[Hook]
Nothing really changed round here
I tried to stay the same round here
We been lookin' up to the stars (right?)
We the real stars round here
[Verse 1]
Learn for yourself, don't trust what they discussin'
Like: I had to read to learn Uncle Tom wasn't
2nd grade portrait, black was the wrong color
Art teacher turned her eyes, guess the truth was too awkward
Swore I was the man for at least two summers
Invites to bat mitzvahs, yarmulkes made custom
A titans I clashed cultures, coming of age wondrous
Black girls I wanted fronted, seen these white girl numbers
On my phone, Same as mike, who we buried before diplomas
Oscar nominees, learned to smile while we was hurtin'
Earning superlatives while dad was at the corner
Like a boxer, not a dealer dealing with round 2 of lymphoma
Is it over, is it over? Too faded to watch the fight
Catchin Sportscenter highlights after living my nights
I guess it must why I like Simba and Batman
We was all kids prepping for life without dad
[Hook]
Nothing really changed round here
I tried to stay the same round here
We been lookin' up to the stars (right?)
We the real stars round here
[Verse 2]
V2
(It be like)
Star light, star bright
The first star I see tonight
I wish I may, I wish I might!
Have the wish I wish tonight
Let me see some stars tonight, make sure that my bars are tight
Make sure that my flow is finer than the china I can't buy
Who knows, maybe I'll get signed
Pay for my studio time
Ghost write for my favorite artists, trust me homie I won't mind
Cuz Im sick, and I'm tired, wanna start before retiring
I got bars, I be rhyming, switch it up like Dennis Rodman
Took my first steps out in gotham
Nobody wants to be Robin
By myself, one man mob
Ton of thorns like billy bob
Looking up I see the stars, but these days they just seem so far
For a... Son of a foreigner
Who was the seed of a farmer
Peaceful guy, wouldn't harm a
Fly, but these times are harder
Scar tissue forming that i can't runaway from
Never been a liar, been too honest from my day one
Scared to be a father cuz i wasn't such a great son
[Hook]
Nothing really changed round here
I tried to stay the same round here
We been lookin' up to the stars (right?)
We the real stars round here
[Verse 2]
V3
Tell me bout the stars you seein' from city buildings
When every dream is billed, and all you see are your limits
Me and my affiliates we came to a consensus
We ain't like the safe route, we do it a lil different
You doin' this for riches or doin it for the women?
I need to know your motives before we gettin' to business
Cuz the weak fold like cards when doubts get in their crevice
Cuz I'm not wasting bars on drinkers who don't know limits
Im all about my lyrics, you know it by what I'm spitting
Im sinning in every step but I'm movin' towards redemption
This isn't my best, but snippets of whats to come
Too smart for my own good, wishin' that i was dumb
Nas album is done, he told me start a label
I did it with all my brothers, my middle name is Abel
So far from stable, they thinkin' I'd be embarra**ed
Why you always lookin' up? Cuz I'm lookin' for Polaris
[Outro]
They ask me how I'm doin, "surviving" is my recent answer/
I got a college degree and dad's got cancer/
You see, something always stops you when you couldn't get happier
So all things considered, my recent answer is a decent answer
Surviving...
d**h coming quick, so I'm trying to live faster
Lookin' at my past, remindin' myself I'm past it
Heart on my sleeve, hope that still in fashion
Cuz I have no time to change, and nothing else to match it
No rest for the weary
And everyone's aware what the other person's wearing
It seems clear my seams ain't Milan or Paris/
But based on my apparel, my nonchalance is apparent
These days, I fear becoming my own parents
Growing up's an art, one that I've already mastered
There's pain in my paintbrush there's pa**ion in my pastels
Didn't invent honesty, but i got the patents
Far from superficial but, tell me where the cash is
Cuz right now I'm so po(or), call me kung fu panda
Sippin' on a malta, thinkin on manana
Winners rite history, what losers rite dnt matter
This is game of thrones, all eyes on the castle
Tryna see some cubans, got me feeling like the mavericks
Do you hear the underdog in my undertones?
The heart and soul of a poet never thrown a bone?
Never left alone wen everything is goin' wrong
I put on...
My headphones and my best colognes
Nd I'm Flowin:
Steady as the beatin drum
Kokoum on metronome
Like to tell it how it is
Not so much "I told u so"
Martin don't have dreams no more
Marvin knows what's goin on
I don't wanna be "The One", can i be the oracle?
Or rather
Start a rally right in Bill O'Reilly's home
A near riot with white kids full of violence
Inspired by a spiritual, but blame it on a rap song
Let a cla** of child soldiers marchin, all tag along
Wit a giant poster sayin "Bill, you were right all along"
I be hearin' no, more than I be hearin' yes/
But that's only because of all the voices in my head/
Can't pay my debts, but I can pay my respects/ Rest in peace to any and all regrets/
Makin' music not excuses, me and all my friends/ if I die music dies too, Ritchie Valens
I see it all clear, no need for corrective lens/
Treat my future like it happened I be using the past tense/
Had a fall out with some boys , they was on some Pete Wentz
You can't cla**ify me, I'm cutting cla** again/
Yes yes, college's ferris bueller/
Refuse to suffer lectures if I can find it on google/
Helped jocks get smarter, no tutor/
Help thugs aim higher, no ruger/
Help nerds get cooler/
Help men get green without becoming lex luther/
Help promiscuous women be a lil more prudent/
Helping you helps me be a lil more human/
So you don't help nothin' when u choose to stay stupid/
This for the kids who told me who I wasn't black enough/
For the bougie girls in wack clubs, who declined all of my polite requests for them to back it up
Are you in front or behind it? No frontin' when the cameras on I'm outside my comfort zone, I kinda like it tho
My mind knows no limits like its racin' on the Autobahn
Nothin more than a vignette
Of a grown kid still wonderin: are we there yet
So... Are we there yet? Are we close?
How do we get it without steppin' on toes?
My inner alcoholic wants to skip to the toast
And my soul wants to be Free like the BET host
I wish a lot of things, but that I was deaf most
Cuz my life don't compare to my favorite Mos Def quotes
As of late...