The Only Provider

[Verse 1]
Nothing like overthinking in silence
The only one in the family providing
Early mornings with some graveyard shifts
I'm out here chasing a check while brothas checking your pockets
Sons always fighting, they be growing up fast
Wish I can get paid back with some time instead it's limited options
Gunpoint at a robbery
Hiding in the freezer in the back of McDonald's
Scared with weapons to stop him
Little prayer, oh please god let me out alive
Don't leave my kids with a single mom
Got that house to pay off
Already got two jobs so if I die
Lord knows I'll be protеcting them all
Took all the payments
Lеft the store with trauma and my memory anguished
The next day gotta suck it up for a deposit
And no stopping
Gotta keep on for the fam
The only provider

[Chorus]
(The only provider)
Gotta work hard, I'm the only provider I know
(The only provider)
Counting up the hours but there's still not a lot to bring home
(The only provider)
Pain kept inside 'cause I don't want the struggle to show
(The only provider)
But I gotta work hard, I'm the only provider I know

[Verse 2]
No matter what I gotta be ok
Minimum sleep is all I need each day
Wildin' with the gangs, here's the price to pay
Breaking the bones in my body's only time I get a break
Trauma filled, anxiety rising
It's complicating my driving
Pulling over with or without any siren behind me
I need to pop a pill
But don't consider the option 'cause it won't drop the bills
Anger in each prayer to the lord
Mixed with despair, "why we still poor?"
Dad made it alive across the border proudly
Now we borderline be getting food stamps and public housing
Need another offer or some time off to be clearing my thoughts
Or to go see a doctor
This rate me and god will be seeing each other 'fore I retire
But no I can't stop, the only provider

[Chorus]
(The only provider)
Gotta work hard, I'm the only provider I know
(The only provider)
Counting up the hours but there's still not a lot to bring home
(The only provider)
Pain kept inside 'cause I don't want the struggle to show
(The only provider)
But I gotta work hard, I'm the only provider I know

(The only provider I know)

[Verse 3]
I know
I know the struggle, there's nothing when I let go
It's wearing me down from my body and in my soul
A matter of living, no option to stop
My lights never turn off
Feel the weight under pressure, I won't ever drop
Keep the chopper a secret, it's stealth on the block
They call me a gun buster, I aim for the top
Then I pray then I pray then I pray then I pray that my children don't go through the same pain I do
Sacrifice all that I got
Let them turn it around with a better paying job after school
Make it out the trap, never worry 'bout a hustle
Getting all the name brand so they can flex with no muscle
Gotta dress to impress and go invest an abundance
Make it out the projects
Never living check to a check, wearing a pair of Jordan's
Never mourning if I were to pass, so keep it going
Generational wealth ain't ever gonna lower
Drinking to all the crazy challenges, you'll never see me sober
Hoping they living everyday like receiving bonus
Looking so flashy to the bare eye it's blinding
Money climbing for a ten fold, it looks like an origami

[Chorus 2]
So hear me and then love me and then help me
There ain't no one in the world that can love me
And then help me and then love me
I'm the only provider that I know
(That I know)