Shoulda Beens

[Verse 1]
Let's go back some years
Back when I put the mic down
Back when I thought my life was about
How many dollar signs
How many zeroes and how many commas
I could see 'em put on the contract
Before I signed the dotted line
And that financial aid let me get paid
So when I graduated I'm like
Already a hundred k in the hole
And so I had to make waves; Updated my resume
Made my way into the skull and bones' caves
Even though I knew I'd never fit in
With those money hungry grubbing
What number beamer benz you running
But man I gotta admit
Alluring when you're comfortable
Paying the bills when they come in
And so I put away the raps and I put away the dreams
I locked them under latch; let them die underneath
That lock and fucking key
The luxury of that god damn degree
But now I'm starving
So when they ask me if I used to make g's
I'm like

[Chorus]
If I was in it for the money
(I'd have been a fucking lawyer)
Yo, ain't it funny?
(I'd have been a fucking lawyer)
If I never woke up
And just tried to make it happen
If I never grabbed the mic
And started rapping
Yo I shoulda been a doctor
Shoulda been an engineer
Shoulda been a businessman
Shoulda been a millionaire
Could have been so many things
Here let me show ya
If I was in it for the money
I'd have been a fucking lawyer

[Verse 2]
So you bleed and sweat
Watch your ledger go to the red
All those big plans you had in the end
All you can do is hope that shit pops
And writer's block
Decreasing the only assets you got
And so an album becomes an EP
EP becomes a single
Single becomes an idea
But idea is the thing
To keep making you write
Until you get rid of that feeling
Pour your heart out
Just to exorcise the demons
On the road every hotel
Check-in's after three
Check-out after noon
Hitting the road to be
On time for that sound check
Promoter hates your guts
Just to rock it when you ask the crowd
To throw their hands up
And the feeling that you get
No price could ever match
No material thing could ever attach
All the meaning
When you're seeing people move
By the art that you create
So you take that twenty bucks
That you made and just say

[Chorus]
If I was in it for the money
(I'd have been a fucking lawyer)
Yo, ain't it funny?
(I'd have been a fucking lawyer)
If I never woke up
And just tried to make it happen
If I never grabbed the mic
And started rapping
Yo I shoulda been a doctor
Shoulda been an engineer
Shoulda been a businessman
Shoulda been a millionaire
Could have been so many things
Here let me show ya
If I was in it for the money
I'd have been a fucking lawyer

[Verse 3]
Yeah money, It makes the world go round
Cash rules; Trust me dude
Know how people get down
Show me that bling; Show me that swag
That oozes out your pores
Tell me again the way that keys open doors
That gold chain on your neck man
It can't protect it (nah)
That beamer or that watch
No one respects it (yeah)
And a life working for wealth man
That hate stays within you
Those commas and those zeroes man
You can't take it with you
But the sense when you contribute
To something that's bigger than you
It makes up for the hand-me-downs
And dinner made of fast food
Trust me, I used to ball out of control
To hide the sadness
While watching life move past you
Show business we ain't all rappers
From this point after
Let me write my own chapters
I cut my salary
Now i'm my own employer (yeah)
If I was in it for the money
I'd have been a fucking lawyer