This is for looking back, to understand where I came
View take a snapshot let me stand in the frame
Growing up, I was nothing but a fan of the game
With a spark, a friend said let it fan into flames
Stoked I spoke from the heart I figured, "Listen this is art
If I'm lame I'll advance with a cane
If I'm trippin' I'll stop
If I'm not invited into the club then I'll dance in the rain!"
With my brain playin' PYT, but since that Pamela line, I'm not on VIP, shame
Some entertainment got me feelin' cold chills
I could point to some cases like Deal or no Deal
It's crazy like Tracy, Jordan on NBC
That they will show The Hills, but not Lauryn performing on MTV
Switch converters, hands wave to my mp3, go fly
They say you need a vid to get big
No lie, But that video game's not for kids
I did both sides of the math but it's more like trig
Can't figure who'll cosine, Dig?
Cause no loan equals Lo-fi scenes
Means lowlife me has barely sees a cut like low-rise jeans
I mean by my means, I can't afford this
Look I ain't the Mike Jordan of recordings
But even Michael got a grant like Horace
And I know what the board says: "We'll show you love when you show us a chorus,"
But man I can't force it!
Yo, they say "I heard you gave up rap music to be a grad student,"
Dog, I'm a grad student, I ain't that stupid
In Vancouver where the sand's smoother than Cancun
And the water is safe so you can scuba
Cause it's fresh; No canned tuna on the West Coast
Bumpin' Grand Puba in the Land Cruiser let's go
Get the special bamboo to sess? No
Only guy on the whole coast with no supply
Where they smoke the lye till the bowls are dry
Ought to rename the Rockies the Stonies, Why?
Cause west of the range folks is always high!
At least that's the stereotype
But I could say the same thing for what Ontario is like
Now hold up... they're like
"How long are you gonna talk this nonsense?
It's liked you blacked out man, I thought you was conscious!"
Some kind of Com sense, some kind of Black Thought
One of God's men, Insha'Allah, Amen
Look, I ain't the Christ
But if you want to know what my faith is like, it's like
Too much, I can't convey it when I write, so God said
"Son, try and say it with your life
Convey it living right in the way that you love people
And shun evil, become peaceful
And be slow to speak because the tongue's more lethal than the gun
When it's all said and done."
It's not who won; we're one so even if one is lost than our sum is none
Yo, I ain't mean to get deep all of a sudden, hold up:
I can talk on all the superstar stuntin', cats frontin' to the point, they can hardly even go to the wash room without a costume
Who told you it was cool to make pop tunes and brag about gunshot wounds?
They need to stop soon cause yo
I'm spazzing out like Kanye or like my little brother, and I ain't talking about Phonte
My songs, they regularly do the Sean Peyton, smooth as Andre, lay nude as Ron J
I just mean that I'm raw don't take it the wrong way
Double entendre if you want to play
Bring strong game, bring over Lebron James
Been a long Way locked in my enclave writin'
Till the paper filled more than the Paper mill made
No paper, they had to make skrill out of old, stale, paper maché!
They told me "Shad K, don't treat paper that way, cause yo
We can't breathe if you kill them trees."
That's a roundabout way that I kill MC's
Dog, I'm twisted, the business of this linguist is mischief
I've got y'all hanging on these bars, like a gymnast
More bars than a Guinness pint
I like that second "bar" metaphor more, I ain't the fitness type
Now who's the sickest? Tell me who could spit this hype, this type
This black and still rap this bright
Not bright like the color like, bright what I write
It's colorless, it's just right...
It's ike, I want brothers in gangs giving up those colors like...
Like, I want dudes in suits in coupes in tune
So they can use the cash to bring life
I want women in gyms, thinking slim isn't in-
Wait, let me begin that again...
I want women to begin to see in and not thinking as much of what men think of them
Or giving into the trends, big or slim, feminine limbs, cause the real gym is within
I want women in...
I don't know, I just want women, man
No, I'm just chillin' with my women friends dear, this is sincere, gentleman, sentiment here!
And if I ain't the greatest on the day I die, my last words will be laughter
Like "Why ya'll lie?"
I'm just a nerd writing raps on my laptop, quit, close it, make it go flat like bad pop
I learned how to rap hot on the blacktop, Black Thought was my mascot
And, I'm not abusive but I do make a few hits... on charts, leave a mark, like bruises
Without the new whips, just a cut of real music
This is for my Whoo Kid, D.J.s Who dig, pullin' out wax like Q-Tips
Finding loops, that's sick as Mr. Q-Tip's
The new Biz Mark this kid's stupid, but spit sharp like toothpicks on an all inclusive cruise ship, as my crew sips
On a cocktail, like that Cruise flick, like Clockwork, nah the other Kubrick:
Eyes Wide Shut, bye bye bucks, I'm all in on the game let me try my luck
Now I'm living off shook dice, dreams of the good life hanging by a foot, like dudes working for Suge Knight
Books heavy like kush every night, these dreams, I'm trying to give life, I'm trying to give life
I'm trying to give life, with no midwife to help through the rigor, so I just gotta push myself to deliver
I'm On my own, on my pseudo-grown, livin', all alone livin', on a loan
But given I gotta home, I wonder what I should give to the homeless, to love all men, like the stone says
I'm trippin' out, forgive me, I live with doubts, and the voice that tells me that I should take a different route
All the rings and things you sing about, give them out
It's hard to yell with hellfire in your mouth
And I'm out...
