Rafael - "Mean Ones" (@rafaelcasal)

Описание: Visual for the title track of the MEAN ONES Mixtape from Rafael Casal
UPDATE!!! get the full MEAN ONES project at rafaelcasal.bandcamp.com
Follow on twitter! @rafaelcasal


LYRICS

I know I'm sick/
I don't need no cough or applause
confirmin it/
it's the only thing that's permanent/
when the lights are low and they burn a bit/
when the job don't pay what it needs to/
and the girl I love starts lookin see through/
all types of strikes and typos/
my life... ain't a movie its a read-through/
with too many extras tryin to be leads/
too many tryin to write themselves into scenes/
these hands I'm shakin
might be the devil/
I don't got nobody close that ever got to this level/
so I can't see
and I been gooned up/
so I got a short fuse for this hoe-ass marks/
targetin me since I was younger
but they gave the hunger
to be my own man around these parts/
parties in the deep east when I was in the 6th grade
Slangin in the north (Oak) before I turned 13/
it was small time shit at the time
but it got me wise quick
learned what survivin on the turf means/
back in the B (Berk)
grew up as some waterfront kids
liquor store right down the street/
before the rich whites came, and the high-rise
high rent replaced the city of hippies/
2-for-a-dollar Peach Rings and Swishers
middle school kids goin wild, wild/
with tabs on our tongues
beers in our fists
smokin black and milds/
skateboard kid kick-flipped til I could/
up the street was sweet, down the street was the hood/
and rolling stones they tumble/
so I rolled right on down into trouble, my dude/
been known my folks since pre-school on 10th street/
I mean we go way back
his mama babysat/
now his mama crayon out her eyes at the jailhouse
lookin through the glass at the place where her baby at/
and I'm always on alert/
don't take it the wrong way
lookin my way where I played,
and I drank and I hang and I talk my gang of shit
many cats wanna check if I'm all skirt/
but I'm all jerk
I was never good enough for half the girls who wanna fuck now/
wonder why im buck now?
cuz I can't believe what a couple Thou(sand)
can earn a mothafucka when he button up and step up in the club now/
wasn't I a bum? wow
funny how that turned around ain't it, ain't it/
damn I wish It wasn't so tainted, tainted/
but fuckin you is proof that I made it, made it/
at least around here I guess/
I digress
I never had the heart for the ego/
just villian wishin he was hero/
then a goon wish he's De Niro/
anything but zero/
they wonder why we some mean ones/
just some misbehaving heathens/
but men hunt each other where we from/
thats why many young men carry guns/
see growing up, it was law/
to never show fright in front of company/
and I was small/
so I carried a pocket knife that read "fuck with me"/
most people had guns, most friends had clips/
sideshows were no place for me unless I could look someone in the eye
and they knew that I was no bitch/
but thats where we kicked it so I had to grow quick/
had to go get/
Krypto for the nights
but I ain't Superman/
my chick at the time
we had stupid fights
she was pregnant
I was tryin to find who I am/
and meanwhile I'm on TV
told to keep it PG
so I did poems that I knew would be easy
barely got paid, like a freebie
and now its on 3 DVDs of Def Jam/
but ain't a damn thang changed in the bay mayne/
livin in the west off of MLK mayne/
me and my dudes still tryin to maintain/
some are off at school, some are pushin that cane game/
we had a dream, somethin we could sleep on/
and if one of us get on, we on/
we peace out this cashier, bus boy, bar back, bouncer hype we on/
cuz we don't belong/
and hopefully it won't be long/
but then again dreams tend to fade once you wake em/
you know, a Wake - celebrate the taken?/
look, I gotta play with the thought of nothin changing/
when I get my money up, get square with the state/
then something'l break down or they bring up the rate/
or somebody gon' die, or I get sick and the bills climb
and my bank's back overdrawn, no savings/
maybe this is my awakening/
cuz Bay Boys got a short lifespan/
we dream big, get stuck doin weak shit, then accept defeat quick, "oh well, we did the best we can!"
further along than when we began/
we become beacons/
blinking
for the next cat to know where we barely managed to stay afloat
as if thats better than sinkin/
could swam with some more thinkin/
but one look and its over
cuz mediocre is a part of our culture/
dead beat dads, women that treat themselves like trash
overtaxed, then drafted as soldiers/
I feel like I'm a kid from a land that's a speck to the rest/
trying to lessen the stress (by) making sense of the mess /
just a cat in a low hat in a bad mood still/
grinch in a pinch analyzin his Whoville...

damn... analyzing our whoville
a MEAN ONE
just trying to put words how me and you feel...

...Don't be mad at me...That you spent your life takin that blue pill...