Mortal Man (凡人) (Explicit) - Kendrick Lamar (肯德里克·拉马尔)
The ghost of Mandela hope my flows they propel it
Let these words be your earth and moon you consume every message
As I lead this army make room for mistakes and depression
And with that being said my ni**a let me ask this question:
When sh*t hit the fan is you still a fan
When sh*t hit the fan 'one two one two'
When sh*t hit the fan is you still a fan
When sh*t hit the fan is you still a fan
The ghost of Mandela hope my flows they propel it
Let these words be your earth and moon you consume every message
As I lead this army make room for mistakes and depression
And with that being said my ni**a let me ask this question
When sh*t hit the fan is you still a fan
When sh*t hit the fan is you still a fan
Want you look to your left and right make sure you ask your friends
When sh*t hit the fan is you still a fan
Do you believe in me Are you deceiving me
Could I let you down easily is your heart where it need to be
Is your smile on permanent Is your vow on lifetime
Would you know where the sermon is if I died in this next line
If I'm tried in a court of law if the industry cut me off
If the government want me dead plant coc*ine in my car
Would you judge me a drug kid or see me as K Lamar
Or question my character and degrade me on every blog
Want you to love me like Nelson want you to hug me like Nelson
I freed you from being a slave in your mind you're very welcome
You tell me my song is more than a song it's surely a blessing
But a prophet ain't a prophet til they ask you this question
When sh*t hit the fan is you still a fan
When sh*t hit the fan is you still a fan
Want you look to your left and right make sure you ask your friends
When sh*t hit the fan is you still a fan
The ghost of Mandela hope my flows they propel it
Let these words be your earth and moon you consume every message
As I lead this army make room for mistakes and depression
And with that
Do you believe in me How much you believe in her
You think she gon' stick around if them 25 years occur
You think he can hold you down when you down behind bars hurt
You think y'all on common ground if you promise to be the first
Can you be immortalised without your life being expired
Even though you share the same blood is it worth the time
Like who got your best interest Like how much are you dependent
How clutch are the people that say they love you and who pretending
How tough is your skin when they turn you in do you show forgiveness
What brush do you bend when dusting your shoulders from being offended
What kind of den did they put you in when the lions start hissing
What kind of bridge did they burn revenge or your mind when it's mentioned
You wanna love like Nelson you wanna be like Nelson
You wanna walk in in his shoes but you peace-making seldom
You wanna be remembered that delivered the message
That considered the blessing of everyone this your lesson for everyone say
When sh*t hit the fan is you still a fan
When sh*t hit the fan is you still a fan
Want you look to your left and right make sure you ask your friends
When sh*t hit the fan is you still a fan
The ghost of Mandela hope my flows they propel it
Let these words be your earth and moon you consume every message
As I lead this army make room for mistakes and depression
And if you riding with me ni**a
I been wrote off before I got abandonment issues
I hold grudges like bad judges don't let me resent you
That's not Nelson-like want you to love me like Nelson
I went to Robben's Island analysing that's where his cell is
So I could find clarity like how much you cherish me
Is this relationship a fake or real as the heavens be
See I got to question it all family friends fans cats dogs
Trees plants grass how the wind blow
Murphy's Law generation X will I ever be your X
Floss off a baby step mobbed by the mouth of
Pit bulls put me under stress
Crawled under rocks ducking y'all it's respect
But then tomorrow put my back against the wall
How many leaders you said you needed then left 'em for dead
Is it Moses is it Huey Newton or Detroit Red
Is it Martin Luther JFK shoot or you assassin
Is it Jackie is it Jesse oh I know it's Michael Jackson oh
When sh*t hit the fan is you still a fan
When sh*t hit the fan is you still a fan
That ni**a gave us Billie Jean you say he touched those kids
When sh*t hit the fan is you still a fan
The ghost of Mandela hope my flows they propel it
Let my word be your earth and moon you consume every message
As I lead this army make room for mistakes and depression
And if you riding with me ni**a let me ask this question ni**a
I remember you was conflicted
Misusing your influence
Sometimes I did the same
Abusing my power full of resentment
Resentment that turned into a deep depression
Found myself screaming in the hotel room
I didn't wanna self destruct
The evils of Lucy was all around me
So I went running for answers
Until I came home
But that didn't stop survivor's guilt
Going back and forth trying to convince myself the stripes I earned
Or maybe how A-1 my foundation was
But while my loved ones was fighting the continuous war back in the city
I was entering a new one
A war that was based on apartheid and discrimination
Made me wanna go back to the city and tell the homies what I learned
The word was respect
Just because you wore a different gang colour than mine's
Doesn't mean I can't respect you as a black man
Forgetting all the pain and hurt we caused each other in these streets
If I respect you' we unify and stop the enemy from killing us
But I don't know' I'm no mortal man' maybe I'm just another ni**a
Sh*t and that's all I wrote
I was gonna call it Another Ni**a but' it ain't really a poem'
I just felt like it's something you probably could relate to' Other than that'
Now that
I finally got a chance to holla at you'
I always wanted to ask you about a certain situa--'
About a metaphor actually' you spoke on the ground'
What you mean 'bout that' what the ground represent
The ground is gonna open up and swallow the evil
Right
That's how I see it' my word is bond'
I see and the ground is the symbol for the poor people'
The poor people is gonna open up this whole world and
Swallow up the rich people'
Cause the rich people gonna be so fat'
They gonna be so appetising' you know what I'm saying'
Wealthy'
Appetising' The poor gonna be so poor and hungry'
You know what I'm saying it's gonna be like
There might be some cannibalism out this mutha'
They might eat the rich
Aight so let me ask you this then' do you see yourself
As somebody that's rich or somebody
That made the best of their own opportunities
I see myself as a natural born hustler'
A true hustler in every sense of the word' I took nothin
I took the opportunities'
I worked at the most menial
And degrading job and built myself up
So I could get it to where I owned it'
I went from having somebody manage me
To me hiring the person that works my management company'
I changed everything
I realised my destiny in a matter of five years you know
What I'm saying
I made myself a millionaire'
I made millions for a lot of people now
It's time to make millions for myself'
You know what I'm saying'
I made millions for the record companies'
I made millions for these movie companies'
Now I make millions for us
And through your different avenues of success'
How would you say you managed to keep a level of sanity
By my faith in God' by my faith in the game'
And by my faith in all good things come to those
That stay true' You know what I'm saying'
And it was happening to me for a reason'
You know what I'm saying'
I was noticing' sh*t'
I was punching the right buttons and it was happening'
So it's no problem' you know
I mean it's a problem but I'm not finna let them know'
I'm finna go straight through
Would you consider yourself a fighter at heart
Or somebody that only reacts
When they back is against the wall
Sh*t' I like to think that at every opportunity
I've ever been threatened with resistance it's been met with resistance'
And not only me but it goes down my family tree'
You know what I'm saying' it's in my veins to fight back
Aight well' how long you think it take before niggas be like'
We fighting a war' I'm fighting a war
I can't win and I wanna lay it all down
In this country a black man only have like 5 years
We can exhibit maximum strength'
And that's right now while you a teenager'
While you still strong
Or while you still wanna lift weights'
While you still wanna shoot back'
Cause once you turn 30
It's like they take the heart and soul out of a man'
Out of a black man in this country'
And you don't wanna fight no more'
And if you don't believe me you can look around'
You don't see no loud mouth 30-year old muthaf**kas
That's crazy' because me being one of your offspring of the legacy you left behind
I can truly tell you
That there's nothing but turmoil goin'
On so I wanted to ask you
What you think is the future for me and my generation today
I think that niggas is tired of grabbin'
Sh*t out the stores and next time
It's a riot there's gonna be'
Like'
Uh' bloodshed for real' I don't think America know that'
I think American think we was just playing
And it's gonna be some more playing
But it ain't gonna be no playing'
It's gonna be murder' you know
What I'm saying' it's gonna be like Nat Turner'
1831' up in this muthaf**ka'
You know what I'm saying' it's gonna happen
That's crazy man' In my opinion' only hope
That we kinda have left is music and vibrations'
Lotta people don't understand how important it is'
Sometimes I be like'
Get behind a mic and
I don't know what type of energy I'mma push out'
Or where it comes from'
Trip me out sometimes
Because the spirits' we ain't even really rappin''
We just letting our dead homies tell stories for us
Damn
I wanted to read one last thing to you'
It's actually something a good friend
Had wrote describing my world' It says
The caterpillar is a prisoner to the streets
That conceived it
It's only job is to eat or consume everything around it'
In order to protect itself from this mad city
While consuming its environment the caterpillar begins to notice ways to survive
One thing it noticed is how much the world shuns him' but praises the butterfly
The butterfly represents the talent' the thoughtfulness' and the beauty within the caterpillar
But having a harsh outlook on life
The caterpillar sees the butterfly
As weak and figures out a way to pimp it to his own benefits
Already surrounded by this mad city
The caterpillar goes to work on the cocoon
Which institutionalizes him
He can no longer see past his own thoughts
He's trapped
When trapped inside these walls certain ideas
Start to take roots' such as going home'
And bringing back new concepts to this mad city
The result
Wings begin to emerge' breaking the cycle of feeling stagnant
Finally free' the butterfly sheds light on situations that the caterpillar never considered'
Ending the internal struggle
Although the butterfly and caterpillar are completely different'
They are one and the same'
What's your perspective on that
Pac Pac
Pac
