I Notice

(album: A Martyr's Reward - 2021)

I notice the onus was on...
Your books don't look good, and I don't like it

Cops got us under microscopes to make sure we see cells
Know my first vitamin was iron, but I just wanted to beat 12
Didn't dwell by the sea shore, but was sure to see shells
To protect the clique, it's best to omit details
Not board games to get money, pursuit wasn't at all trivial
Want truth? For heavy loot, every group is formidable
If they paid for a body, ain't get nothing short of critical
Many in their rest could attest to what we endure living through
Either with a belt or a bullet was how I was taught things
Was on every summer if wonder why I ain't want no offsprings
They bred me a thug, wasn't ready for love only saw flings
Could never band together, if whoever in the court sings
Offensive deeds made enemies in the village quick
Admired his kindness, the only thing you couldn't kill him with
Some only light up when they fill a mitt
I empathize with you guys' cries, seen the illest shit
Being real around them crack pipes was exhausting
Standing before death, famine and war saw all the horsemen
Starved blocks of hard rocks, poor don't make porcelain
Please believe me, you go from breathing easy to coughing
Makes for spent clip in this friendship, mourning for formed connection
Was married to the game, never got a warm reception
My peers, years in the facilities never spawn correction
What skeez wanted seeds, tryna make you believe they on protection
But I wasn't raised to trust, grew up in the days of lust
We did bumps, pumping angel dust
Shit got dangerous if it endangered us
If riding shotgun, be lucky if only left your brain concussed
Never chewed the hog, wasn't fruity, dog, was more melancholy
Could credit my genetics, it's all felon probably (it's all felon probably) (check my lineage)
I've been to Hull and back, that's a sullen fact
Seem every boy's raised to shine unless the son is black
We bend the rules, win or lose, we can run it back
In the race for the prettiest girl, try and run a lap
A voice you only hear when it's something to say
The man you get to handle it, they was running away
Every effort was concerted
Did a few people dirty, some definitely deserved it
Grew where the true and the treacherous are murdered
Indeed take heed to what the messenger alerted

I notice the onus was on...
I notice the onus was on me
Speak the truth
I notice the onus was on me
To reach the youth
I notice the onus was on me
To show it respect
I notice the onus was on me
To hold it up and know when to rap
I notice the onus was on
I notice the onus was on (me)
I notice the onus was on me
I notice the onus was on (me)
I notice the onus was on me

So it is my role, but sometimes I wish it wasn't. I think that the artists who don't get involved in preaching messages probably are happier