Manaz Ill - Rappertag #08 | Season 2

Lyrics

[Intro] Big ups my brother Bitter Belief for the tag. Shouts out to ADM on the camera; Lariken on the beat. Let's get it [Verse] Everybody talking, ain't nobody saying shit Game full of toys, best to watch out who you playing with Notorious as bad boys, we just tryna make it big Things don't always work out regardless, so I'm staying fit Get the crowd to raise their hands same time as I raise the bar Then I went to raise the stakes, now I'm tryna raise my kid Rappers fear a loss more than they wanna win But how you gonna get rewarded if you scared to take a risk? Fuck it, though; I choosе to show and prove I'd rather hear about what you'vе done than what you're going to I been around the country, don't compare me to these local dudes The time for paying dues is over, my respect is overdue Perception is reality, with that in mind I chose to view This shit I'm dealing with as fertiliser that I'm growing through Whole lot of trauma in my life but there's no excuse Told 'em all I did was real talk and I spoke the truth Maybe I'm a wannabe, maybe I'm a has-been Maybe it's a nightmare, maybe just a bad dream Maybe I'm just too messed up for the rap scene Starting to get sick of this and they ain't got no vaccine Killing all these instrumentals, I've been on a murder spree Just 'cause they ain't listen, it don't mean that they ain't heard of me Pain in my eyes, 'cause I saw some shit that hurt to see Only one thing's for sure: in life, there ain't no certainties Hard-headed, me backing down is far-fetched Family over everything, I scream it with my last breath Always been that way, if he was here then you could ask where's My ride or die bro, they found his body in that car wreck Rappers call my phone to ask me why we aren't friends Suckers change once they step into that booth: Clark Kent I remember cold nights laying on that park bench Fuck it, that was yesterday, leave it in the past tense Cuzzy cut his wrists and hung himself, that's the way he died All I thought when I heard that was, "Fuck, he must have hated life" 'Cause he ain't give the paramedics any chance to save him I just wonder what would make him try so hard not to stay alive But I can tell my life's in need of some improvement When I black out then end up comin' to with a bunch of bruises No memory of what I did, but it was something stupid So I say my sorries, avoid my friends and dumb and clueless Still I'm bumping music in a drunken stupor Undisputed champion of actin' like a munted loser And I could go and blame this shit on being young, but truth is Really I just played myself; it's now a game I'm unamused with You pass the bottle [?] drink that shit Since our teens it's a cycle that we been trapped in I was rolling with the punches, now I'm older, so when someone says To "Hit this" I'm aware of what the impact is 'Cause as hard as you hit the drugs and drugs are gonna hit you harder If you ain't aware of how much force they swing back with Sometimes a good night cost you more than the prices of what you scored And ain't nobody stopped and thought to say these things as kids, so fuck it (So fuck it) The stress is post-traumatic Almost all my cohorts are ghosts or addicts So on and so forth, we broke laws As if they were petty promises, so we could go cause havoc Still I dropped What It Look Like, gave 'em an insight Fuck what they thought, now I'm making them think twice Haters will whinge like I'm skating off their eyes Round the same time we were blazing the [?] pipes I've seen what ice can do, and that shit is cold When you too busy scoring points to be kicking goals Outcast, ain't the way that I can fit the mould So I flew the coop because I refused to be pigeonholed Anyone can fall prey; drugs will make a saint sin Some brothers [?] crack never came in Sam was a cool cunt, but look how meth changed him Once he hit the pipe, shit, he ain't been the same since Dudes are dead-broke looking for their next fix On a mission, tryna get ticked like a checklist These dealers all about the cream: NESQUIK And they ain't got no chill, only Netflix Salted my path, now I'm older and smarter And the world feels a lot colder and darker Drugs either left my mates soulless and heartless Or six feet deep, in the hole there's a carcass We in a world where not every soldier's a martyr And if you're young or broke, you're the ultimate target I wish that back in school they'd have told us in Drama That you could flip the script on the role you been cast in Play the hand you're dealt, no one holds all the cards Either go all in or you fold, but regardless The game goes on and when you played so long You gotta try keep track of what the goal was to start with You think I'm just an artist? You dumb First of all, I'm a man, plus a father and son I'm a brother, a friend, a partner and once I'm finished then add a legend to that list after, I'm done, what's up? [Outro] Uh, so I'm gonna tag my little brother, Scrub. I know he's gonna kill this shit. Show 'em what you got, brother