(Verse) Right, so much more than a rapper They only write rhyme, well I'mma writer That use rap to capture the times The songwritin' so excitin', like ridin' a bike But speed, never exceed what you can catch in a line On rainy days, you never see me fighting a vibe My brainstorm can light before the lighting is ripe Blow, lost for days, moms taught me bout honest ways I saw that crime don't pay at the youngest age Just a south side kid from around the way Most of our friends deadbeat till extended stays You're just an animal once you get inside that cage That's why I f** with basketball, I'm out there working all my J Got some lettuce from school, askin' me to play us It seem to be the way to escape the inner city maze sponsored links A brave scholar that love art and praise knowledge But got shot at the summer before he went to college I never told my moms that, she had enough to bear She sacrificed everything just to get me there To see your baby boy graduate, shed a tear, computer science major The math added an extra year Found a sampler and put it on layaway Spent my Christmas break making beats every day Things I saw in high-school told me stay away But my love for the music never gonna fade away High price to pay for the greez even then Five years of school, the debt added extra ten But came home making more dough than all my friends So when my fam needed my help I could finally give Moved to Cincinnati, couldn't be stationary Felt a lot of love with the girl I moved there to marry Progammer first, local rapper secondary, battle anybody
Wanted to be legendary Try hard to get promoted but I wasn't able Having better luck with the mike and the turntables All we wanted was attention from a lil' label Kept pushin', even though my family wasn't stable Lost my big sis, hardest year of my life Pops got sick and told me not to stop by Makin' paper, still didn't have a decent car Banging two mortgages, cause moms got hurt on the job Had to slow my roll, from out there, gettin' mine To understand how the family is intertwined They all sacrificed so we can live a better life So you gotta step up to the play when it's yo time Remember this, when you race towards the finish line Credit towards your fam should never be minimized Lot of people lean on 'em when they on the rise See some, success, then they wanna break the ties Flippin' through the channels, landed on Charlie Rolls Interviewing Sting about all the songs he wrote Charlie asked how a song writer keep his hope Well, Sting answered, I never dared forget the quote He said 'the music get dark whenever things get bad But artist gotta understand, it's easier to pay with black If you feel it comin' on, you gotta reel it back Cause people turn to us to hopefully escape from that' I try to think of that time to time when I'm writtin' Responsibility that come along with the rhymin' 'Don't be the guy always talkin' bout the sky fallin' Don't paint the dark cloud, unless you paint the silver lining' It's why I'm rhyming, to be that silver linin' Huh, to be the silver linin'