Oxygen (Breathe)
[Scratch Hook]
"I breathe oxygen"
[Verse One]
When I smoke with my brethren
I conjure thoughts that could open the Heavens
Envision capers to get more paper than Ocean's 11
These smoldering sessions got me quietly reflecting
On this great paper chase dawg and it's time to count these blessings
To be paid Heavenly
It's steadily becoming more aggressively
What drives me to rhyme has now become necessity
A way of this 9 to 5 debauchery white guys in ties mocking me
Knowing deep down they wish to copy me
My pockets be the same as niggas that's unemployed
I'm still young, gotta make noise before I am destroyed
Internally, burning these candles on both ends
I feel I won't win
This battle of good verse evil and I don't know if
It's ever going to change and the stress is never stopping
I need oxygen
Breathe with me niggas
[Scratch Hook]
[Verse Two]
Dear mama your boy's about a day
From straying away from the wisdom you used to relay
Live legit and be honest
I try to flow with the waters but it was filled with piranhas
Who hate me more?
Uncle Sam or that damn Uncle Thomas
Trying to get me fired
Brother you should be trying to get me hired
That's why I'm steady smoking, hoping to get higher
Escaping my reality
Altering my surroundings
Knowing that my mind combining rhymes could move mountains
Days turn into weeks on these streets but who's counting?
Niggas keep on moving with or without you
I figured out truth is what you make it
Who you are is reduced to your possessions
And what you make in your skills could elevate the masses
But instead
I'm debating on staying at work or taking classes
That is of course if this album doesn't do nothing
I try to tell myself, "Reef you don't have to prove nothing
To no one."
But in my brain the fact remains
That it's never gonna change
And the stress is never stopping
I need oxygen
Breathe with me niggas
[Scratch Hook]
[Verse Three]
This rap game is such politics
The road to riches and dollars
Is built on a path of lies, they want me to follow it
But not I
I will spit what comes naturally
No man aside from God will tell me who I have to be
Sometimes they love you but often times it will be the opposite
Sometimes they give you your props often times they don't acknowledge it
The problem is, they smile in your face
You know they ain't feeling you
So you smile back but inside your pride is killing you
But what it taught me niggas is forever gon' be salty
I must be doing something right
Cause man these critics can't ignore me
If you saw me
I guarantee you feel me when I perform
These cats got underground mentalities
I'm thinking much beyond
But it ain't gonna change and the stress is never stopping
I need oxygen
Breathe with me niggas
[Scratch Hook]
[Verse Four]
If the sky's the limit, I think I'm going way past it
What I speak is not rapping
It is poetry and passion
I'm hatching a plan to escape with those I illustrate
I will take this scenery and a perfect picture I paint
The mic is my brush
I use my voice to stroke the canvas
A scholar with more power than any professor on your campus
Schooled by niggas with bullet wounds and hands that built houses
My grandfather's knowledge, don't know if I'd be here without it
Whether I sell drugs or remain a working nigga
Get my own distribution
Or sign with J jerking niggas
Remain humble when I speak
Create a breeze like when the train rumbles past you
From day one though
This young soul has been observant
Witness the cultural murder
I know I insert the pipe a way to deal with it
The hood is way wild
Instead of Dough Boy and Ricky, I'm more like Trey Styles
Made it out by the skin of my teeth
The Cauze is still Lost
But this here is the beginning of Reef
Gladiator
Oxygen, breathe with me niggas