[Intro] (dark sample chop, booming bass hit, horn stab) Yeah... you wanted the crown Now watch what it cost to keep it [Verse 1 – Rap] Sit up on this throne, earned every inch of the climb Every plot against me just refined my state of mind Y'all been circling like vultures since the day I got here Waitin' on a slip up, waitin' on a sign of fear But I ain't built to shake, I'm built to hold the ground Everybody want the seat but don't nobody want the crown's sound The weight of it, the target that it puts up on your back I carry it regardless, that's the difference, that's the fact [Hook – Sung/half-shouted] Everybody want the crown, but the crown got a price Call it king's ransom, you better think twice Everybody want the throne till they feel the weight King's ransom, that's the toll you pay at the gate [Verse 2 – Rap, harder] Watched n***as smile in my face while they planned my demise Learned the coldest moves come dressed up in disguise Every friend that turned foe just taught me who to trust Every plot that failed just proved my empire built from rust Into something stronger, something they can't touch or shake Every move you make against me just another mistake I don't need to name names, the results gon' speak for me While y'all still schemin' in the shadows, I'm out here livin' free [Hook – Sung/half-shouted, horns layered bigger] Everybody want the crown, but the crown got a price Call it king's ransom, you better think twice Everybody want the throne till they feel the weight King's ransom, that's the toll you pay at the gate [Bridge – Sung, brief, controlled] Lonely up here, but I'd rather be lonely and free Than surrounded by snakes pretending that they down with me King's ransom paid, king's ransom paid (horns swell, drums intensify) [Verse 3 – Rap, triumphant warning] So keep your plots and keep your envy, keep it all, it don't move me I paid the price to sit up here, that's a debt that can't touch me Anybody thinkin' 'bout the throne better count the cost first Watch me reign while all the pretenders fight to be the worst This the last warning that I'm givin', after this it's silence I built an empire out the ashes of everybody's violence [Outro] (horns final stab, drums cut) King's ransom... king's ransom Everybody want the crown...
