling organs/

 

Searching for sperm bank endorsements/

Testing new drugs To make a virus dormant/

Well then welcome to

American Indentured servitude/

30 years of slaving Jobs worth shit to you/

 

To pay for some shit

That’s got you living miserable/

The American dream This shit is pitiful/

Really despicable We’re viewed as dispensable/

Cuz Everybody problem fixed

By making them drinkable/

 

Chorus

Ain’t no map to life

Ain’t no wrong or right/

Gotta create your own path

Through darkness or light/

I’d be weary of people

Telling you otherwise/

Be real wit ya self

Is the advise I live by/

 

Verse 2

Listen I’d be lying if I said

I ain't want a million bucks/

Or to make music

That makes me rich as fuck/

And I know wealth can’t pay

For happiness and love/

But truth be told I got

An abundance of that stuff/

 

Blessed for fam that got my back

When my back against the ropes/

But why as artist being real

Equate with being broke/

I refuse here in

To play starving artist/

You can go ahead with that

“Oh, It keeps my art the hardest”/

 

Beyond that my honest

Truth telling is/

I’ve had about 20 different

Professions I’ve excelled in/

Got academic degrees

That I’m kinda resenting/

Cuz I give a fuck about a job

If its got my passion’s pending

 

That shit need ending

Cuz nothing come close/

To that feeling I get when

I’m up here rocking shows/

And as the years pass

Its more evident these verses/

I write for rocking the crowds

Is my life’s real purpose/

 

Chorus

Verse 3

I ain’t anxious for the fame

Or asking for a break/

I’m self created define

Myself in everyway/

I've had too much nay say

What ifs and hey Abe/

That sound inappropriate

There’s gonna be one day/

 

Lil kids hear your song

And get the wrong impression/

Listen I’m not in the classroom

This my soul expression/

Don’t believe in discretion

Cuz the greatest lie/

Is ugly disguised

Painted pretty to deny/

 

The harsh realities of

The human experience/

And the more interference

You bring appears in/

A minute to peers as a gimmick

A fear thats invented/

To steer the consensus

Into breathing pretenses/

 

And I need the sincerest

Speech not the deceptive/

Cuz lying to one’s self

Is oppressive, repressive,

Depressive, I detest it

I guess I'm more impressed with those/

Who live their life regardless

Who or what oppose/

7. Real Wit Yaself

8. Getting Twisty

Chorus

Cuz Tonight,

We getting twisty

Sneak in E&J

Jim Bean Whiskey

Ain’t buying out the bar

My money too stingy

Got my Flask if you Ask Ma

you could sip wit me Cuz

 

Verse 1

Poland Spring Bottle Fly with the goose/

Hit the one hitter Go head and get ya boost/

I ain’t hating on you That pre-party’s due/

Get that shit cracking Come thru and let loose

 

We ain’t buying out the bar

We coming thru fucked up/

We ain’t buying out the bar

We coming thru fucked up/

Cuz drinks at the bar To expensive for taste

Buying to impress? Haaaaah! What a waste

 

Back in the day drinks Was always flowing

Open a tab and Report the card stolen

But I’m a changed man With the same vices

Catching shots outside Like rival gangs fighting

 

Ain’t no shame in my game Don’t be appalled when

I’m on that Boost Mobile Ffor whoever calling/

I see too many mice Trynna eat off my cheese/

Plus I’m too South Bronx for Long Island Iced Teas/

 

Chorus

Verse 2

I’m broke as fuck Ain’t even going to lie

Let’s enjoy the things That money can’t buy

Going out to dinner But can’t afford rent

In a real whip But my gas money spent

 

Hottest cell phone out But no connection

With 50 credit cards In collection?

If there’s a cover charge I ain’t up in that shit/

Go dutch on a dutch on a date With a Danish/

 

Only time I eat out Is under the sheets/

So you wanna creep wit me You gotta creeps for freebies/

I’m down for some of your Home cooked Panini

But damn ya cinna-buns Are gonna gimme diabetes/

 

You’re too sweet girl Nibble on this zucchini

After the starter come my Creamy fettuccini

Drinks on me, but don’t tell the bartender/

I’m bar hopping With multiple offenders

8. Getting Twisty

9. Work It Out

 

Chorus:

She wanna work it out again/

I don’t think that we can/

Its not against you mami/

Its just that right now, can’t commit to nobody/

 

Verse 1

Ain’t know what we had Now you lost it/

But Baby Girl don’t be mad Love be costing/

Lots of pain For the pleasure/

Sometimes the break up Help us find our forever/

 

Truth is You took me for granted/

Thought I’d always be here

No matter how you acted/

I truly tried to practice Love working its magic/

Till I started taking damage

From you being my planets/

 

My sun My stars in Blackness

The brush to my Canvas/

But that’s my fault That’s on me baby/

Its was my job to teach you

To treat me poorly or greatly/

And my love for you Blindly me so blatantly/

 

Cuz you became even More important then me/

I put you on a pedastool Instead of right next to me/

And that ain’t partnership That’s worship, and word is/

That’s worsened our burden This coulda been averted/

If I woulda loved me like I loved you

 

Chorus

 

Verse 2

Before we committed It always used to be

All the nice things I did For you and you for me

Now every little thing Creeps under our skin

We spent more and more time Simply arguing

 

And “Breaking up” Can’t be the norm

The make up sex don’t bring calm after the storm/

Cuz I ain’t thinking bout us But our children unborn/ and

And the man father partner They imitate in form/

 

And though no family is perfect/

I need joy in any relationship worth working/

But we pick at each other’s faults Like open scabs/

Instead of appreciating we Criticize tit for tat/

 

And this is a More mature conversation/

Verses keeping the blame in circulation/

Cuz family forgives and I hold Nothing against you/

But if we gone love for real We both gone have to let go/

9. Work It Out

10. Speak My Truth

 

Intro

I hope you feel this

Cool out and rock with me

This is my story

 

Chorus

Let this music do something to you

Let the music go'head and move you

Hope this music gone speak to you

Let the music go speak my truth

 

Verse 1

This ain't a perfect world for what we creating/

So there’s bound to be a few mistakes in/

Our molding, our shaping, and of course our raising/

I was a goodie goodie but growing up hoodie

would mean/

learned how to curse before I could read/

And my heart was softened for them dealers often/

cuz they worked and used inside my apartment/

pardon aint trynna blame you for what happened/

on the contrary I learned from your actions/

I learned from the pain of covering up shame/

Dual personalities like coke when baked/

Pretending its all good inside – I know that game/

But none of your risks made fame like Jay-Z/

So that hustling life was always scary to me/

As a child constantly surrounded by fiends/

And I know I was burdensome sometimes/

Constant reminder in the back of your mind/

Of something to live for when you prayed for suicide/

Regret-filled life, victimized - but you never cried/

Except when great grandma died/

But being your seed I read tears in what you breathed/

laid back shades on - but theres no ease/

But I love the story thats you and bop to your beat/

Cuz without y’all – there’d be no me/

 

Chorus

 

 

Verse 2

Uncle deported for selling drugs/

Other locked up for selling guns/

Other other one left the country with his all funds/

So we'll leave the details out for the sake of his relations/

Momma tried to keep me graced in that church space/

So I prayed to one day fix everybody ways/

Till I met a few priests who loved wines taste/

And my take - on the whole situation/

the good guys act just like the bad guys/

Only difference is the good guys much better disguised/

And maturing in my immature age/

Met with homies now cronies and started to blaze/

What else is there to say, we wanted change/

But continued in the cycles of yesterday/

Rap in the street - our truth telling stage/

Everybody played a role at least 10 years their age/

now Lil brother big man wanna follow in my ways/

Couldn’t let that happen, so I started to preach/

Just like them priest but I would never reach/

Cuz you lead by example not speech - silly me/

So I'm ever guilty lil bro - I pray you rest in peace/

I remember that day, wanted your killers slain/

The movie ceased when you could no longer breath/

I felt fear for the first time wondering how could this be/

 

Chorus

10. Speak My Truth

11. Chocolate Pomegranates

 

Come on and role with me Just shoot the breeze/

By the hudson river Under the GWB/

The stars bout to glitter 

Your eyes paint the prettiest picture

When they glimmer/

 

Under the sky Marmalade fly

---Purple dipping into clouds made of chai/

Lets take a sip And skinny dip into it/

Tanning under stars Now moonlit/

 

You got that caramel bronze glow/

I front ice cold but you Melt my Bronx snow/

It feel like nothing That I been around the globe/

I wanna see the world Inside your kaleidoscope/

 

You make life feel like It could never be painful

You the flyest little halo

I seen walking on this rainbow

And I can’t think of a More beautiful way/

To pass the night away Then with you,

Then with you in my embrace

 

Chorus

Je t’aime                        Te Quiero

Cara Mia                        Mi Deseo

 

Let’s take a stroll

On a shooting star

Till the day after forever

And never be apart

 

Eo te amo                        Te Quiero

Coração                        Mi Deseo

 

Let’s take a stroll

On a shooting star

Till the day after forever

And never be apart

 

Verse 2

Dear chocolate And pomegranates/

You're a cherry berry ballad that dances on my pallet/

Lets finger paint our souls Using the color candid/

On the walls of time so infinity Knows what romance is/

 

In past lives I gathered Taj Mahal granite/

As a lasting memory Of what you’ve enchanted/

So everybody in Cloud 9 could know that you're the baddest/

I proposed to you with the rings on Saturn/

 

I can’t suppress What I want to transgress/

Your consent that we both Drop every pretense/ cuz

Damn, holding your hand make me wanna put a hundred grand/

Around your ring finger and have a hundred grand/

 

children that have your face and mine/

its just what race to mind You define divine design/

And you got me fantasizing in your dreamy paradise/

Let me write mine on your lips Kiss and sweetly plagiarize/

Verse 3

I wanna happily ever after that you help me compose/

With warm sand Cool beach beneath our naked toes/

Where we could lounge away and I undress the lingerie/

Of your eyelashes As they uncurl and wake my day/

 

Let me make your bed With rose petals to nestle in/

And fill a warm tub of cherry Blossoms to revel in/

-- I wanna kiss the makeup of your skin/

Cuz ain’t no makeup more precious then your skin/

 

When we first met Your eyes indelible ink/

Locked into mine and Tattooed your soul within/

You make forever sound beautiful Like Diamond Violins/

And there goes love Getting jealous of us again/

 

Lets escape To seascape serenades

And dance in waterfalls Of strawberries and champagne/

I’m making you a locket with A million poems and sonnets

Let me call you home Cuz that’s where my heart is/

11. Chocolate Pom

12. No Better Feeling

 

Chorus

Can it—

Can it be that im dreaming

Finlly made it here

And this the best feeling

So many nights

Pray I wake breathing

Now this mic my purpose

Fill my life with so much meaning

 

Pour my soul for yall

I'm just being who I'm be and

And— And— Ain't no better feeling

And— And— Ain't no better feeling

And— And— Ain't no better feeling

 

Verse 1

16, durags, white owls, Blunts, and dutches/

but mama made sure

The streets wasn't my clutches/

Public school, catholic school

College, and a masters too/

Street meets books made me think em facts thru/

Cuz slanging and banging

Sold as the dream to me and you/

not a charge or homies trynna slump you/

Or getting locked behind bars By the boys in blue/

And dope boys pull an average of 22 Thousand

still in public housing What am I to do?/

Well hustlers taught me wise I became they re-do/

For choices they’d undo Told me to be true/

So I throw up that PP VA for my crew/

Cuz I Nine To Five double shifts and I was thru/

College degree Ain't guarantee you get your dues/

And if ima be brok Fuck it I choose the booth/

and fighting thru the tide I finally broke thru/ like

 

Verse 2

 

3 kids in all So on lucky days/

Pops would buy a snickers We'd split it 3 ways/

Mickey Ds was a treat Shit it made us celebrate/

The small joys while we prayed we could escape/

 

Walked the Heights to the X Couldn't afford bus passes/

Slacks got holy Mom sowed in new patches/

Glue on souls of shoes Black polish – no trashing/

Payless and Conway Was my latest fashion/

 

Tight fitting hand me downs busted at the seams/

Made fun of in school N.E.R.D./

Grandma gave Christmas money Upgraded immediately

To School of Hard Knocks Matching as my T’s/

 

Thought I was balling when I bought old navy jeans/

Silver Cuban Links Thought I was the flyest teen/

Timberland boots Shape up and I’m game/

Pride in little things we had Ain’t no damn shame/

 

Chorus

Verse 3

Had a knife pulled out on me One time, 2nd time/

they came around for me I chased the mothafuckers down/

Told em ask about me When they pulled out the gat/

They got the best of me Like Mya and Jay-Z/

 

Got my laptop, my phone, Highway robbery/

Even though I Was living in poverty/

there's people out there living worse And they hit the lottery/

And lots of em been my friends So it ain’t a mockery/

 

If you come from where we come You understand the despair/

Ain’t no glamor in the life When daddies is never there/

No help wit homework Feel like you not prepared/

Easy not to give a fuck When nobody show they care/

 

And I’m not excusing Cuz that’s the more reason/

Us to hustle day to evening Summer to winter season/

With that fire never ceasing Till a better a life appearing/

And the only thing we hearing's No more days of us tearing like

 

12. No Better Feeling

Artwork by © Margo Stansberry 2015

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