[Intro: Sample]
The first step, before anybody else in the world believes it, is you have to believe it. There's no reason to have a plan B because it distracts from plan A
[Verse 1]
I was suppose to die as a baby boy
Breathing complications, try'na take Venetta's joy
Rosaline's pride, but even as a kid I refused to be denied
That coincide with my whole drive
Nothing was given, everything I have I had to fight
Like life depended on it
I'm more relaxed for a moment, line 'em up
Who want it, It smell like fear, don't it
Creeping in the soul of all opponents
In a position to my existence
I see the bigger picture
My only competition staring at me in the mirror
And he won't get the best of me
The proof is in the pudding, TDE got the recipe
We all got the telepathy one connected mind
Collectively intertwine is the god particle of rhyme
[Break]
Greatness, is not this, uhm, wonderful, esoteric, elusive, um, god-like feature that only the special among us uh, will ever taste. Ya know, it's something that truly exists. This is what I believe, and I'm willing to die for it
[Verse 2]
I'mma swing big, I'mma miss big
I was born to take the shot at the end
I'm only seconds in to my second verse and I don't need a second win I'mma die in here first, leave the booth in a hearse
Dehydrated, my thirst is unmatched like a lapse and my heart bursts
The earth shall fall, I ran out the orbit before I forfeit
The big-bang-theory in reverse, I'm on the pulpit with a four-clip
But the tool spit j**s, like a bar mitswa into the dark heart of a Hitler
Yeah, it's the return of the shape-shifter
Can't box me out I'm way quicker, may with the bach
Lean you like light liquor
This is Steven Tyler, this is Keith Richards
Band of Gypsies, Jimi Hendrix, I'm movin' pictures
Project scriptures, written in the DNA of real n***as
William Nickerson, garden livin'
[Break]
"I've never really viewed myself as particularly talented. Where I excel is ridiculous, sickening work ethic, you know? While the other guy's sleepin', I'm workin'. While the other guy's eatin', I'm workin'
[Verse 3]
I'm more [?] than John Gotti, minus the head
And paparazzi taking flicks over my dead body
More Beamer than Bugatti
My sniper rifle aiming from the Eiffel Tower than a pump back six shotty
I'm more billionaire Cosby
Probably the illest n***a who ever considered the future in rap
Ali, I fell back and kinda pushed it to the side
But I felt guilty, Nas said Hip-Hop had died
So I swallowed my pride and compromised
Started structuring hits, murder by design
Flow like the wind blows, sit back and gather my info
Staring out my project window and put that over instrumentals
Now I'm instrumental
Savage for a reason, it's not coincidental
The planets are r in line, combined with the mind of Dr. Frankenstein
Hip-Hop is alive
[Break]
Being realistic is the most commonly traveled road to mediocrity. Why would you be realistic? What's the point of being realistic? (Just put up a barrier) I'm going to do it, it's done, it's already done. The second I decide to do it it's already done. Now we just gotta wait for y'all to see
[Verse 4]
Never dreamed of getting old, had plans to live forever
We hustle to get dough and never change for cheddar
It's sort of a paradox, when the aim is to get better
In order to get better, we gotta change forever
But in a day, may these words ricochet
And find a shady spot to lay in your brain and generate
The type of thoughts that inspired the greats
I'm Jimmy Paige on a stairway to heaven, Led Zeppelin
A rock god, a rap legend
What's my dream, the projects suppressed it
Artist expression, but anything short of aggression just wasn't effective
I traded in my own progression for acceptance
Sold my soul to fear, then I bought it back within seconds
Intact, no questions it's a wrap
Now my presence is illustrious like the Heavens above
Pour a gla**, n***a raise y'all cups
[Outro]
We didn't grow up with the sense that where we were, was where we was gonna be. We grew up with the sense that where we were, almost didn't matter. Because (you were becoming) we were becoming (right) something greater