[Verse 1]
Slave ships, ancestors came off of them slave ships
Blacks still enslaved, sh**, but my papa know that he made it
From segregated schools and no running water
Made it through the crack era, he missed the slaughter
Know to see his young man in Japan shaking hands is a plan he feel only a God could author...
I'ma make you proud, daddy
I'ma make you proud, daddy
Change sh** for the fam, change sh** for my people, and still have you sitting on top of the clouds daddy
I'ma let 'em know that I am comfortable 'cause you hit the grind from a young age
Let 'em know you you crafted a young sage
Let 'em know I'm a tear from an old page
I'ma make you proud, daddy
Oscar level, bringing more than pennies to the table
'Cause lord knows we ain't really able
Lord knows them checks ain't got sh** feeling stable
Lord knows the lower and middle cla** suffering too, and you know I'm gon bring out the truth...
I'm gon bring out the truth...
Listen...
I ain't know a time when papa wasn't there
A Black American man took care
Of us and his own, in a world full of hate and cold stares, a land where the knowledge was bare
Calvert County, Maryland in 1950, later made a move to the city
New York to be exact, funny how a young boy made a similar pact
To move to a land full of promise and dreams come to life, did his music then found him a wife
The love was so real but her skin was so white
A mix of perception, a mix up of rights
I'm the byproduct of that, and I know for a fact that my parents knew it'd be the way
For me to find self in a world where society look at your skin and then tell you to stay
In boxes and boxes so small that you couldn't get room to wind up and then punch out at all
My skin is still black but the fact that's intact is there can't be an act, yeah I broke down the wall
Papa, you told me there would be no short-cuts, and my skin would make things much harder, and my skin would give me no barter
Told me that I could go farther
Told me I'd have to be smarter...
[Chorus]
I'ma make you proud, that's on the blood beating through my heart right now, yes Dad, uh
I'ma make you proud, that's on the blood beating through my heart right now, yes Dad, uh, (X2)
Yes Ma, uh, I'ma make you proud, that's on the blood beating through my heart right now, yes Ma, uh
I'ma make you proud, that's on the blood beating through my heart right now (X2)
[Verse 2]
I ain't a know a time when Mama wasn't there
Her unconditional love was air
To lungs full of hope in a world full of lies and despair, the woman showed me how to care
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania 1963
Later a nurse-to-be
'93 when she was nursin' me
And now I'm out the nursery, I see
That Mama, you hustled to get me the video games and the new school clothes
Yeah, we had hand-me-downs from all around the town, but you done planted a love that grows
I'm tryna tell you not to stress over bills, 'cause the time that we have is important, and still
You worry, don't worry, I got this, I ain't gonna stop 'til we get a few mill
You getting new knees
That technology better be cutting edge 'cause I want them to see
My Mom in a spirit of pure happiness
No trippin' off debt that came from these degrees
Let go of that pain from your past, we got love that'll last and trump over the times that be
The fact that you're here and there's hope makes it so that the struggle ain't all that I'm able to see
[Chorus]
I'ma make you proud Mom and Dad, yeah I'ma make you proud Mom and Dad, with dreams I have
Only 'cause you kept me from bad, gave me love from a never-ending stash, for the sweat off y'all backs
I'ma make you proud Mom and Dad, yeah I'ma make you proud Mom and Dad, and I know y'all glad
'Cause I ain't have to take a wrong path
The love that you give me is the love I pa** [x2]
To the world...
To the world...