This is more than 16 bars for the nation
More than 32 lines filled with motivation
More than 64 rhymes I’m incineratin’
Cuz I got more than 99 problems that I’ve been facin’

I doubt myself, often think I can’t make it
Feel like I should quit and take a vacation
Feel like a fraud and less than amazin’
Feel like I’ll never write another rap this blazin’

Feelin’ so impatient, like haven’t I paid dues
Wonder if I’ll ever be front page news
Before print media is burnt to a crisp
In a nostalgic past that didn’t actually exist

The history’s revisionist, and I’m just a speck
In a universe that won’t cut me a check
But I’m not owed anything, so I should be grateful
For every scrap of food that appears on my table

They said I’m not able when I’m raisin’ cain
They said that I shouldn’t rap with my own name
They said that a white kid spittin’s so lame
Until they saw the stadium burst into flame

Like “blocka, blocka” when I try to talk to them
You should walk a block in Waka Flaka’s moccasins
And you might get the connection to the cotton gin
And the mental shackles the slave ships brought him in

School to prison pipeline, whitewash the timeline
White collar crime when the boundaries are redlined
Standing in the breadline, who’s the real mockery
The poor… or those who profit from the poverty?

There’s no stopping me, you want to know how come?
You’re focused on the outrage, I’m focused on the outcome
Lyrically Malcolm, Marcus Garvey, Biko, Marley
Stic-Man, I’m the One Man Army

So get up! Yeah this is a stick up!
Drop all your self-destructive talk, it’s the switch up
Yeah, get your fists up before you take a swing at your reflection
They want you to see yourself as imperfection

But you aren’t, you are exactly as you’re made to be
They say good things come to those who wait patiently
But I’m a man of action / put a plan in motion
Even if the ladder of success seems broken

I’m crossing the ocean - going on an Odyssey
Underground rap is modern day prophecy
Hey politicians, take a listen, you should try it
Hear it in the street before you see it in the riot

If the arc of history bends towards justice
No wonder we feel so much weight on our shoulders
Some days we’re Atlas with the world up above us
But other days we’re Sisyphus pushing up boulders

I’m just growin’ older, seein’ my mortality
And too many believers of the just-world fallacy
While that might hurt like I struck a nerve
It’s just not true that people get what they deserve

Now you’re getting served, guess who’s the plaintiff
It’s a pretty picture of America they painted
Yeah it is ain’t it? The view from the top
Is great, until you see all the have nots

Hold up, hold up, Blake you’re spittin’ all that blasphemy
Don’t warn the people on the verge of catastrophe
Don’t expose the cloak of his majesty
Or tell them the social net’s a pretty frayed tapestry

What happened B? You were on our side
When it came to theory you were down to ride
Yeah, until I saw a crack in the plastic
Because what’s true in theory is rarely true in practice

I’m doing magic, rabbit in a hat trick
You can burn a house down with just one matchstick
And that’s it – pile of ash
While the arsonists smile and laugh

I’m trying to grab whatever I can and use it for good
But when in the hood, or when in the home, it’s just like in Rome when we do what we should
The ship is sinking softly to its grave
But with too few lifeboats, who do we save?

This seems so alarmist, is it really pressin’?
The frog boiled slowly’s not aware of the progression
And I may not know all the answers to the lesson
But once we’re all silenced, who will ask the questions?

Deep in your depression like acid in a funnel
Praying for the light at the end of the tunnel
At least until the moment it’s revealed
That there’s always been the light cuz the tunnel isn’t real

Your mind blown yet? Your spine prone yet?
Your microphone breaking into cold sweat?
Oh Yes, Dr. B is just so fresh
Bringin’ brains to the brawl and hope to the hopeless

I don’t even need a chorus
I can rap for 5 minutes cuz they say they’re eager for it
When I drop an album, all my fans are coppin’ it
Tellin’ passersby – did you know he got a doctorate?

Oh stop it kid, you flatter me
10,000 hours is all I need for mastery
Combined with my passion, drive, and grit
I guarantee the outcome will be satisfactory

And one parting thought to leave you with
You can put the I in leadership
Take the time to develop the skill
Because if you don’t, no one else will

I’m more than ill, I’m a global pandemic
Takin’ the pain and make it transcendent
I stay on task but I’m all over the map
You just got a hundred bars of reality rap