Common - Intellectual

Verse 1:

Writer's block ain't stopping me, had to hear the Kanye beat

But now the thoughts are jotting free, it's looking like a common theme

A pattern is recurring, first you hear me try to find my feet

But once I ride the beat, the thoughts are more common than Common be

They all high on the ganja leaf, bro come off it, you're not a G

You're high as the Doggy D or The Chronic from Dr. D

Rhymes I write they need to praise and put mine in a monastery

Until they all look up to me like T'Challa, Wakanda King

Mano a mano, thеy need to knock all of the mockery

Drop and tomorrow they all'll hop on thе TikToker beef

"Hop on a melodic beat, use AutoTune audibly"

But I gotta be honest, I know the mogul that I'mma be

Chorus:

Came in the world with a dream, I got the brain in the skull

And got the heart on the sleeve but don't test me

I was taught to believe, everything I have achieved

I had to water the seed to grow ten feet

But what do you do when the hose empty?

Can't just leave it to dry and grow deadly

Can't always depend on the sky

You gotta figure out a way to get back up on the grind and be set free

Verse 2:

L ain't come here to intrude on no culture

Fans of the game been giving the cold shoulder

I didn't expect my skills to move boulders

Or my skin pigment to bring me no closer

I just wrote raps to escape all of the wickedness

As I did though I became a better lyricist

Now I understand that the game is really serious

At a young age, my brain just couldn't think of this

This ain't an attempt to explain away my ignorance

For sympathy, it's just that rap was therapy

I've had people tell me since I'm conscious of the problem

Why do I keep on contributing? They all wanna see me pack my shit and leave

Take a look at what hip hop had did for me

I wanna give back to the culture that had taken me from wicked things to bigger dreams

Done it for so long now that this is me

Crazy how I found myself and all I did was pick a beat