Jealous

[Verse 1: EAGLEBABEL]
June Twenty Six­teen makes number three of the grad­uations that passed right past me
Nigga I'm the bear on the cover of that '03 three al­bum but Ye never did it this class­­y ­
It's no words ac­tually, what this place meant to me
Before To Pimp a But­terfly taught me exodus mentally
All I knew was fan­tasies, A's, gray skies on King Drive
Cali was the muhfuckin victory
How the fuck I ended clutchin my soul is a mystery
If theft was an entity I would call it the industry
And if I don't sign my identity to Hollywood or Ivy Leagues then obviously the credit ain't meant for me
But G, I gave this eighteen years, eighteen years
Me and the dream I was chasin' were over eighteen years
Me and mama almost lost our baby to a jury of no peers
Gave me a story and no fear, and new ears that would listen
I ain't jealous

[Verse 2: Eli Arbor]
I wanted to be you when I got here
But y'all was facing vodka and I was wearin dockers
That were too short for my big ass, in a big class
Y'all was makin all heads turn, nigga: Whiplash
And steps past these niggas with less class
While my past was the mark that held me back
I had a target on my cap, that I carried coast to coast
So I kept my head down like I was eating with the pope
I seen the stars in the eyes when ya names brought up
They celebrate the potential of ya product
Like you were really the product, and I wanted to buy
But I was always a loan, so why would I try?
Silent nights I was prone
Y'all was turnt to eleven, young wild and irreverent
Irrelevance and embarrassment seemed to be my penance
I wanted to be cool, but what's an edge kid supposed to do at parties with music he fuckin hates?
Girls he couldn't date
(And niggas who fuckin fake
Grinnin all in his face)

[EAGLEBABEL:]
Like the truth is hidden the minute we spinnin', dippin', and dabbin'
Nigga I see yo tactic
We was pullin out backflips in the name of our blackness
We was reppin the ghettos and y'all was trippin on status
Niggas was bureaucratic, and it wasn't just friend groups

[Eli Arbor:]
It was a transaction, gossip was currency
Y'all made y'all decisions before you had heard us speak
Back rooms, closed doors, pools with no participants

[EAGLEBABEL:]
Passed through only if a phone call positioned us
Wore taboo like a tattoo
Color Purple, Bing, 5 Blackfests and still I'm insignificant
Like, what?

[Eli Arbor:]
Pop quiz from a starving artist
Children of stop and frisk and zero tolerance policy:
What's it called when you go to an Ivy League
And you don't feel like you succeed
They say that we "more than rappers"
But I am "just a rapper"
(Yes, we are "just some rappers"
Yes, we are just some niggas
We are from the cities with hair triggers)
Where ambulances sing to the night sky
And you might live or you might die

[EAGLEBABEL:]
And the trauma lives, so you might ride

[Eli Arbor:]
And a stray bullet might just hide, inside of the innocent

[EAGLEBABEL]
Victims of the inner-city like peace to my homie Raymond and Kevin
Eyes up to the heavens, bless up
I only defer to your opinion
Spinnin in six years tryna convey my identity to a token black or a Jill and Jack
Textbook couldn't help with that

[Eli Arbor:]
Can't you see the passion that we stash inside our lines?
The love we've always felt and all the wounds we tried to hide?
All the times we tried to share experience between us
(And y'all niggas acted like ya never even seen us)
Believe us when we say that this gift isn't heaven sent
Cause we've been through hell, just to fit our own message in

[EAGLEBABEL:]
To y'all is the passion worth it?
To y'all we just blowin smoke
To y'all we won't get the funding so what if the dream is broke
To y'all it engineering

[Eli Arbor:]
Or medicine, banking, law
And not even athletics

[EAGLEBABEL:]
Cause that guarantee a draw
Our audience only us

[Eli Arbor:]
To y'all we'll be bona fide

[EAGLEBABEL:]
To y'all what's a Grammy or a Tony to a Nobel Prize
(To y'all we ain't curing cancer
Even if we sing something that's keepin the homies out of the way of a .45)
Or activate activism, so they ain't homophobic

[Eli Arbor:]
Holding up middle fingers to bathroom signs like "fuck your toilets"
I'll fuck your daughters, hopin her choice destroys you
A stab in the back, stab in the back
Heard I'm unattractive
Heard I'm of a race of illegitimate bastards
Heard my black skin is anthesis
To white purity and innocence in the realest sense
(But black kids here buyin into the images of BET)
As if they fight against niggas with EBT, bootleg DVDs
While pretending that they was weaned on chicken and collard greens
Just know that I know who you pretend to be
You'll never be like me

[EAGLEBABEL:]
Nigga, I'm freein' me
Catharsis ain't a show, my nigga, it's a human need
Trust me: this ain't for y'all
Like yeah we had to call it, and you know who you are
But time ain't lost, we've come far, homie
And we ain't gotta matter here, I know you'll remember me when I blow
If it took gettin suspended two times for the label, I ain't miss a boat
Cause nigga, we got the sail

[Eli Arbor:]
Cause nigga, we caught the rope
Repurpose whatever whenever they tried to hang and choke

[EAGLEBABEL & Eli Arbor:]
And fuck art school, nigga: we see what the studies show

[EAGLEBABEL:]
Just wait til Chris drop
Just wait til I follow Odes

[Eli Arbor:]
Just wait til places you can't find
And Hyperion to take you outside
(I ain't never jealous)