Composure (feat. Hit-Boy)

[00:00.10] Ayo, Hit I like this IE weather
[00:03.60]
[00:05.82] Ayy, look
[00:08.79] Vote yes on Hit-Boy, bitch, I'm the city spokesman
[00:12.04] They see we got this shit crackin' and now they spirit broken
[00:14.69] I'm standin' on the green like the British Open
[00:17.85] And stackin' ice on top of ice, but I'm not building snowmen
[00:21.43] Doctors couldn't even detect my disorders
[00:24.08] One case, six figures on six different lawyers
[00:26.98] I put my soul in every song with limited support
[00:29.55] Focused on the output not the outcome, big God is my source (big God)
[00:33.16] Spirit of excellence in my genetics
[00:36.57] Complexities come with my complexion
[00:39.06] 'Fore you shut me down, let me reach my level first
[00:42.17] Y'all be too proud to do the devil's work
[00:45.02] All that actin' and fakin' I can't take part in it
[00:48.19] I'm washin' my hands with the soap opera shit
[00:50.83] Set the cameras to speed, co-directed KD
[00:53.65] We know the caged bird sings and screams when it's free
[00:56.54] E'ry second I spit on this, I got it back in blessings
[00:59.99] You can't stop and run no errands on the way to legend
[01:02.73] They shoulda told 'em I'm raising up on the totem
[01:05.13] Yeah, boilin' over, pot full of yola
[01:08.15] Mix it with the cola
[01:09.40] Son of a block controller (yeah)
[01:11.09] Can't let 'em fuck me over (nah)
[01:12.88] Gotta keep my composure look
[01:14.83] Had yellow jaundice when I was born
[01:16.43] Kept me in an incubator, ten days long
[01:19.03] I made up songs, I was like humming tunes ten years later
[01:22.42] Writin' in my room ten years after that, on stage like it's too soon, but
[01:26.60] For me see, my parents met inside a nightclub
[01:29.42] Olu started to fight, and then my moms broke it up
[01:32.24] She said, "This boy he's in the Navy, settle down before y'all need savin'"
[01:35.68] Pop went to war around the world, came home, we celebrated
[01:38.45] AWOL
[01:39.23] Fast-forward to when I started to play ball
[01:41.22] From a place where we hate law
[01:42.89] See the Jakes and we take off (whoop, whoop)
[01:44.80] Hit the gate, I get home and take my chain off
[01:47.31] Thankful I got through the day and all the evil I prayed off
[01:50.43] Everything is cause and effect
[01:51.97] Make the wrong moves in this business, you lose all your respect
[01:55.17] My block is dark as it gets
[01:56.99] We all make mistakes, only a few will recover from 'em
[01:59.52] Don't spend your whole life runnin' from 'em, run up the numbers
[02:02.59] Shoulda told 'em I'm raising up on the totem
[02:05.38] Yeah, boilin' over, pot full of yola
[02:08.26] Mix it up with the cola
[02:09.43] Son of a queen and a soldier
[02:11.03] Can't let 'em fuck me over
[02:12.84] Gotta keep my composure, look
[02:16.18] Keep your composure
[02:18.96] On city blocks and cell blocks
[02:22.90] Keep your composure
[02:24.69] Hold it down, hold it tight
[02:27.73] Hold it close, hold space for yourself
[02:31.56] It's the way of the ancestors
[02:34.10] Our elders, our artists
[02:36.97] Our OGs, our dreamers, our builders
[02:41.38] With each breath, internalize their successes
[02:44.22] Their struggles, their sense of self
[02:47.37] Their sense of overcoming
[02:49.11] And take that power forward with you in life
[02:51.65] Remind yourself of the magnitude of your good fortune
[02:54.95] And the mere chance, one in billions, that you survived
[02:59.75] That you will thrive
[03:01.37] And even the strongest kings and queens being, yet remain unbroken
[03:05.97] Keep your composure
[03:07.75] And believe in the magic of who we are
[03:10.07] 'Cause what you believe is everything
[03:12.37] And what someone believes about you, is nothing
[03:15.78] Keep your composure
[03:18.04] I am Shaka Senghor
[03:20.10]