Before I'm Gone

(album: Friday Night Lights - 2010)

[Verse 1: J. Cole]
I hit the weed I told myself the last time would be my last
I don't trust my own niggas now my mind racing fast
Got my foot up on the gas, got a hundred on the dash
If the police run up on me I ain't stopping for their ass
Boy you know my L's dirty if they stop me I'm goin to jail surely
I'll be next to my brother in the cell no bail for me
Man let me out send me back to bitches that smell Purdy (pretty)
And all I gotta do is call once and she'll be all ready
Yeah buddy can't you tell I'm goin thru hell
I don't even open my mail
I'm in the shower with soap on the towel
I need cleansing
Bad bitches all on the prowl they need Benzes
Pussy niggas running they mouth but we ain't flinching
They names ain't even mentioned
I got dreams bigger then your whole team
You niggas so broke but yet somehow you seem so green
I guess it's envy, started with a penny now I'm getting plenty money

[Hook:]
One time for the city, yea
Two times for you
Hey
And one time for the city, hey
Two times for you
Hey

[Verse 2: J. Cole]
Look kid, it's raining outside boy
Fuck an umbrella, niggas banging outside boy
They guns dumb bell a nigga
Tired of telling niggas that's a cease rest in peace
We tired of only having just a peace
And fuck policing, they killing niggas what's the reason
His daughter starving and she fucking freezing
So no wonder why he fucking squeezing
They out here bussing leaving niggas stuck in bleeding on the flo'
Bullets wet you like a semen on a hoe
Breathing slow man I inhale
One day you tryna make rent, next day you in jail
Lord knows he meant well
So I take the pencil and write like a pen pal
Some shit that's darker than the tints up on the windshield
Welcome to sinville where niggas on base
Shit is looking like an infield
High as a Sprint bill
What you think, that's the reason why this ink in my pen kills
Phoney niggas until they are extinct, bitch I've been real

[Hook:]
One time for the city, yea
Two times for you
Hey
And one time for the city, hey
Two times for you
Hey

[Verse 3:]
The more niggas saying
Cole the wrong one bringing the city shine
All he ever doing is painting pictures of crime
Telling stories of pain, painting pictures of dope
Bitch if you listen I'm painting pictures of hope
That boy in class embarrassed because he broke
Hoping the day he won't be the butt of somebody's jokes
See me; I lived it all from dirt-pooring and trailer
Worried about my mother and never trusting my neighbors
To middle-class with a backyard and my own room
To being the only black kid in my homeroom
Academically gifted and followed my own rules
Was running the streets hey ma I'll be home soon
Was out chasing ho's, was out hooping
Them niggas wasn't balling but yet they was foul shooting
So meet the newest role model who don't know how to fake this shit
Never sold a rock and look I made it bitch

[Hook:]
One time for the city, yea
Two times for you
Hey
And one time for the city, hey
And two times for you
Hey

[Outro:]
Girl it's been so long, I've been gone from you
But you ain't gotta worry 'bout the thangs I do
It's hard but the thought of you would ease my pain
Girl I promise they gon' know our name
Ain't seen you smile in awhile
But I been dreaming 'bout you