Idols

Look, long live your idols, may they never be your rivals
 Rakim was like Jesus, Chuck D wrote the Bible
 G-Rap was God, I learned to punch from Kane
 Lived in Queens so on Farmers we would see Todd James
 Remember the cover of Black Panther with the fat gold chains
 Then Slick Rick had a million of 'em
 So I wanted a million of 'em
 Yeah, back in my first days
 When we ain't know who was the nicest nigga in third Base
 Which MC was the worst before my MC search
 Some niggas thought Pete Nice, me, I thought MC Serch
 This before I ever met M, way before hammer dance
 This when I was asking Carrie Anne to make me hammer pants
 Smooth B was dope, Greg Nice had character
 Before I ever knew image would even matter, bruh
 Ice Cube raised me, gotta mention Gang Starr
 Me and Premier tight right now, we in the same squad
 Always tell me stories on the game and how it changed, y'all
 Life don't always come full circle, I can't explain, God
 Teacher to student
 The overlap and the generational gap I'm seeing is prudent
 So when I speak of pursuing
 What we deemed as mere dreams and illusions
 Albeit a nuisance
 I'm brewing from eyes that have seen through it
 It's no time for even a body to be reclusive
 Execs will feed you excuses, and if its seasoned, you chew it
 We got old ideologies, I think we should renew it
 The psychology for some of that reasoning's even stupid
 For me it's deeper than music, much deeper than music
 They stole our musical freedom, up next it's freedom of music
 As a tenth grade dropout I'm watching the aftermath
 Of everything streaming and doing the extremist
 This is true shit
 Don't take a genius to see the genius is stewing
 Ain't got the reach to do it, so let me reach you can do it
 It go
 Look, look
 If you live long you see your idols be your rivals
 Hov was like the GOAT, congratulations on Tidal
 Salute, you broke through many barriers for us
 When we couldn't move the needle you carried us for us
 Look forward, maybe in 30 years they'll implore us
 Push to the back of the red ignore us
 I think we nearing that border
 Mr. Carter, who gon' fare for the authors
 They only there to extort us
 Who gon be there to record us, nigga
 Even deeper who gon' care for our daughters
 And our sons just the vultures
 We keep handing them the culture
 And the hip hop that raised this kid is one that spoke up
 I'm pessimistic, I won't even get my hopes us
 But if it's gon' all implode before it blow up
 Need more than overcharging for what they did to the Cold Crush
 Just a PSA in lieu of the movement
 Can't get a quarter back now, what about future music
 Really
 So if I'm gone when tomorrow come
 The mission for my only born when tomorrow come
 How will we receive songs when tomorrow come
 Here's my study for understudies to borrow from
 New Rage and Machine, nigga, we got this
 Is what you hear when label ideas meet a plot twist
 Used to be faded from the killer talk
 Now we suffocating from the pillow talk
 Every verse like, damn, y'all love chivalry
 They offer me fame as a man, I chose dignity
 Guess everything ain't for everybody
 Maybe everybody ain't for everything
 It ain't a thing, I'm looking through my career
 I'm more the long game dude on how I choose to prepare
 Not the richest, just the sickest, ask the dudes in your tier
 Knew if I made it to the top I'd hate the views from up there
 We don't value the same shit, I spoke through a despair
 Stood out before it was cool to be weird, my nigga, you just appear
 Before these niggas hit puberty
 I was online talking like it's just you and me
 The foolery, but since we hopping like rabbits
 Calling everything that's dropping a classic
 With all this modern day practice
 Tactics that should rot in the ashes
 Some are cut from the same cloth
 Some have forgotten the fabric, listen
 Raised a nigga that you rather leave at bay
 She ain't walking in naked, she ain't fashionably late
 Have her bring your good shoes so you can dodge around the rumors
 And then shoot to light the room up like like Robert Downey Jr
 Fifth to the court tell I did this before
 Without a bearing ask Karen, nothing civil in war
 It's civil war, to judging off the shit that I saw
 I'm trying to leave it so our kids'll have more
 Tomorrow is bigger than all