The Return

[Verse 1] I just had a dream of a sold out show But I'm back in my room, back to what I know Writing rhymes on my own, every time I'm alone I don't use my phone, I enter the unknown No one can comprehend, what the fuck this pen Has wrote, every quote could sell out a whole show And it should and it would, but I'm not from the hood So I'm not taken serious, I doubt that you're curious On anything I say, I'm the young Billy Mays; Talk until you pay me, I'm back like I'm Brady I've looked at what I spit, realized it's all shit That I'm talking, often, I just end up lost in A place I embrace but I do not want to be If you look me in my face you can see that I'm weak There is something I seek, there is something I need It's not females and I know its not weed So what exactly is it, a part of me is missing If I end up in prison, will people still listen? Be looking at me different? Not giving me a minute? Or some time of the day? Will anybody listen? Will anybody stay? You all will look away And never come again, don't tell me you're a friend You're just part of the trend, I want this all to end And say what's on my mind but these thoughts won't send Now, I'm back in this jail, my own brain cell Don't know who has the key, does anybody see It's a fucked up scene, everybody's sipping lean And we don't do shit like we all approve it Put an end to it, we can, Like what happened to Yamz Was preventable, inevitable? Hell fucking no Somebody should of said, somebody should of told To put the cup down but I really don't know Who the hell am I to say? Either way it's not okay All the youth think the truth is too smoke weed everyday You all want to get paid but don't want to read a book Selling drugs don't do nothing but make your ass a crook Now look, this is it, the message you need If you do want to succeed and be someone who leads Try to something that nobody else could be We all have been imprisoned, it's easy to be free [Bridge: J. Cole] "Of course they only want to be rappers or basketball players That's all they really get exposed to in these situations I want to show them like no, there's a ton of other things You can be, just as success - you can be the biggest painter of all time You can be Basquiat or whoever, know what I mean? I just want to show them that there's so many other paths you can be Besides a rapper" [Verse 2] This is more than a track, I'm gaining what I lack Getting rid of my act, a voice for the black For the white, for the brown, put the barriers down Take a good look around, is this what you want to see? Whole generation and no one has a dream, or wants to be a queen Or wants to be a king, unless you play ball, or rap, or sing Then no one in the world gives a fuck what you think So I shouldn't even try right? None of this is my fight I don't see no trouble looking at my life in hindsight The news don't affect me, at least not directly The city that I live in isn't even that deadly Nah, that ain't right, this whole life is a fight And I'm gonna put my hands up if nobody's gonna man up Do what I gotta do, to make sure we all improve To make sure we listen, and get up out this prison [Outro: J. Cole] "Everytime I speak to these kids, I want to show them that there's a - The only reason they want to be rappers is cause' that's all they know That's all they see is; J. Cole, Jay-Z, Drake, all they see is that Or, they either want to be rappers or basketball players Because that's the only real role models we have when we watch television I want to try to find a way to show them that no, we - you could be a journalist You ever thought about writing the stories that, that you - or you could, you could be an author"