Failure

Kick back while I tell you this little story of glory gone bad
I put the pen to the pad to touch something I never had
My son looks at me he's like "Yo it's up to you dad"
You know i'm glad that I got this chance to be a man my father could never be with responsibilities beyond fertility
It's killing me to think I was ever even your kid
The shit you never bothered to do
The shit you did go ahead and deny it, Justify it by lying
You can try and right your wrongs
Hope your nights don't last long
Yo, 'cause back in '80 I was just a baby maybe three years old but I can remember that cold December when my mother laid me down to sleep
I heard a hearty screech across the street
Stuffed under my sheets, felt my heart beat
That's when it all started
You bombard the front door, I dart across the floor to make sure my bedroom door was locked, jumped in the toy-box covered the lid and hid while you kicked the front door in
I flashed back to the sound of broken glass 'cause my white trash dad was whipping my mom's ass until the cops came
I remained in the same position until I was convinced you were restrained into submission just wishing that you didn't go to jail 'cause mom had to spend the Christmas on you so you could post-bail

You failed man. I said you failed man. Listen up I said you failed
There's no need for you to call me your son
I'm not the one. Can't you understand? Look what you've done
Man you've failed

Yo you failed and failed short
A negative role model who gave his toddler bottles of beer
The year's like 1982 when i'm at granny's house watching loony tunes on the couch with my big league chew
That's when mom came through sobbing and crying with two black eyes talking about "Ay yo Brian, we got to hide!"
I was afraid that you would give me a spanking
I grabbed a blanket off of the chair and ran for the stairs and told moms to follow me
I saw some shit on TV that would probably flop but we got to give it a shot
We ran to the attic in automatic mode
Threw ourselves on the floor like a goddamn laundry load
And pretty soon after that yo you came through like a bat out of hell but smoking crack, who could face that?
You must've known that granny baby-sat yelling "Where the hell is my goddamn family at?"
And I can tell mom was scared, I was bored, put my head on her shoulder because this had happened before
And I was four maybe five, lucky to be alive
To this day man, how did we ever even survive?

Yo you failed man. I said you failed man. Listen up I said you failed
There's no need for you to call me your son
I'm not the one. Can't you understand? Look what you've done
Because you've failed

I guess it's time for me to mention the fact you went to prison for six years and every Sunday I came to visit in penitentiaries getting strip searched but what's worse I went to elementary school and just cursed about the fact other kids had it better than me
You sent your letters to me telling me how you're gonna be free and how you're gonna take me under your wing and show me the things that only love from a father could ever bring
I felt the string
Every-time you lost control
When thrown in hole denied parole
The time you stole from me is time that i'll never get back
Your slipping like a tightrope with slack you've lost your grip and I won't forget the time '89 Thanksgiving
When moms dropped me off at the place that you were living
You were obliviously hitting, your car keys in the ignition the engine running in your back-yard
Felt hard when I opened the door, shit was bizarre
I must've caught you off guard, your car smelt like a bar
Is this a bad time to tell you about my report card?
Yo dad do you even know where the hell you are?

Yo you failed man. I said you failed man. Listen up I said you failed
There's no need for you to call me your son
I'm not the one. Can't you understand? Look what you've done
Bro you've failed

You know you failed but i'll never sweat it, never regret it, never let it get inside of my head or get embedded
Never letting you take the credit of being a father
Don't even bother with thoughts as a grandfather
You never even called or given my son a dollar
Never been involved, you don't even know him at all
I'm laying down the law because the last straw is broke
You think that life is a game, it's no joke because you choked

And you failed. I said you failed man. Listen up I said you failed
There's no need for you to call me your son
I'm not the one. Can't you understand? Look what you've done
You know you failed. I said you failed man. Listen up I said you failed
There's no need for you to call me your son
I'm not the one. Can't you understand? Look what you've done
Man you failed