A Charmed Life

[Hook] Africa, Port-au-Prince, Knoxville, and then, Manhattan, South Bend, Albany, Brooklyn (repeat 4x) Brooklyn, New York to wherever you at This is autobiographical takin' you back I lived a Charmed Life, we're going back in the years Imagine if my whole world flashed before your ears [Verse 1] I've been around the sun 25 times And I still find new ways to recognize shine It's like life gets better with age The way a song sounds better on stage And rhyme books get better with each page Before the first bar was written' Or first verse was spittin' Before label excets was bullshittin' Way back when Aunty Leen Aunt Mimi, and Aunt Jackie were babysittin' Before food was bitten, consumed through a nipple I'm talkin about when times were simple To make a long story short it goes Port-au-Prince, Knoxville, and then Love in the City that never sleeps Some thoughts to finish, I was born just a couple of weeks late Stay home long just to make sure everything was on straight All systems go, cut the umbilical chord From old earth to new earth Manhattan to turf For what it's worth, my mom held me down one deep Pops was absentee but mind you, don't sleep It took a village to raise me, Leen tought me how to read By the time I went to school, I was at high speed Ready willing and able, Jackie tought me how to add With dried up black-eyed peas on the kitchen table And coming home to a mother's love and good care Never wantin' him, it was always enough Except when it came to education It's like she had one rule There's no such thing as too much school Not to mention Leen tought me how to play the piano And then, every summer I was out at South Bend Grampaps a bartender at a country club Me and my cousin from Grand Rapids was livin it up Me Granny watchin Notre Dame football Gold and blue, she said you can't beat the team and the beans too Some say I got my sense of humor from her And I got my patience from making models in the basement Brooklyn, New York to where ever you at This is autobiographical, takin you back With no time for refrains I barely got enough time to explain How hip hop captivated my brain My momma raised me on Soul to Beethoven Sports Club and private school put me on soft rock Thats was cool, but I left C100 and WPLJ to find bliss from BLS and KISS Video Music Box showed me what time it is, wrote my first rhymes to Corey But J-Live would spark, makin pause-mix demos with my main man Mark We playin ball in the park, there were other heads too I was the herb of the crew, then I learned what to do Got my weight up at school, started battling fools G-Nice, my friendly rival at the lunch table We started spark in the dark With Damien and Ade I was down for a bit, but that was just to DJ Started spinnin in the PJ's with Facho and them Back and forth from the tables to the Pad and the pen But then I had to do a bid up state, but wait I wasn't incarcerated, but college-educated At SUNY Albany I was a full time student, part-time emcee At the time Rorschach was the place to be Livin' on dutch quad, started buildin' with gods 16 man squad, by the time my knowledge 120, we was just 5 deep I went from Mecca to Albany a student And landed in Medina as a teacher And have this rhyme reach ya You recognize whats happenin' I'm makin records and I'm winnin' But thats another story and thats only the beginning Brooklyn, New York to where ever you at This is autobiographical, taken you back Not my whole entire life, just a slice of the pie A few pieces of the who, what, when, wheres, and whys