Younger

Verse 1
Starting with the notion every lesson will be taught?
It ends up hitting hard when those instructions can't be bought
It caught up with me late, I never saw just how distraught
My poor lonely mother was & how viciously she fought
Before I was a thought, before my brother was conceived
She felt the loss of a child & saw her first husband leave
She was daddy's little girl who always had a need
Born in communist Cuba, my grandparent's only seed
Made it into the states back in 1958
Out in search for a life with more than just rations on a plate
I can only imagine man the struggle in those times
The hunger they had felt, the sweat they poured out for dimes
Then to touch down in a country that's so big on selling dreams
Different poison, same greed, same evil, different schemes
Escaping outta one hell, to be captured in the next
My grandpa worked himself to death to feel the paper from them check

Hook (Gemini Genesis & Rob Wade)
It's hard enough to find a grind that won't make you lose your mind without the risk of doing time so if you
HEAR ME YELL
Don't be surprised when you take a look into my eyes & you see the rage that's caged inside from the times I've
FACED THIS HELL
Will the pain ever subside?
Will the chains become untied?
Walk with me, be my guide, help me
BREAK THIS SPELL
I know you feel that hunger, don't let it take you under
Yet & still I wonder, was it easier being younger?

Verse 2
Going back to change it all? I guess there's times I wish I could have
Coming up within the streets? Not much out there that I could grab
Survival's learned by living, not from reading through what books have
So I hustled on the ave, took it all & never looked back
It was hard for me to deal, went to 3 high schools within the course of a year
Said fuck the jay's, fuck the gear, I was grinding for my next meal
Mom was on the edge, mixing sleeping pills & beer
She must've wanted to disappear
I was always on the move, getting high to stay immune
Trying not to get consumed by the pain that she was going through
Grandma in a nursing home, dementia had her withering away
Those 40s & those Ls kept me picturing the day
Where I no longer had to hide the demons killing me inside
Still with no one by my side I pushed the thoughts of suicide
I made it through the worst to be here writing down these verses
But I would go back in reverse to see my family out them hearses

Hook (Gemini Genesis & Rob Wade)
It's hard enough to find a grind that won't make you lose your mind without the risk of doing time so if you
HEAR ME YELL
Don't be surprised when you take a look into my eyes & you see the rage that's caged inside from the times I've
FACED THIS HELL
Will the pain ever subside?
Will the chains become untied?
Walk with me, be my guide, help me
BREAK THIS SPELL
I know you feel that hunger, don't let it take you under
Yet & still I wonder, was it easier being younger?