Remember Your Path

Remember hip hop?
Do you really?
How could I forget?
Remember, one two

Keep it simple, I try to do that
But when I keep it simple it sounds like something's lacking
So I go back and listen to the track and do a few subtractions
Grab my pad and pen, write a new line, add it in, hmmmmm
I can't say that again, I already rhymed this word with that word
So this time I gotta find a new way to flip it
Is it that serious? I don't know
But I'm not trying to kick a bunch of freestyle flows
I'm trying to grow as an artist
Charisma and swagger, catch you off guard, I don't look like a rapper
Take my picture, I'm not trying to look hard
I never been behind bars or tagged train yards
With a marker or spray can in hand
I'm an emcee y'all, I am who I am

To whom it may concern
Remember back in the day
??
I'm doing way back
This goes out to anybody
Lets give back

Microphone check, one two, what is this
It's friends vs. business and friends come first
I never thought this music would be lucrative
I didn't know if I was stupid or intuitive
Crazy, a little bit but maybe he's brilliant
Drawing the blueprint to build this as a little kid
When I was fifteen hip hop was a dream
Nobody voted for me to be the prom king or class president
I was a west coast resident
Moved to the east, hip hop was more prevalent
Living in New Jersey my junior year
High school drop-out, my future's unclear
Timberland boots yo, I couldn't play ball
I was at the record store, never catch me at the mall
Saving lunch money to buy fresh cassettes
That's why I stayed hungry to make the next step

No more nonsense, I'm taking rappers hostage
Sit them in seminars, teach them how to prosper
Throw away money on cars and jewelry
Whips and chains, that's appropriate slang
We become slaves to the idiosyncrasies
Of rap songs that they play on the radio frequencies
We all desire a higher position
Selfish ambition, it's a critical condition
You're not giving yourself a chance
Like jumping out a plane wearing parachute pants
It's all the right words with the wrong emphasis
Ignorance attacks, we become our own nemesis
I tell it how it is, remember how it was?
When I started rapping I did it for the love
No matter where you're from, wherever you're at
And wherever you go, yo, remember your path