Truth Is

Aiyyo 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 niggas' 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 Cause on the inside we been given nothin' to shine on And a record deal's harder to get than coke So my niggas get they grind on Cause the TV tells us "Aim high nigga, make all goals lateral" But see that takes paper that we don't have, so Niggas put they souls up as collateral now Some niggas reclaim 'em, some blame 'em Makin' an excuse to sell 'em But when a nigga goes from not doin' to doin' What can you tell 'em? Not to be a nigga? Shit, I gots to be a nigga, that's how I pay the bills And I'mma do that whether I got to sling this coke Or exploit these rhyme skills See, America makes you an opportunist And at the same time they institutionalize you So the fact that niggas get big record deals Big money, and then go to jail Shouldn't surprise you, that's what lies do And see, most of these guys do have raw talent Just an infantile education So the business feed you all the weed and ecstasy And a little bit of paper to provide some pacification From all the bullshit frustration they serve you Meanwhile they corrupt your perception of what the real is See they takin' all our businessmen And givin' 'em the mindsets of drug dealers Took all our messengers, made 'em rappers Just flappin' they jaws, afraid to admit their treason Took all our soldiers for the cause Made 'em killers for no reason And bein' fucked up? Well that's in this season So, if you're negative you're positive And 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 y'all the last show Shit, nigga no hater, I just know what the truth is Been intertwined in this puddin' for about a year now So I know where the proof is See, it lies in these midtown Manhattan skyscrapers Where former hustlers like myself sign papers And pull off fucked up capers like 16 Infamous stars at a time They got us choppin' and baggin' And servin' that shit to niggas 16 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 illusion, all lies and confusion But to feel that rush just once My young bucks'll go through it So in essence, they still floodin' the streets With the thugs, drugs, and the killin' They just usin' these record labels to do it Takin' our hearts off demos, puttin' us in limos Tryin' to fuck up divine direction But, young black men have been trained to chase money And pussy, so we fall victim to our own erection And begin to convince ourselves We're on our way somewhere where we're not goin' But ignorance is bliss and niggas love this So, niggas take pride in not knowin', we not growin' Nigga I give a fuck how slick you flowin' If you ain't showin' nothin' to these kids Or add nothin' positive to the earth Black Ice been destined to touch the world ever since I was born To be real, fuck a record deal God gives me what I'm worth Sole Survivor, nigga Come on, give it up!