Verse I Mental enslavement and pavements have blood stains Single mama pain smack dab in flood plains Hood supermarkets don't even carry no whole grains Evading diabetes as well as the blown brains Where some don't mind dying for wards they proclaim Surroundings in which I was raised and maintained But on the open market, these stocks get low gains If you ain't smoking strains or rockin' that c**aine Me I rock mics, cross borders and make change On, pa**enger trains, cars, buses and jet planes 20 cities just to boost the recognition of name Not an Irene Cara type that be lookin' for fame To be the most popular was never the aim To empower and make wack cats step up they game You got a problem tell me bout it, ain't no b**h in my veins Forever for the people won't be switchin' no lanes Chorus: Failure came knocking, I never let it in Heard the beats droppin', was ready to begin Losing? Forget it, we set it for the win Get it, MOVING, CRACKIN', POPPIN'—IN! Get it, MOVING, CRACKIN', POPPIN'—IN!(4x) Verse II These young cats want direction, I give 'em my spiel Lay it out in black and white like Heidi + Seal Somebody try to discover you, it's best that you yield Discovered people got smallpox in blankets concealed Decimated after teaching preparation of meals Exported 9000 miles to pick cotton in fields I once waited on this one cat to gimmie a deal Masquerading pro-Black b**h n***a wasn't for real When we'd speak, my release date he'd never reveal Felt like two Technics, he was spinning my wheels Said between commercial and conscious he would level the field Tried to switch my steez up, we didn't congeal Stifled my momentum, fate almost got sealed I was out like the Clampets in that automobile If it go commercial, wouldn't from switching my feel Like Rocksteady Flashdancing w/ Jennifer Beal Chorus Verse III I live along the Mississippi, as once did Choctaw Most times rhyming, I hold the microphone southpaw Big Daddy Kane, Juice Crew, it's undoubtedly raw MC Shan, Shante, authentic, down by the law Man, I'm cold...and still stay fresh when I thaw Kept grinding, because success I foresaw Professional presentation leave spectators in awe We left the static in on purpose, no it wasn't a flaw Storm hit and for life had to tooth and to claw People suffered, and who prospered? Halliburton and Shaw I worked for almost everything that about me you saw Dueling with the industry, take 10 paces and draw Petty criticism, that's the back breaking straw These blog n***as bout to f** around, get bust in they jaw Promoters think we rock free, aw family naw Hit your financial institutions and proceed to withdraw Chorus