Taalam Acey - Brotherly Love lyrics

[Verse 1: Taalam Acey] Blasted out of my sleep, six o'clock in the morning Some maniac outside leaning on his carhorn,/ gotta go outside and teach him the proper etiquette Neighborhood already bad enough, can't let it get any worse than it already is Y'all hear me? Y'all hear me?? I need my sleep, that's the only time on this planet that I ever get any peace I tried that college thing, on that American Dream sh**/ Yet I still live on the same street that I grew up on,/ Them same streets that I grew tough on My mother hoped I would surpa**, at least hit middle cla**/ But yet I'm still stuck on that same mentality And all those years of college, ain't even challenge me But when I graduated, life was right there/ To put a degree in my hands, and a foot on my chest And here I am, dressed in my pajamas--no slippers/ About to run outside and rip the backbone out this fool Ain't got nothing to show for all those years of school/ But...bad credit and even worse decisions And I live on a neighborhood where people buy food on credit So they finance, but they don't just take, And they're making payments on food that they already ate And when they see me on they street,/ They're looking at me like they're about to break And I'm snatching open this door like I'm about to break And I see my best friend And he's sitting in a minivan with four of those child-carseats/ And he's looking at me with a gun in his hand It's like I can hear his heart beating And with his other hand, he takes a swig of liquor from a bottle of scotch/ Pops the door locks like "get in n***a" Moves the picture of his children off the carseat with a gun,/ And throws them in the glove-box And it's like everything stops And we drive, and we drive, and we drive until we get to the part of town/ Where it looks like the American Dream is still alive And in my mind, I'm playing [?] and I'm looking/ out the window in the pa**enger side And it's like, someone's scratching their fingernails along my bones/ As I feel this grown man cry And I wonder if he knows that tens of millions of people in this country/ Are depressed but using alcohol and d** to remain in denial And I wonder if he knows there's a suicidal tendency/ Hiding behind almost every smile And no matter how many times they go back to school,/ Or how many jobs they work simultaneously/ can never seem to change their lifestyle But somehow, they convince themselves/ that it will be different for their children And eventually, they'll realize that's a fantasy/ But they need something to believe in until then And him, he just wants to be a father to his children But sometimes y'all, after all the love is gone,/ Children become pawns in a relationship And his relationship with his children is the vehicle/ But his ex-wife chooses to take out her frustrations with him And if he's just one day late on a child support, she reports it to the courts And what's driving him crazy is yesterday, he just got laid off Now thirty-days ago, her and the kids just moved in with a new man/ Who drives a range rover, and plays golf And that's a year ago from the day, that my best friend had to go to jail/ For making her last boyfriend stop telling/ the children that their father was soft And right now, he feels like everything's lost That's why I'm glad he came to me to give me/ this opportunity to put a few thoughts across And you see that all day, and all night we talked And I tell him, a man is judged by what's in his soul/ And what's in his heart, and not just what's in his pockets I tell him, me and him are friends/ through think and thin and that if he's in pain,/ We need to put our brains, time, and money together to stop it I tell him, if the fact that you don't have a lot of money is a problem/ then instead of getting fed up, what you need to do is wake up And like Moses and Jacob, whenever we get together just find new ways to profit Because in my eyes, our friendship is how we live and how we die And don't think that even for a second that I would ever let you slide And now, what I'm about to say, I want you to listen/ To with all your pride and s**uality inside Because with God as my guide, like my own self, I love you.