Manaz Ill - Rappertag #08 | Season 2

[Intro]
Big ups my brother Bitter Belief for the tag. Shouts out to ADM on the camera; Lariken on the beat. Let's get it

[Verse]
Everybody talking, ain't nobody saying shit
Game full of toys, best to watch out who you playing with
Notorious as bad boys, we just tryna make it big
Things don't always work out regardless, so I'm staying fit
Get the crowd to raise their hands same time as I raise the bar
Then I went to raise the stakes, now I'm tryna raise my kid
Rappers fear a loss more than they wanna win
But how you gonna get rewarded if you scared to take a risk?
Fuck it, though; I choosе to show and prove
I'd rather hear about what you'vе done than what you're going to
I been around the country, don't compare me to these local dudes
The time for paying dues is over, my respect is overdue
Perception is reality, with that in mind I chose to view
This shit I'm dealing with as fertiliser that I'm growing through
Whole lot of trauma in my life but there's no excuse
Told 'em all I did was real talk and I spoke the truth
Maybe I'm a wannabe, maybe I'm a has-been
Maybe it's a nightmare, maybe just a bad dream
Maybe I'm just too messed up for the rap scene
Starting to get sick of this and they ain't got no vaccine
Killing all these instrumentals, I've been on a murder spree
Just 'cause they ain't listen, it don't mean that they ain't heard of me
Pain in my eyes, 'cause I saw some shit that hurt to see
Only one thing's for sure: in life, there ain't no certainties
Hard-headed, me backing down is far-fetched
Family over everything, I scream it with my last breath
Always been that way, if he was here then you could ask where's
My ride or die bro, they found his body in that car wreck
Rappers call my phone to ask me why we aren't friends
Suckers change once they step into that booth: Clark Kent
I remember cold nights laying on that park bench
Fuck it, that was yesterday, leave it in the past tense
Cuzzy cut his wrists and hung himself, that's the way he died
All I thought when I heard that was, "Fuck, he must have hated life"
'Cause he ain't give the paramedics any chance to save him
I just wonder what would make him try so hard not to stay alive
But I can tell my life's in need of some improvement
When I black out then end up comin' to with a bunch of bruises
No memory of what I did, but it was something stupid
So I say my sorries, avoid my friends and dumb and clueless
Still I'm bumping music in a drunken stupor
Undisputed champion of actin' like a munted loser
And I could go and blame this shit on being young, but truth is
Really I just played myself; it's now a game I'm unamused with
You pass the bottle [?] drink that shit
Since our teens it's a cycle that we been trapped in
I was rolling with the punches, now I'm older, so when someone says
To "Hit this" I'm aware of what the impact is
'Cause as hard as you hit the drugs and drugs are gonna hit you harder
If you ain't aware of how much force they swing back with
Sometimes a good night cost you more than the prices of what you scored
And ain't nobody stopped and thought to say these things as kids, so fuck it
(So fuck it) The stress is post-traumatic
Almost all my cohorts are ghosts or addicts
So on and so forth, we broke laws
As if they were petty promises, so we could go cause havoc
Still I dropped What It Look Like, gave 'em an insight
Fuck what they thought, now I'm making them think twice
Haters will whinge like I'm skating off their eyes
Round the same time we were blazing the [?] pipes
I've seen what ice can do, and that shit is cold
When you too busy scoring points to be kicking goals
Outcast, ain't the way that I can fit the mould
So I flew the coop because I refused to be pigeonholed
Anyone can fall prey; drugs will make a saint sin
Some brothers [?] crack never came in
Sam was a cool cunt, but look how meth changed him
Once he hit the pipe, shit, he ain't been the same since
Dudes are dead-broke looking for their next fix
On a mission, tryna get ticked like a checklist
These dealers all about the cream: NESQUIK
And they ain't got no chill, only Netflix
Salted my path, now I'm older and smarter
And the world feels a lot colder and darker
Drugs either left my mates soulless and heartless
Or six feet deep, in the hole there's a carcass
We in a world where not every soldier's a martyr
And if you're young or broke, you're the ultimate target
I wish that back in school they'd have told us in Drama
That you could flip the script on the role you been cast in
Play the hand you're dealt, no one holds all the cards
Either go all in or you fold, but regardless
The game goes on and when you played so long
You gotta try keep track of what the goal was to start with
You think I'm just an artist? You dumb
First of all, I'm a man, plus a father and son
I'm a brother, a friend, a partner and once
I'm finished then add a legend to that list after, I'm done, what's up?

[Outro]
Uh, so I'm gonna tag my little brother, Scrub. I know he's gonna kill this shit. Show 'em what you got, brother