Industry

[Intro] Listen to me good The artist is the most important person You are the feature People listen to you, they don't listen to their preachers [Verse 1] Exaggerated tales of hustin' we quick to pass judgment and fail our brothers Instead of talkin' bout Lauryn Hill talk about Lauren skill, truth be told there may never be a girl as ill Don't gossip bout Dame Dash, give props to Dame hand For the rise of Jay and for signing Kanye, man Niggas is crazy that's why we ain't got shit Rappers hate each other not the labels that got rich Don't care about culture they only want profit If your album sells slow bet you get dropped quick Q-Tip warned us the industries toxic For reference check out B.D.P - "Sex and Violence" When Styles made "I Get High" it was playin' all day When Styles made "I'm Black" it didn't get enough play I guess they got a problem with anything positive Doesn't make sense if it doesn't bring dollars in [Interlude] Those that managed us Those that were our agents Those that were our accountants Those that were the records executives Those that were the owners of the record label You never got true accounting for nothing that you did [Verse 2] What’s the difference between a label and pimpin' You sell yourself, they tell you how to spend it Ho ass niggas slow down, listen Pimps prey on minds with no ambition They keep you fly — images, promotion They keep you high, so a nigga isn't focused You livin’ in a moment, feeling yourself They livin' in plush homes, what’s really success? And what’s swag? I don’t care how you dress or what you drive I want rhymes that really impress You say it’s all about money, do you even invest? Any time in your rhymes, let me guess You’re so nice you don’t write, it just comes to you ‘Cause you the shit — nah, you just dodo I lyrically abuse any rapper who choose to step to me I will bring it right to you! [Interlude] Who do you think you are? To them you are nothing but a piece of meat And you are only as valuable as your last hit song And when you make no more hit songs Nobody cares for you no more [Verse 3] Men lie, women lie Numbers can be altered To look high, shareholders hate taking losses This is business, they don’t care about your lyrics The better you sell, the better future for their children Controversy sells so they support conflict Makes more progress means more profit And artists get killed they say they so sorry Meanwhile they tell you the date of his next project What a life, death made it more profit Record companies get paid for your drama And “Beef” DVD is on BET So every artist who was on it was beefin’ for free While the royalties are going to QD3 He Quincy Jones son, what he know about beef? No disrespect intended, I know he got beats But it’s deep how the rich get paid off our grief [Outro] And every one of our great artists they die — with nothing And the record company executives were rich, sending their kids to college You’re not stupid — you are brilliant But the question is: can you put your brilliance in a song? Can you put the conditions of the world in a song and inspire young people all over the world?