[Intro: Mary J. Blige]
Baby child, lift your head and free your mind
Open up your eyes, and you'll find you will fly
Just smile sometime (Smile, smile)
Welcome to the real world (Whoa, whoa)

[Verse 1: Joba, Mary J. Blige, Joba & Mary J. Blige]
Everybody pray for peace when they don't have the power (Mm)
A disconnect of intellect
Know some people packing straps, you would call 'em cowards
The realest Gs I ever met
Not on the gangster shit, not on the paper shit (Yeah)
Just on that have-to-provide-for-my-kids and shit (Yeah)
Thеre's blood on the streets, and if I had a dream
I would do anything, (Yеah) I make mistakes
The shit that you hear about ain't just in movies, dawg
I've seen some shit (Oh, yes, I did, yeah)
Bag 'em up in body bags, zip 'em up and send 'em
Away from the kids
I know good felons, good drug dealers, good people
Bad system, bad people (Mm-mm, mm, mm)
With power
If you gotta dream and you know what that means (Oh)
You can do anything, just make a change (Oh)

[Verse 2: Kevin Abstract, Mary J. Blige]
Sometimes I think back to the ninth-grade campus
When that white boy made fun of my lips, I should've thrown a tantrum (Oh)
But I remained cool 'cause he was way too handsome
Now I'm out in Beverly Hills using a mansion as my canvas (Mm)
I bought a helicopter, threw that bitch on stage (Oh)
RCA gave us money, we ain't throw it away (Oh, oh)
We took that shit, we flipped that shit
We made this company pop
They like me, I want 'em to love me like them n***as love Pac
I'm De La Soul meet Tribe Called Quest (Dada-dada, da, da)
Meet Oasis inside a G-Unit vest (Da, dada-dada)
I moved way out to the Westside, but still got the South in my heart (Oh)
They murdered Selena, now them n***as looking for God (Mm, yeah)
Dressed like a soldier, told ya, they don't know who we are (Oh)
My vest is on, let 'em know we ready for war (Yeah)
In the club with my boyfriend, we paranoid 'cause (Bang, bang)
We might get popped 'cause a n***a on some bullshit (Bang, bang, oh)
Why you wanna hate me now, or ask the skies to lay me down?
I hear my brother praying now, I really need an angel now (Mm, mm)
Some type of holy savior
Ayo, Dad, I need me a favor, could you pick me up later, later, later? (Oh)
[Verse 3: Dom McLennon, Mary J. Blige, Dom McLennon & Mary J. Blige]
I've been exploring through the Joyful, the Sorrowful and Glorious Mysteries
Historians romanticize notorious victories (Ah)
The visions say the scorpion was born as a centipede (Ah)
That partnered with the succulents to poison their enemies
I tap in time like telegrams with telepathy
To share the bare necessities of all my discrepancies
Can't save my Macbook pages spillin' onto the melody
'Cause the margins 'round the pen couldn't keep up with my editing, uh
I kept that devil in my sights to never fall behind
That's how we always stay ahead, the flaw of my design (Yeah)
The higher that you climb, the more destructive your decline (Oh, ay)
I’m well aware that all this didn’t have to quantify (Ooh)
So tell me if you really think it's unrealistic (Mm, mm)
Here at this point for me to not prepare and arm our district
They shouting, "Hands up," while they deploying their ballistics (Mm)
We shouting, "Hands up," and kids who need it go ballistic (Oh)
The difference in our league of extraordinary minorities
Against the identity, representing authority (Oh, whoa)
Move between 'em accordingly and clutch my rosaries
Before they try and send the Lord for me, there's more for me
That's when the forerunners told me: "This is not your speed!"
While they repeated their beliefs from the Apostle's Creed
The most consistency I found in life has never come from people (Mm, mm, ooh)
Still looking for an equal, nobody will believe you (No)
[Verse 4: Ameer Vann, Mary J. Blige]
God ain't give me a penny, I made a million dollars
I got a thug for a father, so I took care of my mother (Ah)
God threw me in fire, I walked out with my brothers (No, no, no, no, whoa)
You know the shadow of death? I was born in the valley
But now, I live in The Valley
God gave me a house, God gave me depression (Ah)
God gave us life, but we ain't know it was cursed (Yeah)
I was hurt as a child—you know I still deal with it (Oh, oh, oh, oh)
Now, I'm a grown-ass man with immature-ass feelings
All I wanted was money, just to get it and spend it (Mm, mm, mm)
On strippers and weed, I'll skip on the liquor
I can't talk to my n***as, 'cause if I say it, it's real
And I ain't ready to face it (Mm)
I've been flirtin' with Satan
I've been flirtin' with women that like to dance when they naked (Oh)
And I throw all of my dollars, I throw all of my problems (Oh, oh, whoa)
To the back of my throat with weed smoke and Klonopin (Whoa)
I'm ashamed of myself
About three days ago, I planned on killing myself (Oh)
But I'm still here breathin', you know I'm still here screamin' (Oh, oh)
Screamin', "Fuck that shit," we signed for fifteen million (Oh)
And I almost missed it, I know that y'all n***as hear me (Oh, ah)
Mm, mm
Mm-mm-mm, mm-mm-mm
Mm-mm-mm
[Verse 5: Mary J. Blige]
God, I know it's been weeks
But I can't tell where this is going, that's why I sweat in my sleep
I'm so quick to pick the food but hesitate when I eat
Distracted from what I see, they throw me off when I peak
Earning for these whips and chains, man I swear it's a slave cap
Feel like all this shit is in my genes, it go way back
I can't even share these big ideas, they gon' take that
[?], I'd rather die than kneel
They don't speak truth, that's the problem
Support these folks from the bottom
So what? I'm 'bove, God is awesome
These systems are played out, been finding my way out
I've been training with God, all that other shit'll fade out
Swear I'm fitted for fades
Fighting my feelings with faith, and you can just follow this fist
Getting offended with fake
Dealing with idiots, syndicates, benefits
Internet inconsiderate, limited—

[Outro: bearface]
And if I'm alive
Will you still carry me?
When I fall
Let the hope and the joy
Rain down on me
Rain down on me (Ooh)
Raise me up
Carry, carry, carry me