1 & the Same

Everybody always telling me to get mine But money ain't nothing Compared to an artist's mind I was told Money always pays the bills That you gone need it all the time That dreams needed to be shelved When you're working for them Nine to fives As a kid You're told you can do anything With your mind From writing books To making movies Writing a rhyme But as I got older That theory changed over time Cause people don't support Inhibitors of the mind That refuse to draw the line When they're being undermined An average person spends seven hundred eighty hours of they life Doing something they don't even like Instead of living they life I see why Johnny don't like to go to school anymore Cause school is way too expensive For a degree That could make you even more poor And even if we did go We still fucked either way Because a nine to five ain't ever willing to pay Your goal is the money But for the work You're a slave Underneath of a modern day master So as to say The clock moves slower But your life is slipping a way Instead of feeling like years Your life is shortened to days Before you know it Your child's born Next They're moving away Before you know it again Your grandchild's on the way Telling you bluntly Is the simplest way They don't give a f*ck about the side that you claim Everybody in this motherfucker One and the same We only chess pieces That they play in this game Everybody in this motherfucker One and the same If you settling for less nigga Go be ashamed Everybody in this motherfucker One and the same If they stamp you with a number man Instead of your name Everybody in this motherfucker One and the same See My boy said that he gave up music for good Honestly Free styling is what he did Really good Yeah He said he wanted a real job And to get out the hood So he let go of his passion Discrediting everything He formerly knew In which he had stood My mama always told me that I would do fine But doing fine wasn't enough to ease up my mind A perfectionist Always adds the 'T' to the time Ain't because I'm arrogant I'm just OCD When I'm writing up my rhymes All the time While my niggas hustling For every little nickel and dime Watching me shine While I'm motherfucking out here Making the climb I been this way homie, man For almost two years Writing y'all a storyline Man Full of my fears I see my future in distance And it's finally clear This is my persistence And it's gotten me here (Kick it) They give a f*ck about the side that you claim Everybody in this motherfucker One and the same We only chess pieces That they play in this game Everybody in this motherfucker One and the same If you settling for less nigga Go be ashamed Everybody in the motherfucker One and the same If they stamp you with a number man Instead of your name Everybody in this motherfucker One and the same Two Sundays in a row My mama's feelings had changed When I took her out to church And she doubted my game Placing bad vibes in my ear Let alone On my name Placing blame Indian-giving own her claim Dissing my gain Everything she recently acclaimed About me being who I am And wanting more than the fame About me being myself Not just one in the same About me being myself In nobody else's lane You send me peace and blessings Saying God is sending signs Say I'll the need money honey When I'm slapped with a fine How you always told me I could do it if I tried? But As I got older Told me art Wouldn't make a dime? How you go to church Come back And support? Believe that a prayer works But fall short? I understand You had your problems at my age Drinking and partying During your collegiate days But that doesn't I'll mean I'll follow in your footsteps And masquerade Doesn't mean I'll do the same wrong thing And follow your ways Cause I been told several times I'd never go anywhere Making stories into rhymes Off the top of hair Cause I been told several times I'd never do anything Thinking that I could do better than fair (All the time) Cause I been told several times I need a real job To support my family And provide them health care But my mind is too competitive For simplest of pay Too complex For the cycle of the simplest of ways Too opened-minded To repeat My predecessors as maids Too liberal for crooked crackers Dressed as Curtis Blow In black face See my boy Kyle said that shit at his best He said that shit senior year As he sat his desk He told a nigga We all could do a little bit more Than just sitting in a cubicle Or college room dorm He said he'd rather do something bigger than life Than grind for a nine to five Man Work it and die I always listened to everything that Kyle told me Cause if settled for less I'd would've never been me Yeah They don't give a f*ck about the side that you claim Everybody in this motherfucker One and the same We only chess pieces That they play in this game Everybody in this motherfucker One and the same If you settling for less nigga Go be ashamed Everybody in this motherfucker One and the same If they stamp you with a number man Instead of your name Everybody in this motherfucker One and the same Yeah