This song talks about Sammus' journey from questionable producer to Bandcamp bestselling artist and well respected MC. She enlists the help of fellow Ivy-League rapper Chance Fischer to talk about the tools necessary to be a successful artist.
CHORUS
I work hard for the money
Harder for the fans
Hardest for myself
And the artists that understand
Success -- is not given
Unless you willing to grind
Invest in your decision
To doing the things you like
VERSE 1
I Started producing songs at the age of seventeen
When my brother put me on he taught me how to play with reason
And pretty soon I’m decent and I made a couple of tracks
I showed a few to like three friends and they told me that it was wack
These cats suggested I master
A different kind of approach
I could begin a new chapter
I said I’d give it a go
Had an aversion to rappers
And all they big butt hoes
But Ye converted me
After he made that chipmunk soul
So in my undergrad on my mac I began to sample things
Flip a track on its back til its no resemb-a-lance
Built a little catalogue I'm thinking that I’m better and
I dug it like a catacomb it took a while to get it that
My beats didn’t really show the best of me
I knew I had to switch up all the recipes
I invested cheese in the proper gear
Spent a couple Gs and a bunch of years
And those long days stressed out
Like donde esta the next big fiesta
We next up
CHORUS
VERSE 2 (Chance Fischer)
Tell SAMMUS I'll give 'em that work
Been doing this shit since I was getting nursed
Conceive a verse in my bedroom giving birth
When I let the flow break I was quenching their thirst
Let me take it back to the Randolph Courts
Where n*ggas had snakeskin all over their J's
Black durags all over their waves
With the cape screaming "Hoes ain't shit that we save"
In the hood, I was rapping like Can-I-Bus
But n*ggas weren't feeling my flowin'
Till I said I'd pull the mac out on all them n*ggas
Leave a door bloody like it's Passover
12-year-old drug dealing n*ggas wearing Jordans
Rapping about guns, weed smoke and extortion
All up on the corners and on n*ggas front porches
Diamonds in the rough, flow wasn't yet gorgeous
Fast forward -- I'm a junior in the Ivy League
Higher than them towers of ivory
Picture me dying for an I-N-C
Put the "I" in team and envisioned my dream
Couldn't match my hustle - 5 raps a day for three semesters
Working on flows missing Greek fiestas
Shittin' on rappers when the beat digested
I invested money that I didn't have
For something you'd have to see on the shoulder of a giant
My self-esteem must have been something like Goliath
Now the flow smooth and I'm something like Poseidon
12 year old rappin' in the midst of misguided youth
Now I rap to inspire through
The words that I crafted in the vocal booth
That started as a youngin' trying to show and prove
VERSE 3
When I started out flow wasn’t nice
I had to do a little research
Now I’m good to go I’m back to life
Like I’m celebrating Easter
I’m hungry now got fork and knife
And I really wanna eat first
I practice hard I’m cold as ice
Never listen in a T-shirt
I'd just be rappin in the camry
While I rode around the block
Now I’m standing here commanding
Every show I gotta to rock
I been to Austin, Brooklyn, Houston, nigga Upstate
And I’m still cookin' music you can just wait
I make plans around the clock
Got an album that’s coming in the summer
First chance it get to drop
Without a doubt it’s a bestseller
I had to find a crew that would invest in me incessently
Even Wonder Woman had the blessings of the Justice League
I found a place at that NuBlack
Worked hella days to make moves
I produced tracks so major
Made big waves like a durag
And I’m proof that it’s suicide
To take a break from the booth
That’s a space to make other crews ask
Who’s next?
Success was produced by Sammus.