[Verse 1]
I’ve never had to be more with less
so I smile in down times to seesaw the stress.
Keep it movin, ease off regrets,
and hold down the middle like a 3-4 defense.

See, this a game that I lost, all told.
Tried cheatin through it, but I tossed those codes.
Gotta beat it myself, cuz I’m almost grown
and ain’t no shortcuts on this long road home.

I’ve always been a couple sentences from great.
Kiss success up in its face, then resemblin its traits.
Kickin my gut, dog, heavy as an ache.
Got me messin with this bass like I’m stretchin’ it to eighths.

But the only time that I’m peddlin some weight
is if I’m askin all the fans for extensions on a date
that I bless ‘em with this tape. Welcome. Here’s a plate.
Now pardon me as I start two-steppin’ with my fate.

HOOK:
Just another day of bein on (this grind)
I do it to the death of me. Put it on my pedigree,
I’m knowin that my legacy will be (this grind)
I do it for my mama, look up to her and my father
cuz I know how much sleep they lost for (this grind)
That’s finna be me, and when I most need help,
I’ma tell myself about how this, (this may come)
especially when you on (this grind)

[Verse 2]
Up and runnin’ like I’m turnin’ a rickshaw.
cuz this the record I been burnin’ to give y’all.
ever since Muggs started workin’ with Sen Dogg
and Trick Daddy first started cursin’ his lips off.

Eight steps from perfection and eleven from divine.
These words hold me up. They embedded in my spine.
Life’s sweeter than them red peppermints and vines.
Too good for me to even try to measure it in rhyme.

But onstage, I been rhyming while I’m bummy,
focus on the crowd, then I’ll bother with the money.
I’m tryna put my hands around the collars of this country
so I can spend a couple thousand dollars like it’s twenty.

And I’ll be sippin’ from a half-full glass.
Just gettin’ my feet wet like a half-nude bath.
Slow cook gourmet. Ain’t no fast-food swag,
and if you happen to stand in my path? Too bad.

HOOK

[Verse 3]
This is life as a post-grad.
Eyes getting tight, spending nights with your notepad.
That cold world be draggin you by the coat tag,
sleepin down the hall from wherever your folks at.

Ten toes down, and my loans been due,
but at least it ain’t nobody I owe rent to!
Been stackin and savin and scrimpin on by,
Been up, been down, tryna center this shine..

Got nothing in this world but my happiness and health,
and life’s too short to be rappin’ at myself.
Even if it’s times when I’m madder than I’ve felt,
cuz the plotting and the writing and the planning doesn’t help,

and I’m losin all the feeling that I had when I started,
wondering when the hunger and passion departed,
I remember why I first started putting words to paper.
Rap saved me. I’m just returning the favor.

HOOK