[Intro]
And they didn't retire
Because in this business, no retiring in the first place
You gonna do this until you leave
This what I'm dedicated to
Not only that
Tell you something else
I ain't through paying dues yet

[Verse 1 - Reef the Lost Cauze]
Chords blowing in the wind like a cold rain
Men who know pain expose the notes by John Coltrane
Records with black faces and no names
Labels stayed the same, somewhere along the line our soul changed
I wonder if there'd be hip hop if not for old James
Before, when he used to rock live on Soul Train
I was just a youth going through child phases
Til I was introduced to the proof of Miles Davis
Son had wild flavor, music is just now later
Look at what that sound gave us, a haven for
Brown faces on days off from my lame job
The genius of Ray Charles stays on
This is when people made songs, heartbreak came knockin'
In beers and tears, I was round house
Smokey know my pain when he wrote Tears of a Clown
The cheeba is rolled, releasing my jones for Nina Simone
We in the zone, my people control
The tempo of popular music, we drop it, they use it
They probably lose it, let us not forget
The pioneers who gave us the option to do it, c'mon

[Hook - State Store]
As I walk along this dusty road
Trying to make a change in a world so cold
And it feels like this place is taking its toll
I gotta find a groove that can soothe my bones
I can feel it way deep down in my soul
Keeping it moving the only way I know so
I got to carry it on
I got to carry it on
I got to carry it on
I got to carry it on

[Verse 2 - Reef the Lost Cauze]
Old school throwback like Bobby Womack
Marvin Gaye made love songs about being pro-black
Donnie Hathaway was such a cold cat
Isaac Hayes, Hot Buttered Soul wax, shouts to the whole Stax
Label, your stable was so hard G
Who rocked crews like Funk Brother and Bar-Kays
When I'm feelin' plenty vicious I listen to Jimi Hendrix
Loving you is beautiful, and men he meant it
My city wicked, word to Teddy Pendergrass
Play your CD out of any glass, you getting plenty ass
Heavily blazed, bumping Frankie Beverly and Maze
The O'Jays sang the days away
Gamble and Huff made my city large
The days of Harold Melvin and Billy Paul
Real n***as feel Bill Withers
Grandma Hands, god damn that man painted a real picture
There's none realer, none other than the young Steve Wonder
His music like a dream I discovered
Under the cover, Between the Sheets, with Brothers Isley
These are the artists that live inside me
That help define me
When I'm lost, they help me find me
I got to carry it on and they remind me
Why I chose this art form
You can't move ahead unless you know where to start from

[Hook]