Against The Grain feat. Cappadonna, Block McCloud, and Solomon Childs
Truncated Chorus, Block McCloud:
It seems it doesn't matter how hard I try
I'm thinking it's love but getting paid
I don't even know the reason why
I'm thinking it's love but it's a game
Verse 1, Cappadonna:
Can't live without my money
Can't live without my weed
Can't live without my seed
All these haters that dealing with greed
Yeah, f** y'all n***as one time
Thinking y'all n***as gonna stop my shine
n***a, I'm too far into my grind
Y'all n***as gonna remember my name
'cause all this money and all this fame
n***a, I ain't never go against that grain
What you n***as know about this pain?
Bang, bang, bang!
Y'all m'f**ers better stay in y'all lane
Bang, bang, bang!
Y'all m'f**ers better stay in ya'll lane
Bang, bang, bang!
Y'all m'f**ers better stay in ya'll lane
Chorus 1, Block McCloud
Seems it doesn't matter how hard I try
I'm thinking it's love but getting paid
I don't even know the reason why
I'm thinking it's love but it's a game
Seems it doesn't matter how hard I cry
I'm wishing for sun but getting rain
I don't even have the will to fight
It's not even worth going against the grain
Verse 2, Chuckie Campbell
From the dying of the light, let it all manifest
Scrolls unfold from the bones of the dead
No man here is safe from the curse of the flesh
Words unsaid in the fog of your breath
Believing in the wisdom that I kept in inner-visions
Interfering intervention that I felt -- press
On into the psychic premonitions in my lyrics
Was it ever for the love and respect? -- yes
I rep for the air in my esophagus
'til I die mummified in a sarcophagus
Resurrect just to rise in a metropolis
With a hologram of 2Pac as my accomplice
Hypothesis: if you go against the grain
Forget about the money and the fame
Write it for the love and the pain
You might just blow and get paid
But more go broke and get played
And more die here of heartbreak -- falling
Victim to the vivid dualistic propositions
Propagated dream sequence
Hero/villain way of thinking
Sleeping with the sheep 'til they wake
I nod to my audience, bow on stage
Give my heart to the few who remember the name
Giving back to the culture what it gave to me
With a heart built to go against the grain
Chorus 2, Block McCloud, (x1)
Verse 3, Solomon Childs
I'm 'bout to book it
Ducking and dodging the pigs
I can't afford to do them bids
I got this work on me
My momma need money
Meanwhile the feds on me
f**-boys is plotting on me
Chopping bricks like karate
Pushing narcotics too tight
Hustle all day and all night
Or to the break of dawn
Or to the dawn break
Young kingpin
Money like I hit the sweepstakes
Hard knock life
Feel these high stakes
Chorus, Block McCloud (x1)
End Song