For the Crows (feat. Nur-D)

I'm optimistic with my pessimism because it's worth it.

I'm just a guy in real life that's remembering how to breathe. 

I've got ink for blood and ballpoints for fingertips. 

My words are like birds. This is for the crows. 

I represent the little kids/ whose teachers said they probly shoulda been on Ritalin/ sittin' in the back of the classroom, barely listenin'/ still got the sarcasm to ask if I have to be with the gifted kids/ y'all wanna label me a little different?/ understand that I'm riddled with the differences/ 'tween me and the homecoming queen there ain't no reason to be so I'mma get up and leave/ before the DJ even gets to play the beat that I need/ my ride's here early and she's causing a scene/ and that mean streak is powered by lithium batteries/ so I'll be doing battle 'til 2:30 at least/ if you understood that you should probably come with me/ you prolly got the knowledge of trauma and how to breathe/ when we wander in the valleys of forgotten prodigies/ hear the caw? that's the rally, come along and follow me

(Nur-D's hook)

One, two, three to the four/ if your legs feel steady you ain't ready to go

Five, six, seven, to the ocho/ didn't know then but we think you know now tho

Nine, ten, let the record spin/ put it all together and we do it again

Wings up, we about to roll/ homie that's how it goes, it's for the crows

Never been afraid to claim my bad temper/ and there ain't no shame in explaining my sad weather/ 'cause I can't complain when the pain's made me better/ when the strain gave me strength to gain in my endeavors/ 'hey Nick, when you gonna quit? little idiot'/ tell 'em this is it, how it is, raised by a narcissist/ day in, day out, I was made to be targeted/ the way to my rage paved in them arguments/ felt caged when I had to scream why?/ couple years after brother's suicide/ realized it was prolly you or I/ never in my life have I been afraid to die/ but nothing good comes from keeping that shit inside/ I'm one of the crooked young you can see it within my eyes/ if something could be done, I'd spit it within these lines, to keep the kids alive/ and give 'em a little piece of mind

(hook x2)

Get Up (feat. DJ Hayes)

(hook x2)

Get up, fist up, before they come to miss us

Been around some people long enough to know they been fucked

Antidote has been love, government will not listen

Now they won’t forgive you for not fittin’ they description

I know pain and suffering, shame encompassing the parts of my brain still buffering/ came from a defeat from another name up under me/ strangely mustering strength to stand reluctantly maimed in company/ trained my empathy, tamed my apathy, gained insanity, claimed my vanity’s for prosperity/ I can’t hang when my brain stay mad at me/ violently studying the latest main tragedies/ I ain’t playin’ with my saint’s name casually/ hate what I’m sayin’ but the grave ain’t havin’ me, nah/ ain’t taggin’ me, nah/ ain’t sad to see, a bunch of different people marching in these streets against the machine/ ain’t having peace until we get some decency/ got the whole world talking accountability 

(hook x2)

Back and forth, I attack what I have been taught/ with the bastard sword crafted after the war was fought/ in my mind I seek no crown, bear no cross/ did my time, paid a cost/ now it only be pleasing me to be speaking with the lost/ in these streets I been seeing a box/ and the opps of the people keep teasing with the top/ they even released a few demons and now they’ve left the thing unlocked/ so there’s grief and agony somewhere on every single block/ and these screams of tragedy as if this shit will never stop/ in the elementary when all the history books get washed and glossed up/ to teach you everything ‘bout the wrong stuff/ indoctrinating the hate they gave to the nation that’s starstruck/ with complicating names and dates to claiming it was all US/ we trust that it’s all sus/ ever since that dumbfuck known as Christopher Columbus, you’ll reap what you sought but/ promise after the trauma caused that it won’t be what you thought, nah

(scratch break)

(hook x2)

Facelift

I’m optimistic with my pessimism because it’s worth it. 

(hook x2)

Comin’ from a place I was raised in them basements

Minnesota underground hip hop basic 

How you been lettin’ predators in our spaces?

Runnin’ round twin town ooh it need a facelift 
 

Just another emo from the southside of we know/ outside lit with the weed smoke/ I keep toked from the trauma I’ve seen yo, this scene tho?/ lotto problems iit needs crows to dethrone anyone that traumatized these folks that need hope/ came looking at these shows/ just to be manipulated by an obscene host/ must’ve been fifty plus times that I seen ‘em, now I see ghosts/ I was always coming back home/ I was gettin’ motherfuckin’ faded like an animal/ on the days that I was disparaged, I would drive north/ now all I got is rage and some time for ‘em/ I’m ‘bout to turn a page on these incels/ even if there ain’t no way that this ends well/ let’s say I wanna stand for somethin’/ if you take advantage of a woman, man you nothin’ 

(hook x2)

It’s not as if you can’t climb back man/ it’s not as if we all anti-your-rap fam/ but there’s a whole lotta work you ain’t done yet/ and got a whole lotta people you made upset/ and I could just say youuu and it still connects/ ‘cause there’s a few of you now and it makes me sick/ used to idolize a few of youuu as a kid/ now I’m feeling like a rebel in my righteousness/ not a piece of shit, but I’m an optimist/ that a few of y’all been paying off some settlements/ you hit the snooze alarm on that old consciousness?/ now I gotta be standing here talking shit/ former die-hard with a hill to die on/ couldn’t explain it plainer if I painted it in Krylon/ fuckboys can’t claim mental health if their homeboys victimize the people that they help 

(hook x2)

Off The Chest

I’m just a guy in real life that’s remembering how to breathe. 

(refrain x2)

Find myself again, lyin’ on the floor

Tryna figure out, what I’m gonna do, what I’m gonna say 

How’m I gonna be, how’m I gonna breathe 

How’m I gonna be able to free myself from my- 
 

Lyin’ on the floor, wonderin’ when you’re gonna walk through that door/ to help me open up my mind and tell me everything is fine when it’s not/ what you gonna say to say that it is all ok, when it’s not/ yeah the booze made me feel better/ and I was stacking empty bottles like they was cheddar/ I woulda never given it up/ I was steadily infected/ I was heavily invested/ I was fadin’ away sedated/ I’m surprised I even made it 

(refrain x2)

Fucked up part is even when I got clean and sober it wasn’t over/ I was still tryna move forward but I keep taking steps back/ and comin’ to grips with facts that I have to live with that/ how the fuck do you live with this?/ when you wake up in the morning and tell yourself that you ain’t shit/ I don’t need any haters, I see one in the mirror/ only thing coming through clearer/ is I know I’m not alone/ not the only one who finds themself a stranger in they own home/ never feeling like I’m grown, clone me/ maybe he could figure it out and then I’ll follow in his footsteps/ that’s the idea behind my reclusiveness/ while I been too scared to write this/ too scared to fight this/ too scared to fuckin’ breathe and believe that there’s a better way out/ then I remember my people, they always fuckin’ talking about/ I’m tryna be a voice to a generation of clusterfucks and fuck-ups, I gotta get up

(refrain x2)

Properly etiquette and thoroughly vetted with it/ I woulda kept drinking had I not been arrested/ I was neglected as a kid because of this/ you think that woul’ve kept me away from this shit/ but as soon as it hit my lips/ I had never felt better since/ started to drown out my depression/ started to bury down my demons even though I could still hear them/ they had started screaming now, started walking me down highways, thinking it was my way/ all the time thinking of headlights at night from semis, that’s right/ I started to lose those fights/ I started to think about nooses I was feeling like a nuisance/ it felt like the only solution to feeling fucking useless/ bruises to my ego I was used to it/ but I didn’t wanna bother nobody/ didn’t want them to find a body/ I just wanna disappear/ even after all these years I still hold this fucking fear/ it sits 

(refrain x2)

Nick's Interlude

Where did Crow go?/ he ain’t in this frickin’ photo/ this is Nick with written viciousness my pen been gettin’ swol yo/ just a big kid but within him lives an infinite old soul tho/ wicked with the wisdom know I’m never ridin’ solo/ oh no, lil bro back in the corner/ here’s your only verbal warning cause he always brings the torment/ he always inspires these demons inside my mind/ to come out and breathe a little just seethe some bile/ cause I’m speaking to some heathens as they dreams expire/ they keep peeking at the skies and I don’t preach to the choir/ I only came to teach of things my teeth desire/ flintlock, match stock, might need another hydrant/ now, pardon my arson it will darken as I retire/ if you hearken by barkin’ you’ll be startin’ to get inspired/ only harder cause I’m smarter than the artists on your lineup/ I’ll keep squawking, I’ll keep talking, ‘til my clock runs fucking quiet 

The Rain (feat. DJ Hayes)

I’ve got ink for blood and ballpoints for fingertips. 

Catch me chillin’, wild n’ out inside my house/ playing video games up on my couch/ eight years of therapy under my belt/ and I still can’t shoot down all of these rain clouds/ but now I smile with my fangs out/ I take pride in my breakdowns/ can’t even lie with my face/ I’m tired of my days gettin’ cradled to the graver now/ still looking young it shouldn’t matter/ and I stay sober so I don’t stagger/ when I’m walking these beats I often listen for the clatter/ someone tell me what’s the matter/ I’m just another old soul conditioned for disaster/ wishing that my past was a little more nostalgic/ another depressed kid shit, pick a different outfit/ another attempt at Nick diggin’ for his outlet/ someone help him out quick 

(hook x2)

C’mon out this rain, baby won’t you?

But I still got too many rain clouds. 

C’mon out this rain, baby won’t you?

I still got, I still got-

(instrumental and scratch break)

Racking my brain around how to explain just how/ how just insane it sounds/ that I maintain my ground/ within the pain I’ve found/ somehow it’s made me stronger, I belong in the rain now/ please just leave me be/ I need to keep sleeping, I need to dream/ in between these sheets I might find some peace/ in the decent memories where I don’t have grief/ where I don’t need to be, anybody that somebody ever needed me to be/ mistreated me to knees/ misguided me to see/ or misleading me to be/ come compliant with lies and deceit/ the ties that bind me are my couple loyalties/ if it wasn’t for that shit I’d be gone in a minute/ knocking on Death’s door, I always been a cynic/ wanna go back to that morning I was whippin’ in the Civic and just vanish/ take all of this damage and forget it/ but I live for the panic, I love when it’s frigid/ so I’ll stay in the cold until I feel it in my bones/ hope to kill a few clouds for the family that I chose 

(hook x2)