The One in Front of The Garage

This is for looking back, to understand where I came View take a snapshot let me stand in the frame Growing up, I was nothing but a fan of the game With a spark, a friend said let it fan into flames Stoked I spoke from the heart I figured, "Listen this is art If I'm lame I'll advance with a cane If I'm trippin' I'll stop If I'm not invited into the club then I'll dance in the rain!" With my brain playin' PYT, but since that Pamela line, I'm not on VIP, shame Some entertainment got me feelin' cold chills I could point to some cases like Deal or no Deal It's crazy like Tracy, Jordan on NBC That they will show The Hills, but not Lauryn performing on MTV Switch converters, hands wave to my mp3, go fly They say you need a vid to get big No lie, But that video game's not for kids I did both sides of the math but it's more like trig Can't figure who'll cosine, Dig? Cause no loan equals Lo-fi scenes Means lowlife me has barely sees a cut like low-rise jeans I mean by my means, I can't afford this Look I ain't the Mike Jordan of recordings But even Michael got a grant like Horace And I know what the board says: "We'll show you love when you show us a chorus," But man I can't force it! Yo, they say "I heard you gave up rap music to be a grad student," Dog, I'm a grad student, I ain't that stupid In Vancouver where the sand's smoother than Cancun And the water is safe so you can scuba Cause it's fresh; No canned tuna on the West Coast Bumpin' Grand Puba in the Land Cruiser let's go Get the special bamboo to sess? No Only guy on the whole coast with no supply Where they smoke the lye till the bowls are dry Ought to rename the Rockies the Stonies, Why? Cause west of the range folks is always high! At least that's the stereotype But I could say the same thing for what Ontario is like Now hold up... they're like "How long are you gonna talk this nonsense? It's liked you blacked out man, I thought you was conscious!" Some kind of Com sense, some kind of Black Thought One of God's men, Insha'Allah, Amen Look, I ain't the Christ But if you want to know what my faith is like, it's like Too much, I can't convey it when I write, so God said "Son, try and say it with your life Convey it living right in the way that you love people And shun evil, become peaceful And be slow to speak because the tongue's more lethal than the gun When it's all said and done." It's not who won; we're one so even if one is lost than our sum is none Yo, I ain't mean to get deep all of a sudden, hold up: I can talk on all the superstar stuntin', cats frontin' to the point, they can hardly even go to the wash room without a costume Who told you it was cool to make pop tunes and brag about gunshot wounds? They need to stop soon cause yo I'm spazzing out like Kanye or like my little brother, and I ain't talking about Phonte My songs, they regularly do the Sean Peyton, smooth as Andre, lay nude as Ron J I just mean that I'm raw don't take it the wrong way Double entendre if you want to play Bring strong game, bring over Lebron James Been a long Way locked in my enclave writin' Till the paper filled more than the Paper mill made No paper, they had to make skrill out of old, stale, paper maché! They told me "Shad K, don't treat paper that way, cause yo We can't breathe if you kill them trees." That's a roundabout way that I kill MC's Dog, I'm twisted, the business of this linguist is mischief I've got y'all hanging on these bars, like a gymnast More bars than a Guinness pint I like that second "bar" metaphor more, I ain't the fitness type Now who's the sickest? Tell me who could spit this hype, this type This black and still rap this bright Not bright like the color like, bright what I write It's colorless, it's just right... It's ike, I want brothers in gangs giving up those colors like... Like, I want dudes in suits in coupes in tune So they can use the cash to bring life I want women in gyms, thinking slim isn't in- Wait, let me begin that again... I want women to begin to see in and not thinking as much of what men think of them Or giving into the trends, big or slim, feminine limbs, cause the real gym is within I want women in... I don't know, I just want women, man No, I'm just chillin' with my women friends dear, this is sincere, gentleman, sentiment here! And if I ain't the greatest on the day I die, my last words will be laughter Like "Why ya'll lie?" I'm just a nerd writing raps on my laptop, quit, close it, make it go flat like bad pop I learned how to rap hot on the blacktop, Black Thought was my mascot And, I'm not abusive but I do make a few hits... on charts, leave a mark, like bruises Without the new whips, just a cut of real music This is for my Whoo Kid, D.J.s Who dig, pullin' out wax like Q-Tips Finding loops, that's sick as Mr. Q-Tip's The new Biz Mark this kid's stupid, but spit sharp like toothpicks on an all inclusive cruise ship, as my crew sips On a cocktail, like that Cruise flick, like Clockwork, nah the other Kubrick: Eyes Wide Shut, bye bye bucks, I'm all in on the game let me try my luck Now I'm living off shook dice, dreams of the good life hanging by a foot, like dudes working for Suge Knight Books heavy like kush every night, these dreams, I'm trying to give life, I'm trying to give life I'm trying to give life, with no midwife to help through the rigor, so I just gotta push myself to deliver I'm On my own, on my pseudo-grown, livin', all alone livin', on a loan But given I gotta home, I wonder what I should give to the homeless, to love all men, like the stone says I'm trippin' out, forgive me, I live with doubts, and the voice that tells me that I should take a different route All the rings and things you sing about, give them out It's hard to yell with hellfire in your mouth And I'm out...