Royce da 5'9"
Royce da 5'9"
Royce da 5'9"
Royce da 5'9"
Royce da 5'9"
Royce da 5'9"
Royce da 5'9"
Royce da 5'9" & Hall & Nash
Royce da 5'9"
Slaughterhouse
Royce da 5'9"
Royce da 5'9"
Royce da 5'9"
Royce da 5'9"
Royce da 5'9"
Royce da 5'9"
Royce da 5'9"
Royce da 5'9"
Royce da 5'9"
Royce da 5'9"
Royce da 5'9"
Royce da 5'9"
Royce da 5'9"
Royce da 5'9"
Royce da 5'9"
Royce da 5'9"
Royce da 5'9" & Nick Grant & eLZhi
Royce da 5'9"
Layers is the 24th track on Royce da 5'9"s 2017 mixtape The Bar Exam 4, it also shares the namesake of his 2016 album Layers
This entire song is about the influence rappers have on communities in this day and age and how they should use this influence.
[Intro: Rick Ross sample]
Sometimes I be wanting to say "fuck the world"
I don't give a fuck
Shoot it out with all you bitches
Bitches don't love me
Young black nigga, nigga fighting a war nigga
Everywhere you go bitches throwing rocks nigga
Man a nigga in a Lamborghini
[Verse 1]
When I pick up a mic I feel like Lorenzo and Ice
Eazy-E, Dre, and Yella guess I'll be a nigga for life
2Pac's soul hovers right over my board while I record
Patron enters my blood then it comes right out my pores
Some of these rappers spazz, some of them choose to serenade
Some of them need their swag
Some gon' breathe their last air today
Some believe that hip-hop police is working with these
Various media outlets even pay Vlad to interrogate
I remember back when I was blacking out without beats
Hoping for better days to focus how I'm gon' meditate
Seem like everywhere I go, somebody approaches me going
"Cole is platinum without features!" Well, so is Kevin Gates
Acting like you can't be a fan of both, your standards low
My flow luxurious like chinchilla mats on the Phantom floor
I vow to kill the style that you love and write it to keep me poise
Come at me fly, turn your album cover to the Beastie Boys
[Interlude 1]
I was telling my brother how you rappers are the new leaders. You're the real leaders of the people. The rapper doesn't think he's a leader, but he's got followers all over the world. The biggest preachers don't have as many followers as one rapper
[Verse 2]
I represent war, pain, destroyed fame, contort cane
Chess playing rather than board games
Savages saddling up, grabbing the horse range
Dragging emcees traveling eating like Bourdain
The congregation asking me how I be preaching so accurately
I answer it's actually easy, I'm ordained
The name is Luther Campbell, you can call me Luke though
Standing for what I'm saying like Farrakhan on Donahue's show
Now they trying to find a loop hole
The silence my words, the knowledge I speak
Is a reflection of the violence I see
Now the perception's your daughters and nephews idolize me
Now the objective is call me highly aggressive instead of just successful
Cause my rhetoric highly suggestive
Probably connecting cause it's honest, refreshing
Only way I'm trying express it
Down to die tonight
Grabbing his gun and shit like a young Malcolm
That'll get me capital punishment like the Pun album
[Interlude 2]
So is the question now how can we get you to rap where intelligence is coming through the lyrics with a beat that begins to open the minds of people. Our people want better. And they'll do better if they're shown better
Layers (The Bar Exam 4) was written by Royce da 5'9".
Layers (The Bar Exam 4) was produced by Bink!.
Royce da 5'9" released Layers (The Bar Exam 4) on Tue Jun 20 2017.