On the train ride to nyc this morning I listened to Rhymefest's Man in the Mirror mixtape I spoke about
a few weeks back. Ghostface Killah appears on the track "All That I've Got is You."
It's a vivd, tragic, real tale Killah spins.
Listen to song (track 18).
Read the lyrics:
[Rhymefest]
Somebody up and said "'Fest if I was you, I'd be more bitter"
I looked and said, "If I thought like you, I'd be more nigga"
More hater, more angry black man on an elevator
More cryin, less paper, that's when they come and take ya
Put you under the radar, push your record to later
Say "It could've been greater", now you a fuckin waiter - wait up!
This is hustle time, revolution muscle mind
Over matter but matter of fact, who can fuck with mine?
I was spitting these bars before I had a dime
Phoney broads sayin they love me, deals that were signed
Comin home, shorties getting killed all the time
On the block over a crumb of a crumb - in their prime
I'm - prime time, life, crime
Sex, drugs, the Lord of War, slugs, nines
Diamond mines, blood lines
Niggas say they got no love but we love dimes
[Ghostface Killah]
Dwellin in the past, flashbacks when I was young
Whoever thought I'd have a baby girl and three sons?
I'm going through this difficult stage, I find it hard to believe
Why my old earth had so many seeds
But she's an old woman, and due to me I respect that
I saw life for what it's really worth and took a step back
Family ain't family no more
We used to play ball, eggs after school, eat grits cause we was poor
Grab the pliers for the channel, fix the hanger on the TV
Rockin each other's pants to school wasn't easy
We survived winters, snotty nose with no coast
We kept it real but the older brothers still had jokes
Sadly, daddy left me at the age of six
I didn't know nothin but mommy neatly packed his shit
She cried, and grandma held the family down
I guess mommy wasn't strong enough, she just went down
Check it, fifteen of us in a three-bedroom apartment
Roaches everywhere, cousins and aunts was there
Four on the bed, two at the foot, two at the head
I didn't like to sleep with John-John, he peed the bed
Seven o'clock, pluckin roaches out the cereal box
We shared the same spoon watchin Saturday cartoons
Sugar water was our thing, every male was no frill
In the summer, free lunch held us down like steel
And there were days I had to go to Tech's house with a note
Statin "Gloria can I borrow some food? I'm dead broke"
So embarrassin, I couldn't stand to knock on they door
My friends might be laughin, I spent stamps at stores
"Mommy, where's the toilet paper?" Usually newspaper
"Look, Ms. Rose gave us a couch" She's the neighbour
Things was deep, my whole youth was sharper than cleats
Two brothers with muscular dystrophy, it killed me
But I remember this, moms would lick her finger tips
To wipe the coal out my eye before school with her spit
Casework, I had her runnin back to face the face
I caught a case, housin tried to throw us out of our place
Sometimes I look up at the stars and analyse the sky
And ask myself, "Was I meant to be here?... Why?"
