[Intro]
Right
Yo, respect the game
These people got no respect
Foundation
Hip hop's the truth
Diverse!
Energy to the children!
Tell 'em!
It's teachers!
Check it
Yo
[Verse 1]
In this city surviving on pity committee gonna guide you
To find truth like a studying monk in a cycle
Time's are harder, young man's growing up fatherless
To do what I do you need a strong source of armour
I was down on my luck, suddenly found I had to be tough
Hand me downs, switching my style, how can I be touched?
You can get your Cristal popping, and mink shopping
Cartier watch clocking ain't impressing me blud
I'm in my boys yard blazing the skud, gaining the props
From the real heads deep in the struggle, looking for drugs
We still here, without the radio representation
Self-made without your execs and corporations
Billboards and big film scores we ain't waiting
Respect is something the industry can't except
Embody five elements of hip hop then we can step
We're like our own nation, making the music soul shaking
[Hook] x2
"I did it for myself"
"Who wanna fuck with this?"
"Best kept secret"
"I don't fuck around"
"You ain't ready yet"
Respect the game
[Verse 2]
Don't talk about it, be about it, preachers sounding the loudest
Be an example of your peers on your hands counting
Cus these fools think they're saying something on the mic
Spraying nothing, egostical raps are remained stunning
Your thoughts flawed, while I came running, stay cunning
[?], dealing with the facts while I'm paid, cousin
Okay, you can rock a rave fuck it
But can you touch a mic or turn a life around, no you stay fronting (Nah!)
Salute Malachi [?], analyze your thoughts
Paralyze your force, war cries outlined in chalk (Cussing!)
The revolution won't be televised, telling lies
Ten conservatives guys are tongue tied (Puppets!)
I really wanna know who's running tings
Wondering if its the government or one guy dishing the punishment
I'm still puzzled by the legal dictionaries
Like they wanna fuck us up in a courtroom, missionary
[Hook] x2
"I did it for myself"
"Who wanna fuck with this?"
"Best kept secret"
"I don't fuck around"
"You ain't ready yet"
Respect the game
[Verse 3]
Schooled rappers like KRS relate to my dialect
Break beat or boom bap, I spray like a bayonet
Play the best game of chess of life to my dying breath
Heart of a lion pump strength with my iron chest
I ain't lying, dread, don't make me true with the fire kept
Burning when I almost lost the fight, nigga try and step
It's bigger than that they figure that they leave us lying there
On the street corners begging change, can't hide in fear
Cost of living soaring through the stratosphere
I'm prepared for the worst, yo we gotta speak, I don't like it here
Bigger scale, talking 'bout the planet, this is how it is here
[?] in your bumbaclart rass, still in silent fear
'Til I'm retired or die fighting slice you with a spear
Like Shaka Zulu with British empires firing
Can't deny it's our right to breathe like Goliath
With the might of David slicing the hand of King Midas
Phoenix Da Icefire released Respect The Game on Fri Aug 11 2017.