Ink Don't Bleed

Some got hits about the racks that they earn
Say there's Benjamins and Jacksons in their pockets to burn
But when they shoot the video, producers pass around a bucket
Full of rented jewelry for them to rock and return
I know a straight edge rapper who acts like a sheep herder
A vegan on the mic whose screaming that meats murder
But when everybody's sleeping he be creeping
Slugging back the whiskey, hating himself and sneaking a cheeseburger
There's a pop idol at the top of the charts
And when her records being cut she's on the beach in St. Barts
While a session singer who didn't have the face to make it
Signs a nondisclosure agreement and belts out her parts
It's hard cause I got bars that are big uppin' Woody Allen
But maybe he's a predator whose diggin' in his talons
There's a balance and often I don't know how to feel
In a fake and painted world seek the real

Now I can't change the past but a man's gotta man up
It's hard to believe sometimes I get the best of me
Now, I'm doing what I can but I'm a man not a damn chump
I can say it if you need, but I'd rather let the ink bleed

We dismiss our heroes' skeletons no matter how grim
My fans saying "I'd be honored to be injured by him"
Well fam, this branch is thin, but I'll go out on a limb
To say she didn't love her ulna poking out of her skin
Being pumped full of morphine and tied to machines
They cut off my jeans, I heard her in the ambulance scream
She's in school to do tattoos and might of had nerve damage
So I could have cost a girl a chance at her dream
Meanwhile, he pops painkillers until the dude is numb
Knew I was a stupid ass, just not that I'm a ruthless one
Youth is easily influenced
So should you be rooting for me if I touch a thousand
lives but on the way I ruin some?
The rule of thumb is "all publicity is your advantage"
But human lives are not collateral damage
Bandage the wounded then vanish blank as the newest of canvases
When they zoom in the cameras, give them the truth

Now I can't change the past but a man's gotta man up
It's hard to believe sometimes I get the best of me
Now, I'm doing what I can but I'm a man not a damn chump
I can say it if you need, but I'd rather let the ink bleed

Mega church leaders sleeping with male hookers
Mayors hitting crack pipes with their cookers
Each week a crooked politician gets caught
We're not shocked when they're cheaters
These days we're shocked when they're not
Are they the person you thought?
If they're perfect and hot
Often we blame the victim scoff and they deserve what they got
Actors sweep it under the rug and resume with the plot
But they're amateurs and we can see the boom in the shot
If perception is reality then this could be a shocker
I've done my share of fucked up things that didn't get on Gawker
Lots of tiny indiscretions way beyond the public eye
That if you saw would probably out me as a complicated guy
Mike says you got to separate the person from the art
But if the arts about that person you can't pull them apart
So you better watch the choices that you're making now because
They are something that matter, they're the only thing that does

Everything they say conflicts with everything I do
But I must admit I did it so I guess it might be true