Verse 1: Whatever takes to lay to rest all competition, I do So pray to repent that those devout forgotten will not find you Don’t make an attempt to follow, wallow in your own discomfort Discover how to pay your respects, accept them as your brother I’m leaving a path through trails of mud Anointing all those in pales of blood Then focus their lives on lies And find they’re hopeless in eyes of mind and why We not designed, we right on time And when we arrive we get it live Just acknowledge we on fire Nine Leaves are the set design Record time remaining nameless Formless cuz your forms are shameless You’ve forgotten where you’re from And all your flaws that made you famous Threats are painless, aim this at your heart to make the pain lift Shape-shift on this track to scratch your name right off the game’s list Plain shit I am sick of rappers Pissed cuz I’m a sicker cracker Fire blacking out the room of places that you stage your acting You’ve forgotten where’s your passion Need to ask, that’s my infraction Show me where your skills at and I’ll show you how to hack and slash ‘em Chorus: (excerpts from a discussion on Hip Hop) Some are being pushed through the machine And being told what to do They’re not challenging themselves anymore They forget about themselves as an artist That may be how it evolved, but that’s not necessarily how it has to be though Some do what they want to Verse 2: I’m backhanding the game, she aint treating us right I aint really the one but I cherish her life I blame the change on us, the same must go for me Our love is deep but I only write once a week Listen, I never held a nine besides my 9 to 9 No jail time, trust me, my life is fine I even rhyme in a suit Cuz my pursuit of happiness is to spit the truth You lose And I don’t gotta change up my flow It is what it is, you can ride or you don’t You’ll decide as I go Every line you can scope I aint losing sleep You could live a lie but I won’t I aint beat money, you could talk about all your doe Man life is sweet You could peep my gut as it grows Hold the cheddar for the cheese And your beef for the streets Two sides of a coin, my point, we both eat So yes, I really gotta say this is great You can hate on my hate so your hate’s just the same Don’t be mad at me homie I paved my own lane Speaking honestly, homie you’re a waste of a name A waste of my space man, check out my frame I’m drained but I still speak my piece This last piece of hate For these you’ll take heat Y’all wear shades in the club I’ll rock mine on the beach Please… Chorus: (excerpts from a discussion on Hip Hop) It’s a competitive sport, Hip Hop Everything is “I, I, I” because you have to prove that you’re the better emcee And of course it’s a business Hip Hop wasn’t derived from that There is this other dimension of Hip Hop There are these songs all over the world Verse 3: They’ve already forgotten How it sounds, felt the taste it Before the industry reshaped it and raped it Landscaped your face, now you’re the Mona Lisa You gotta do what they do or they won’t release ya The fans may greet ya, but you can’t look them in the eyes I guess your hustlin’ features was just a disguise Make us believe ya, at least you could try You wanna get rich lying relying on false pride Sold your soul for the price of the gold and the ice Now you’re a hoe with no hold and they’re controlling your life You were exposed to the light but prefer being dumb The who, what, where When will you remember one The place you’ve begun Look what you’ve become Succumb to what sucks for a successful some Regrets you’ll have some Respect you’ll have none Cuz when it’s all said and done you’re one loss was the love Chorus: (excerpts from a discussion on Hip Hop) People are forgetting who they are, what Hip Hop culture is, and why they’re doing it That’s the forgotten Everybody in Hip Hop is not an artist You’re doing what you think people want you to do rather than who you are There’s no innovation Verse 4: Have you ever had the feeling of being in slow-mo The type of case that comes with a thinking of “oh no” Or had a vision showing your future as so low But without a way in which you could alter or re-sow Well I’m a bring it through like a leader that bestows A speech upon his men that’ll heed ‘em to let go Of the artificial skin that just keeps ‘em in limbo These seeds will bring the being intended to first grow You’re heading to and fro on a path that is void of pride Happy to put aside who you are on the inside In truth I can’t surmise if this turned out all by design Did you intend to play the fool or did other people decide Did managers advise you sever ties for prize Well now your dragon slumbers while goblins are on the rise I’m trudging through the snow while you building a man of lies I’m speaking to your soul but it’s greeting me with goodbyes And now it’s time to hide cuz I’m wrecking your false disguise I’m stepping through the haze with intention to bring demise And when the rug gets pulled and the mirror brings its surprise Look into your eyes with the question of “who am I”