Black Thought - Twofifteen lyrics

[Intro] Two fifteen [Verse 1] Yo, the big wheel keep turnin' like Ike's and Anna Mae's The church kitchen hustlin' dinners every Saturday Pull over, let me grab a plate, I tend to gravitate Towards how fish dinners from a styrofoam platter taste My granddaddy sported plaid Donny Hathaway's Hustlin' for everything we had 'til he pa**ed away When I would ask about what path to take He used to laugh and say, "No man is an island but I'm a castaway" Casualties, I seen 'em like the French Foreign Legion On the streets, they used to carry out bizarre procedures In jean jackets and Jabbar, Adidas Back when local R&B was just as soulful as orthopedics Me and my man twistin' up some reefer and wishin' We knew On The Town, hitman in the likes of Sam Christian On the edge of existence, man, listen Understand, respect and fear was the all-American ambition For bada** kids in the laundromat, foldin' a load Well lo' and behold, a whole 'nother fork in the road My wish for them is that the truth is eventually told Out on the corner, where whatever you can sell is sold I heard murder ran, as vast as deserted land Since back when Burning Man was blacks in Birmingham Before the presidential election diversion scam Matter fact, before they clapped Franz Ferdinand You gossip on Jay and Beyoncé or Kim and Kanye But keep risin' to the top, what my mind say Picture my daughter drinkin' water with a sign Say, "For colored girls," I ain't talkin' Ntozake Shange Who said it's cynical? I was a king and general Rich in every resource, precious metal and mineral Before the devil entered the land of the plentiful With that Jamaican funk, gotta get it into who For generations under God, indivisible Psych ward patience, vampires in a interview Become institutionalized, what a n***a do But what we had to do to survive, none of them could do Who the technical culprit? I don't mess with no vultures I'm electrical voltage, not the regular dosage Too obsessive compulsive, I'm a f**in' explosive Mixed message in a bottle, I left with the postman I'm that arachnophobia, black petroleum Ceremoniously holy when at the podium Even though it's hotter than weapons-grade plutonium The people tryna check for the return of the Ichiban Obi-Wan, universe, you owe me one solid My homie Gonzalez, only know gun violence On the corner where they probably on they 21 Savage Catch two in your cabbage, Young Cesar Chavez Division one, yo, when and where we get our rhythm from? Continuum, still swingin' like a pendulum Here the women come, sing it like Sarah Vaughan Heard 9th up in a house from North Carilon' Ain't no mannequin challenge, but y'all paralyzed It's gettin' cold outside, a word from the wise Y'all n***as better bundle up But I bet it be a hotter summer, not for nothin' Yo, the cops get down, especially when it come to us n***a better be a Rockefeller Get that out your pocket fella, sayin' in acapella Ain't a damn thing really changed as far as I can tell it Another soul with no name, the helicopters hunted Look like a couple of days before the doctor comin' But that's my little cousin, watch him for me I think the world tryna sock it to me It kinda feel like everything is out of pocket for me Who keep it a hundred when everything's partial? Dignity and sanity is what the game cost you Wake up to the paddles on your chest, we had lost you I'm just paintin' a picture like Kerry James Marshall I'm just takin' a picture like Carrie Mae Weems So smile and say cheese, we in 2018 In a pyramid scheme, nightmares and day dreams From the runaway slave to a modern day king