Gotta Rap (Live at NPR Tiny Desk, 2023)

[Intro]
Let's dance
Backpack raps with gats in it
Don't get your cap peeled by the Black menace
Hahaha, Tiny Desk, check

[Verse 1]
I like to call myself the God of rap
But really I just gotta rap
This a Dior doobie on the head of your cutie
Moon signs when you call her back
Do not disturb
We looking for the smoke, not who got the herb
I'm Top Dawg, you a copycat
I done gave this beat a heart attack
Arrest your cardiac
I'ma need your pass back, hall monitors
My movement is still intelligent (Yeah)
Your movement is still irrelevant

[Verse 2]
Blacking out 'til I'm out of melanin
Meaning it never ends, you a pharmacist out of medicine
I'm holding weight like a skeleton
I'm holding weight, you just a skeleton, yeah
I put my life in these sentences, bring the felons in
My cuddie up in the coupe flipping chickens
Turning one up into two, that's a mockingbird
They wanna lock 'em in the cell again
For the product that he's selling them
My movement is still intelligent
Your movement is still irrelevant, bitch

[Bridge]
I like to call myself the God of rap
But really I just gotta rap (Gotta rap)
Something potent for the chosen clientele
But that's a twisted figure of speech
Rap is something you do (Look), hip-hop—

[Verse 3]
All I know to do is aim high
Hold my hood up like a gang sign
Del Amo 'til the death of me
Shit, I'm already a legend if I ever leave
So you can't get rid of me
My lyrics will live in memory
Destination is destiny
Every record's a felony, the long term legacy
'Cause there's definitely no stopping him
Just keeping it a buck, I'm on one, George Washington
So fuck is you telling me?
I'm a celestial, breathing in 7-D
Meaning I am not like them
My pool of thought will probably drown Aquaman
Treat an instrumental like I treat oxygen
Had the '87 Chevy Celebrity
That mean we were the same age
The synergy is heavenly
Rolling through my city in a rush
On University so much, I should at least have a AA, hey
Hold your horses, I'll be forced to get the ketamine
I've been ready since seventeen
Watching thrones although most kings get the guillotine
The prophecy is Celestine, I'm wide awake, it's still a dream
I gotta eat, but still it seems the pigs start yelling freeze
When you bring the bacon to the table like Jimmy Dean
Party's over, hold the silly string
I even tried suicide and I don't know why
I know better than most that the Soul don't die
Took a leap, shattered my leg, and lost some teeth
And I'm still standing behind every word I speak, peep
Quagen in my cream, don't worry how I grieve, bitch
Frozen, broken heart throwing out on my sleeve
Then throw my last dollar on the Gianardo floor
My guardian angel's name is Doe, I can never go broke

[Bridge 2]
Yo, the artifact with all the facts
Dodging cap in my Dodger cap
I like to call myself the God of rap
And all of y'all should call me that

[Verse 4]
I sold records, broke records, should be on a fucking almanac
Got so many lines, everyone of y'all could call me back
Started on a culdesac, made U-turns
Now I make you turn every time you hear me on the track
All they talk about is Kenny, Drizzy and Cole
And I'm inspired by all of them, but honestly
Neither one of them can live without a Soul
That ain't a diss at all, I'm just claiming where I fit in
I'm complex, I mix the violence with Christ consciousness
I'm tired of being modest, I did it with no pen
Off the top of the dome, I open minds, I'm an Oculus
They ain't played me on stations, radiated in spite of it
I put niggas on, tryna establish my dominance
This my resurrection like Common Sense, my pockets thick
I go the craziest, off my rocker, there ain't a box to place me in
Top Dawg sold his soul but he's not an atheist

[Outro]
What's my name again?
I gotta rap— like every day
The rhyme fiend about a second from the crime scene
I gotta rap— like every day
Rap is something you do, hip-hop
Gotta rap
My movement is still intelligent
Your movement is still irrelevant
Soul
Church on the move, man, thank you