[INTRO — LOW, NATURAL SPEAKING VOICE] Yeah, I know what you heard. I know who was there, too. Those ain’t always the same people. [BEAT DROPS — DEEP LAID-BACK POCKET] [VERSE 1 — CONVERSATIONAL, RHYTHMIC] Six-forty, in da mornen, sun light across the glass, One boy talkin five-axis, the other got a violin. Phone buzzing on the console, somebody needs a response, Funny how a grown man’s opinion cane’t leave me alone. I got enough goin on without answerin a guess, Everybody got a version, nobody got my address. Well, they got it, but they don’t come around, They’d rather tell somebody else what they think they figured out. [POCKET TIGHTENS] See, I could’ve said plenty. I remember it well. A couple things I kept quiet would be stories themselves. But there’s people attached to the things I could tell, And I ain’t puttin their names out to straighten mines. That’s a different kind of strength. Had to learn it with time. [LOW — TWO-BEAT SPACE] Somebody said I changed. Yeah. A few things needed changin. [CHORUS — MELODIC SOUL-RAP, SAME MALE VOICE] Keep your version, I’m keeping my word. You can say what you want, I know what I’ve heard. Wat U Talkn Bout Willis?? I ain’t hard to find, I ain’t hard to reach. Got two boys lookin up, Got a life they can see. Keep your version, I’m keepin my word. I got more to give Than the last word. [VERSE 2 — BASS PUSHES FORWARD, CONTROLLED ACCELERATION] Look— Sum come with a question, sum come wit a verdict, Some call it concern when they’re really jus searching For something to carry, repeat, and interpret, Then wonder why I don’t give ’em a word to work with. [QUICKER INTERNAL RHYMES] Misquoted, misplaced, retold, rephrased, Half of a conversation, now somebody’s case. Got the motive, got the meaning, got the whole thang arranged— Only thang they never got was the man they’re naming. [BEAT PULLS BACK] You could’ve just asked me. [BEAT RETURNS] But I don’t hold court for a room full of opinions, Don’t need a defense every time somebody mentions me. I know my mistakes. I’ve made a few more. I don’t need a stranger keeping score. And I ain’t above correction. Neva claimed to be. There’s a difference between correcting and trying to defeat me. If it’s something I should hear, I can sit and receive it. If you came to pick a fight, you might leave disappointed. [SHORT PAUSE] I can get loud. Dat ain’t da prollem. Knowin when not to? Took a lil longa. [CHORUS — DEEPER, MORE RHYTHMIC] Keep your version, I’m keeping my word. You can say what you want, I know what I’ve heard. I ain’t hard to find, I ain’t hard to reach. Got two boys looking up, Got a life they can see. Keep your version, I’m keeping my word. I got more to give Than the last word. [VERSE 3 — STRIPPED DRUMS, CLOSER VOCAL] I’ve been the one sitting there when a brother couldn’t talk, Didn’t have a quick answer. Didn’t watch the clock. Some things don’t need repeating. Some things stay between us. You don’t earn somebody’s trust then use it when it’s convenient. I know what it takes to admit you’re not doing too good, Especially when everybody thinks you’re the one who should Have the answers, have the strength, have it figured out by now. Funny how the strongest man can need somebody to hear him out. [FLOW ACCELERATES — PRECISE, NOT FORCED] Got responsibilities pulling in a dozen directions, A couple hard lessons, a few wrong impressions. A back that reminds me I ain’t twenty anymore, Still got a lot I intend to get done before I’m through. I’ve had my own nights when the sleep wouldn’t come, Had a prayer on my lips, couldn’t finish what I’d begun. Jehovah knows me better than the people who assume. I don’t have to make a speech to prove what he brought me through. [BEAT THINS — BASS AND RHODES] And my boys… They’re gonna remember more than what I told ’em. They’re watching what I do when things don’t go my way. That’s where it counts. [FINAL VERSE — STRONGEST DELIVERY, DRUMS RETURN] Don’t confuse being patient with accepting whatever. Don’t confuse being kind with forgetting altogether. I can forgive a man, still remember what it cost, Still shake his hand without pretending nothing happened at all. See, that’s grown-man business, no audience required, I ain’t gotta burn a bridge just to show you I got fire. I can stand on what’s right without standing on you, And I can walk away knowin exactly what I chose. [FASTER — DRIVING INTERNAL RHYTHM] I’ve been tested, corrected, redirected, rejected, Had to check my own thinkin, take a different perspective. Some lessons came easy, some left an impression, But nun dem moments got the final word on me. I ain’t askin for a pass, ain’t askin for permission, Ain’t makin my whole life about somebody’s opposition. I know who I answer to, I know who depends on me, An Da mens that I’m becumin is dat man they’re gon see. [DRUMS STOP — SPOKEN] So if you’re askin where I stand… Right here. [FINAL CHORUS — WARM, FULL, CONFIDENT]
