Nicholas Craven
A Beautiful Mind
[Intro]
When you look at my brothers, what's your first impression?
Does the sight of us leave you guessin'
Or do you understand the stressin', the aggression?
The look of no hope on my n***as' faces
Like the Lord overlooked us when he handed down his graces
See embrace us, falls short on the numb tips of street entrepreneurial fingers
Stuck in the walls of the project halls where the coke smell still lingers
External blingers is all we can be
'Cause on the inside we've been given nothin' to shine with

[Verse 1: Ransom]
Gotta frown at some of this stuff
They say that new Duffle don't sound hungry enough
I've never lied to you, this how I'm summin' this up
It's hard to replicate a hunger when n***a's stomach is stuffed
I'm not a man that look for someone to bluff
Kept it a gram, now n***as numbers is up
Stick to your plans when n***as come to disrupt
Some n***as smile in your face while they put a gun to ya gut
A newly refined beautiful mind
If you needed an artist who's in his prime, who would you find?
'Specially when you feedin the family, doin the crime
I know the feelin' bein locked in the cage and losin' the time
You should not be afraid of provin' ya grind
Visionary with the words that could lead a school of the blind
I'm paranoid in my mansion, losin' my mind
By the window with the tip of the barrel, movin' the blinds
No need for ya commentary
Where was n***as at when I needed the commissary?
Half of these n***as love to be in a cell
The other half dread it here like Martin Payne at the monastery
Everything we do with our lives gotta be honorary
On top of makin' it monetary
When it come to murder, I'm calm as any
Take a stand and you gettin' life as soon as your honor's ready
Duffle Bag had to be him, savvy and grim
Soul searchin' in the valley of sins, daddy was him
Chip off the old block
[Interlude]
And a gig is hard to get than coke
So n***as get their grind on 'cause the TV tells us
Aim high, n***a, make all goals (?)

[Verse 2: Ransom]
In the gutter where you can find me
Who else gon' give you the realest verses besides me
Corona's got my eyes low, lower than Chinese
Supply these n***as masked up over them 5Gs
Supply the world with this vaccine, relax queen
I'm a little more than a Shaq meme in a rap stream
What that means I'm enlightened when I be writin'
Black dreams of us fightin' the shackles they tried to tighten
I represent somethin' marvelous to us all
A blueprint if you fatherless and you poor
No new prints, the revolver is in the draw
I'm a warrior in a garden, not a gardener in a war
Steel against steel, I'm just sharpenin' up the sword
That's regardless of your awards, I'ma harvest all the applause
I die for you to live, put this martyr up on the cross
Went to Harvard and took a course, I'm an artist you should endorse
Duffle and Craven, somethin' amazin'
We holdin' every hustler and vagrant stuck in amazement
My every step crushin' the pavement, fuck the engagement
We Jessie and Walter White when they bubbled up from the basement
Who you think you 'bout to be cuffin' up in the station?
I never met someone I can trust enough to be patient
My flow is quite clean like COVID-19
Pipe dreams, they was never a rush to touch any patience
[Outro]
When a n***a goes from not doin' to doin'
What do you tell him, not to be a n***a?
Shit, I gots to be a n***a, that's how I pay the bills
And I'ma do that whether I gotta sling this coke
Or exploit these rhyme skills...