[Intro: Sample]
I can't breathe in this space that's filled with your sound
Can't call a spade, a spade in this town
Dug a hole that I can't get out
I can't figure, I can't figure it out, out, out
(Verse 1: XV)
It was a pin up, the magazines would print up
That made me pick that pen up, that kept a n***as chin up
That turned losers to winner, in that minute we would give up
Couldn't die down the expectations they thought we'd live up
It was everything most parents hated
n***as with dreams, wearin' bling
Screamin' that they made it
New York rapper said ‘son', West Coast n***as said ‘cuz'
Mid-West dude said ‘fam', Damn no wonder I related
Related to my grandmother that bought me comics
To be honest, it ain't bother her as much as momma
Drama expected, like the nomination of Obama
Kept me in my room, hiding out like Osama, Step father didn't dig it
They were shovelin' dreams
To an underage teen whose real father couldn't visit
So I put on those headphones and just listened
As the murals on my wall turned to kingdom from a prison
I hear them singing
(Chorus)
Keep your head up high
Keep mine deep in the ground
Hide away the love that I found
It's a world that I can't get out
I can't figure it, I can't figure it out
Hangin' pictures on my wall
Always on my mind (Hanging Pictures on my wall)
I can't figure it out (Hanging Pictures on my wall)
Always on my mind (Hanging Pictures on my wall)
I can't figure it out (Hanging Pictures on my wall)
(Verse 2: XV)
I know it's crazy to think my pictures talked
And we created a rocket, I got in and lifted off
Well maybe the latter was kind of gone
And the former was kind of wrong
So all I have is these songs and posters up on my wall
Sometimes I took them to school to feel cool
Couldn't bring the CD, the case was a j**el
And I refused to burn money, I'm saving green in my room
You walk in and think it was FernGully
And beef wasn't allowed, Pac was next to Biggie, and Dre was next Eazy
The idea was profound
I turned the music loud and put on my own recital
In a room full of my idols, made me less suicidal
Traded pencil sharpening for urban marketing
Lawyer, doctor, went from street scholaring
White collar from Police collarin', mom and pops hollarin'
But I just tune it out, the tune is loud as I begin and says
(Chorus)
(Verse 3: XV)
Knocks on my door came from the same fist that just knocked me to the floor
Punched me in the chest and then clocked me in the jaw
What's wrong with Dad
I haven't done a thing in school that was this bad
His a** doesn't care, trying to fight back but it doesn't fair
Why my mom let this n***a come in here
She begins to come to tears
I'm screamin' it's all your fault
He says what's this bullsh** up on your wall
As I look up at the ceiling, too weak to respond
With these poses of mere mortals that singing like gods
Trying to stand up to my feet and just even the odds
But he just knocks me back down and screams at my mom
He starts seein' a bond between me and these pictures
He says, look at these n***as, what are they, father figures?
Now it's hard to ignore that all I live for is now balled up on the floor
And its
(Outro)
Always on my mind (Hanging Pictures on my wall)
I can't figure it out (Hanging Pictures on my wall)
Always on my mind (Hanging Pictures on my wall)
I can't figure it out (Hanging Pictures on my wall)
I can't breathe in this space that's filled with your sound
Can't call a spade, a spade in this town
Dug a hole that I can't get out
I can't figure, I can't figure this out, out, out