This is real life, the only one we get to live
I remember being broke and thinking something gotta give
This is real life, everything we do is legendary
And we gon' do it to the day we in the cemetery
Real life, it feel like I'm dreaming
Used to feel like I was nothing, now my life has meaning
Said this is real life, god damn this is real life
Yeah, I've been fiending for this moment
I've been dreaming 'bout this moment
I guess this is how it feel to have everything you ever wanted
Writing these records like a dissertation
While the fans go crazy from anticipation
Damn, nine years that's a lot of patiences
And now I'm looking at my idols and feeling adjacent
It's hell of a long way from back in the basement
Looking at hip-hop tryna find my placement
I bought my first pair of Jordans at 22
Same year I bought a crib too
Now my face in magazines I used to flip through
And my music on all the sites I used to sift through
Remember meeting Nas for the first time
Shook his hand and he started quoting my lines
Said he a fan, god damn this is my time
I'mma get it, I'mma do it till we prime time
I told him every single day that I be at it
In the studio recording like an addict
He said that real hip-hop shit I had it
Thinking to myself, "Damn, man, you made Illmatic"
I used wonder what it feel like
Aight, I guess we back again
With another verse of about how much I'm black again
You don't like to blame God for my packaging
Bringing up my race, don't call me a white rapper then
Damn, they judging me by my skin tone
Instead of my talent, man these motherfuckers been wrong
But it's all good I just thought I'd address it
And spell it out for people so they can finally assess it
This is dedicated to anyone with a dream
And a realization of what following it means
Breaking the cycle and not following your genes
That perfect moment when your logic intervenes
And let you know that everything ain't always what it seems
But if you really looking, I promise you'll find your dreams
This is everything I ever wanted, half of y'all won't get it
The other will probably laugh and wonder how I did it
I just spit it from my mind, one word at the time
Take everything I'm going through and put it in a rhyme
I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a lot of weight upon my shoulders
But this is my therapy as I flow this
Spilling out my heart, I just hope somebody notice
I've been real from the start and you motherfuckers noticed
Once my name elevated that's when the fame escalated
But on the real, I've grown accustomed to the stares
People watching every move I make like it was theirs
All up in my business, and even in my personal affairs
Now, I know I talk a lot of game, but I ain't trynna sell you
Cause honestly, I could show you better than I could tell you
And even though there's been moments when everything have fell through
We kept it moving, assuming even the greatest fail too
I swear this business shit is do or die
I never contemplated suicide, I'm too alive
In front of thousands, but I'm talking like it's you and I
And everyday fewer find their dreams because fewer try
Everything I seen, made me everything I am
Everything I do, I'm a man behind mine