once upon a time, just a boy with a dream,
nothing in his pockets with his heart on his sleeve,
nothing but a fire that was burning so deep,
he couldn’t keep it contained so he proceeded to be,
bounced around by a life that was full of deceit,
lost in a world where hate was the way to believe,
judge not...for you’ll be judged first,
people hide from the truth, cause yes it hurts,
from the pews to the white lines…
this boy has seen it all in his lifetime,
3 kids, a wife, and a loser of a baby mama,
but somehow he keeps it cool, avoids the drama,
used to run with them Mexicans,
put on weight too fast now here come the cops again,
seeing opportunities, he tryin’ to feed his kin,
on the way up from the farm to the master’s pen,
and when he gets there, he’s going to burn it down,
Joshua to Jericho, he makes the trumpets sound,
and it shook from Tennessee across the underground,
and he who was a slave suddenly had a crown.

hook

i’m flowin’ through this lifetime,
trying to keep my life line from the flat line,
but every time I take a turn they’re there to hold me down,
so its back to the boards to prepare the next round.

he was the son of a preacher man,
every Sunday at the pulpit his daddy stands,
raised by the church hymns and mediocre choirs,
small town country christians live to their desires,
but his daddy had a secret,
for 15 years from his son he did keep it,
and when he went to jail that boy got to thinkin’,
hypocrisy is obviously the odor that was stinkin’,
DUIs and jail time, rehab, AA,
alcohol consumed all those hours they could have played,
but the first born is out on his own now,
grown man with daddy issues and it’s on now,
then he knocked up that lame chick,
in court fighting but the judge think he just another dick,
so he stands there and shuts his lips,
watches his first born move away with Tallahassee tricks,
helpless, hopeless, time to raise some more hell,
face to face with his demons, time is the only tell,
the destructive path is where he chose to dwell,
as fast as he rose, that boy began to fail.

hook

yeah, that little boy is me,
now I’m right here for all of you to see,
transparent, open, flip through this book,
each chapter builds off the last one I shook,
I was raised by some OGs,
but me and daddy, we finally found our peace,
buildin’ off of history and learnin’ off of love,
our family is some heathens and we treated like we thugs,
since 1730 when they put us on a ship,
sent us overseas to work and shovel shit,
ha! this american dream,
now I’m older and I got my own team,
leader of the pack, we on the way to our dreams,
mountains to the valleys on this journey for some cream,
we got these kids to feed,
and we got to teach ‘em better with our creed,
we stand here for something and for those things I will bleed,
for this I will bleed,
I’m down here on my knees,
not going to stop ‘til I reach my death bed,
I’ll go 150 ‘til this whole tribe is fed.

hook