Barbed Wire

(album: Overly Dedicated - 2010)

[Kendrick Lamar:]
One time
Reporting live
Compton, California

Have you ever felt like, like you never get life?
Like you never did right, sort of like a black sheep?
Back down, backing out your dreams like some bad sleep
Chasing for the wind but you never win the track meet
Oh, what a cold world for a broke nigga, it's bitter
And life's a bitch, don't hit women, so I bit her
I struck enough pain let her know I wasn't playing
I was so sincere like Nas' first name in Belly
They tell me, it's very difficult to see 25
And if I survive it's probably with a celly
My opportunities are low because my brown complexion floats
In the ghetto rather in some heels like Giuseppe's
They want me unemployed, until I hit the streets
Fulfilling voids of broke D-Boys selling weed
Fucking up my prestige, 'til I live with the blues
BB King or the neighbors of Snoop, that's why I'm

[Kendrick Lamar (Ash Riser) {Alori Joh}:]
In the club like fuck it, though
They say it's only one life, life, life
And if you say I can't live comfortable
I'ma tell you that's a lie, lie, lie
So while I hold this bottle of Ciroc with a hand full of ass
Celebrate the very day that I get past
{Through the barbed wire}
(We are, we are) Fighters
(We are, we are) True
(Through the, through barbed) Wires
(We will, will break) Through
So while I hold this bottle of Ciroc with a hand full of ass
Celebrate the very day that I get past
{Through the barbed wire}

[Kendrick Lamar:]
Have you ever felt like, like you never get life?
Like you never did right, sort of like a black sheep?
Tryna get away from the world's stereotype
Barbed wire got a barricade on your destiny, she desperately
In need of some inspiration, see what the people saying
She gon' have a baby then flee from her education
At the age of 16, credit-card scam schemes
See a scar on her eye, boyfriend brutality
She'll never get by, no how, no way
Welfare recipient, property of the state
Housing, Section 8, corner store prostitute
The owner 'bout to prosecute, the niggas tell her that she's cute
Hoodrat trashy, six baby daddies
And this baby daddy is new to the family
Chilling in pajamas, waiting on the first
Fast forward spilling drinks on her fur, that's why she

[Kendrick Lamar (Ash Riser) {Alori Joh}:]
In the club like fuck it, though
They say it's only one life, life, life
And if you say she can't live comfortable
She gon' tell you that's a lie, lie, lie
So while she up in VIP pouring Merlot in the glass
Celebrate the very day that she get past
{Through the barbed wire}
(We are, we are) Fighters
(We are, we are) True
(Through the, through barbed) Wires
(We will, will break) Through
So while she up in VIP pouring Merlot in the glass
Celebrate the very day that she get past
{Through the barbed wire}

[Kendrick Lamar:]
Have you ever felt like, you finally got life
You finally got right? No longer a black sheep
Living off ya dreams like Christina uh-Milian
In the front seat of a convertible eloping to get married
What a feeling of overcoming the odds
It's like we just hit the lottery, my God
There must be a god, 'cause golly
You done made it through the fight while squabbling Ali
Now ya lifestyle's looking up and you escaped the crooked cuffs
And you ain't have to kill a nigga just to make a couple bucks
And she ain't have to go and fuck on everybody for a dollar
Making good decisions, got a independent business-mind
And both of y'all are steady grinding, doing it the legal way
Just tryna make a decent pay on every second of the day
But they won't give you the credit, disses out their mouth
You must have joined the Illuminati just to ball out

[Kendrick Lamar (Ash Riser) {Alori Joh}:]
In the club like fuck it, though
They say it's only one life, life, life
And if you say they can't live comfortable
They're gon' tell you that's a lie, lie, lie
So even if you overcame doubt and ya living ain't bad
Know it's a barbed wire that's always in your path
{Through the barbed wire} Just laugh
Then everybody say

[Alori Joh:]
'Cause I won't get caught again
And I'm here to stop the trends
You can catch me if you try
Disappear into the night
And I'm gone

[Alori Joh (Kendrick Lamar):]
(So you made it past all the barbed wires?)
There's one more left