Black Ice - 410 Days In The Life lyrics

When you look at me and my brothers What's your first impression? Does the sight of us leave you guessin'? Or do you understand the stressin'? The aggression? The look of no hope on me and my n***as faces Like the Lord overlooked us when he handed down his graces You see embraces fall short on the numb tips of street entrepreneur fingers Still stuck in the walls of the project halls where the coke smell still lingers External blingers is all we can be Because on the inside we've been given nothing to shine on And a record deal is harder to get than coke So my n***as get they grind on ‘cause the TV tells us “Aim high, n***a. Make all goals lateral.” But see that takes paper that we don't have So n***as put they souls up as collateral Now some n***as reclaim ‘em Some blame ‘em Make an excuse to sell ‘em But when a n***a goes from not doing to doing What can you tell ‘em? Not to be a n***a? sh** I gotsta be a n***a That's how I pay the bills And I'ma do that whether I got to sling this coke or exploit these rhyme sk**s See, America makes you an opportunist And at the same time they institutionalize you So the fact that n***as get big record deals, big money, and then go to jail shouldn't suprise you That's what lies do And see, most of these guys do have raw talent Just an infantile education So the business feeds you all the weed and the ecstasy And a little bit of paper to provide some pacification from all the bullsh** frustration they serve you Meanwhile they corrupt your perception of what the real is And they've taken all our businessmen and given them the mindsets of drug dealers Took all our messengers Made ‘em rappers Flappin' they jaws afraid to admit their treason Took all our soldiers for the cause and made them k** us for no reason And being f**ed up Well that's in this season So if you're negative You're positive But if you're positive you're called a hater But I maintain control of my soul ‘cause I know it gets greater later And I told you y'all at the last show “sh**. n***a no hater. I just know where the truth is.” Been intertwined in this puttin' forth for at least a year now So I know where the proof is See, in lies me is midtown Manhattan skyscrapers Where former hustlers like myself sign papers And pull off f**ed up capers Like sixteen infamous stars at a time They got us choppin' and baggin' and servin' that sh** to n***as sixteen bars at a time Now the crime is undetectable by the Feds Cause in the heads of our kids is where the track is And music is potent It's straight to the soul So it's much more addictive than crack is Now the high is just an allusion All lies and confusion But to feel that rush just once My young bucks are go through it So in essence they still floodin' the streets With the thugs, d**, and k**in' They just use these record labels to do it Takin' our heartfelt demos Puttin' us in limos Trying to f** up divine direction But young black men have been trained to chase money and p**y So we fall victim to our own erection And begin to convince ourselves That we're on our way to somewhere we're not goin' But ignorance is bliss And n***as love this So n***as take pride not knowing We not growin' n***a, I give a f** how slick you flowin' if you ain't showin' nothing to these kids Adding nothing positive to the earth Black Ice been destined to touch the earth ever since I was born to be real f** a record deal God gives me what I'm worth