[Verse 1]

I can count all of my blessings on a stretch of night sky

Pops told me never question any good that life supply

'Cause any fair weather come with heavy shares of downpours

And I've drowned more times than I've ever bathed in light's spot

Kept trying to shield the heart from the pressures of the market

Held the album up, triggered, now I'm aiming my shot

'80s baby, crack had cops and ADAs crawling the block

And now I turn that damage into scribbled canvas, Basquiat

Double Dutch after four, dope boy crushes galore

That was 'fore I found out they was serving base to the door

Basically that was when my childhood shattered, vase to the floor

'Cause for my folks, cocaine and vodka held a persuasive allure

I ain't never had a trust fund, gold that wasn't plated, but

Ever since the new moon, that glow been reinstated

'Cause my legacy rich, ain't got the bag yet

Just some baggage and a closet full of skeletons, crypts

The kind of blues that don't fade 'cause the stain too deep

Went from sharecrop to murder capital, range too bleak. Generation gap shrinking as the pain increase

So I'm trying to translate my trauma to whatever slang you speak

This is my life unsung, cameras on record

Memory banks is full of gems, might as well pay it forward

If that sheet music ain't been bleeding, I don't believe what you scoring

Signed your friend the tortured artist, that's the plight of a poet

[Chorus]

I'm 'bout to lay it all down, before it falls down

Ain't never had no diamond rings or the finer things, but I'm still rocking my crown

And everybody got something with 'em

I had to let it burn to get rid of 'em

And if you wanna fly right quick, gotta give up that shit tryna weigh you down

[Verse 2]

Don't know if some of this shit should be shared, to be fair

Keeping it mum is how the worst of y'all's assumptions are fed. And let the lyrics tell it, some of these rappers functionally dead

That's where I come in, hella late, but I ain't punctually led

See, the times ain't always been kind to my branch of the pear tree

Son of Virginia sharecroppers, dad tried to spare me

Went from seeing white hoods late night on the family land

To living in red-lined hoods, four babies, a family man

Street gigs twenty-four seven, we feared for his protection

Bullet scar still on his back, bruh, the ave was Afghanistan, Lord

Lord knows that they done tested the kid

Didn't believe in demons 'til I saw Pops wrestling with his

No cap, started wearing his stress like a hand-me-down

That's why I'm undressing these emotions on record to finally clear it

Getting freedom from these bars like Joanne Chesimard

Trying to sing unburied like I'm Jesmyn Ward

See, the crown ain't as heavy when the load laid bare

Heir to love unburdened, that's the light of a poet, Roc

[Chorus]

I'm 'bout to lay it all down, before it falls down

Ain't never had no diamond rings or the finer things, but I'm still rocking my crown

And everybody got something with 'em

I had to let it burn to get rid of 'em

And if you wanna fly right quick, gotta give up that shit tryna weigh you down

I'm 'bout to lay it all down, before it falls down

Ain't never had no diamond rings or the finer things, but I'm still rocking my crown

And everybody got something with 'em

I had to let it burn to get rid of 'em

And if you wanna fly right quick, gotta give up that shit tryna weigh you down