[Verse 1: raging male MC, low and tight] Clerk window, county building, ticket forty-two And a pen on a chain that the whole town chewed Box one says old name, so I print it nice and clear Every letter like a brick I been carryin' for years First day of school, teacher read it off the list Whole room turned around like they knew who it is "You his boy?" from the coach, from the cop, from the man at the bank Every door I ever walked in, I could feel the whole room sink Five letters walk in every room before me Got a record on the street that I never got to see Got denied on a lease 'cause the landlord knew the name Got a beatin' every summer for the debts he left in flames [Hook: raging male MC, full force over the blown-out 808] Last name, last name, you been ridin' on my back Every teacher said it, and I flinched like it's a slap Last name, last name, forty dollars at the pane Say it one last time, and then you never been my name [Verse 2: raging male MC, harder and harder, he screams one line raw at the end] You was on my diploma, on my jersey, on my mail You was on the bookin' sheet the night they read me out in jail You was there when I was sleepin', you was there when I was born Every form I ever signed, I had to sign you like a thorn My daughter came out screamin', and the nurse said, "Last name?" And I stood there in the hallway with the pen and the shame Left that line empty 'til her mama wrote her own Ain't a single part of you gonna live up in my home Thirty years I answered to you, came runnin' when you called Thirty years you hung across my shoulders like a wall Every time a stranger said it, I could hear the belt and door So I'm sayin' it the loudest that I ever said before I WAS NEVER YOURS [Hook: raging male MC, full force over the blown-out 808] Last name, last name, you been ridin' on my back Every teacher said it, and I flinched like it's a slap Last name, last name, forty dollars at the pane Say it one last time, and then you never been my name [Verse 3: raging male MC, the rage turns steady and hot] You think I'm talkin' to him? Nah, he been dead six years I ain't spent a breath on him, I ain't spent a single tear I been talkin' to you, five letters on a line You the only thing he gave me that he didn't leave behind Mama never took you, kept her own name like a key Thirty years she held it out, and now she hands it down to me Stamp hit the paper, and the clerk just said, "Next" And I walked out in the sun with her name across my chest Every teacher, every coach, every cop who said it slow Gonna have to learn a new one, and I want 'em all to know [Hook: raging male MC, full force over the blown-out 808] Last name, last name, you been ridin' on my back Every teacher said it, and I flinched like it's a slap Last name, last name, forty dollars at the pane Say it one last time, and then you never been my name [End]
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