The Time

AXIS 360 ft. 5th Column (ft. Rugged-N-Raw, HiCoup, and Hasan Salaam) - “The Time”
[Emcee(s): Rugged-N-Raw, HiCoup, and Hasan Salaam]
[Producer(s): AXIS 360]
[Sample (Melody): The Zombies - “Time of the Season” (0:00)]

[Verse 1: Rugged-N-Raw]
I see a young man with unlimited ability
What inhibition is serving as the enemy
Willingly accepts second place to the confident
Spite of him knowing he’s way more competent
Scared the argument might have him blackballed
From society—that’s why he sits quietly
Try to speak softly and command respect. The little
Words like, “No,” put him back in check
Step back. I don’t want no connection ‘til I
See mirror frames, I’ve been watching a reflection
Nah, son, that ain’t me ‘cause if I was in that...
Aw shit, I’d have done the same thing
So quick to point out disparities
Not realizing we have close similarities
Funny what you learn from the man in the mirror, took
A third-person point of view to understand clearer

[Hook: Sample from The Zombies - “Time of the Season”]
It’s the time of the season
It’s the time of the season
It’s the time of the season
It’s the time, it’s the time

[Verse 2: HiCoup]
Yeah, yeah
Basically break bricks on the blocks by the dozen
Type of nigga to flinch when his lady don’t hug him
Never twitch when the pigs rushing to go to cuff him
Old folks insane to him—they don’t think nothing of him
Younger niggas see him and nod in agreement with him. We don’t
Really fear nothing and that’s the reason they love him
Me? I speak freely over the people who bleeding on
Their knees, screaming for freedom—that’s the reason they dub him
Streets is a breeding ground for leaders, redeemers of all the
Nonbelievers, niggas, and that’s the reason they flood ‘em
With gats, crack, smack, dip, dope, blow, coke, tip-
-toed before the niggas of prose and bad weed
A bad seed? Nah, but I shined in a bad scene
And that means he’s wide-awake in a bad dream
And crackers see “he is I and I is he”
And that be the reason why I spit it so mean

[Hook: Sample from The Zombies - “Time of the Season”]
It’s the time of the season
It’s the time of the season
It’s the time of the season
It’s the time, it’s the time

[Verse 3: Hasan Salaam]
To steal
A book, you can tell brother been through Hell
Yellow tints in his eyes, never right but doing well
Panhandling managed to quench the dry spells, scotch
Tape hold the frames of his old Gazelles
Collects for his cart like he’s building an ark
Spends nights in the park, connecting stars in the dark
Left on Bonaparte, lost debt and warfare. In more
Ways, returned home and just wasn’t all there
Received a Purple Heart but shorted healthcare ‘cause
The army kept denying there was poison in the air
Now most don’t care to learn what he knows, pre-
-ferring to crack jokes on the holes in his fold
The few times I had a chance to sit and build with him
Said the only thing that he missed was his children
Don’t matter if you got zero or a million long as
You recognize the fact Allah assist in him

[Hook (Overlapped with Outro): Sample from The Zombies - “Time of the Season”]
It’s the time of the season
It’s the time of the season
It’s the time of the season
It’s the time, it’s the time

[Outro (Overlapped with Hook): HiCoup]
Yeah, it’s about that time, y’all. It’s 5th Column, you know’m saying? It’s about that time, about that season we start helping our brothers and sisters out, helping ‘em up before we’re trying to shoot ‘em down and shit, you know’m saying? It’s around that season. Y’all know what it is