[Verse 1: Cho$en]
All I see are lights around me
See I'm on the rise they try to ground me
Up to my knees like my city, they tried to drown me..
My city's flooded, I swear that my city's flooded
Looking down at my shoes and I swear that my soul is mudded
Still lost without a path but nearly every path is rugged
I lost hold of my seams like a master wielding his puppet
I cry tears in a bucket, see if they hate you they gon love it
And while the haters talk pedestals I'm surpa**ing every summit
Nah hardly, you Steve Harvey, toe to toe with Marcus Garvey
A worn pen next to a sharpie plucking feathers out of your body
With open eyes, my mind is painted in gold..
The reaper behind me still plotting to take my soul
But no, I'll never fold, I'll never cower to grow cold
Given the pressure to make diamonds so in my mind I grow coal
Still in a shape shift, molding my path to greatness
Stuck in the sand of common man I see my craft as an oasis
A barren wasteland, around me the walls are caving in
I run back and forth, pacing just make sure you tuck your laces in
They see crooked smiles and then they try to put the braces in
Where we hide the truth but truth is all we embrace is sin...
Just face the facts, knowing life's it's been a motion picture
But the problem is we get caught inside of the still image...
I need way out, blueprint a different layout
Felt this weight on mind as my vision begins to grey out
Tired of stressing, which one are you? Curse or a lesson
Still I begin to count my blessings till the ma**es get the message see
As the dust settles, I carry the keys like a piano
Though the rocks upon the corners turn our youth into commandos
So walk inside my sandals and feel the weight that broke the camel
The diamonds left in the gravel the fire that lit the candle
The stories we never told, the shoulders left out in the cold
The truth our eyes are to behold and the Lamar's of your control..
Give me reason all I can see are smoke and mirrors
Hat tricks and illusions, I see you, I never feel ya
Just waited to get my time right
Caught up in the bright lights steady searching for the limelight
Never fold to get your mind right
Build to reach the stars or fall like a house of cards
For a fence around the yard keeping the shadows from your door
What for? Cause what ever happens in this rap sh**
I feel like I'm lost in traffic with a bag of these actors laughing
To my back, traded my jacks for jokers, the tables turned I'm focused
I was born with a hand of hearts, a full house so with this dice I'm rolling
I hope my chance is golden
Cause when misfortune shuffles your cards you never know what your holding
There's two sides to every King two pictures to every scene
Grown from the waters we stemmed but still shallow to swim
Not enough to stack the chips but I got this chip on my shoulder
Playing with the cards I was dealt our problems will never hold us, n***a..