Chorus:
Sometimes I just wanna run away
To a place very far inside
Sometimes I just wanna run away
But I just can’t run (*echoes*), and hide (*echoes*)
‘cause I’m a bastard child
I’m the one they passed around
Said I’m a bastard child
I’m the one they laughed and clowned

Verse 1:
Yes my pops was a sperm donor
His name was John but I’ve never heard further
Oh his other name’s Carl Overstreet
And somehow his seeds reached mom’s ovaries
He must have had an excellent level of potency
Because my focus be amazing with the poetry
Supposedly him and my mom met at Job Corps
She never said what he applied to get a job for
Was he a gentleman or maybe some kinda whore?
But these are questions my mother’s not alive for
That’s why I pour misery into these symphonies
Until he get at me I’m literally a mystery
Part of my history does not exist to me
The part where Ms. Denise meets Mr. Street
So I skip a beat (*record skips*) to spit to beats
So goodnight Mr. Street, beats rock me to sleep
Chorus:
‘Cause I’m a bastard child
I’m the one they passed around
Said I’m a bastard child
I’m the one they laughed and clowned
Sometimes I just wanna run away
To a place very far inside
Sometimes I just wanna run away
But I just can’t run (*echoes*), and hide (*echoes*)

Verse 2:
My mom thought about abortin’ me
It ain’t her fault, she just didn’t wanna torture me
She thought it’d be difficult without a dad ‘cause
She was short of cash plus God don’t like bastards
Well she was right about the first part
We were dirt poor from the hood in the worst parts
She worked hard ‘cause she would not accept that
I remember she brought me my first stepdad
Bein’ up in his apartment we slept at
He treated me like his son and I respect that
He wasn’t perfect, he drank Thunderbird and
O.E. so he staggerin’ and swervin’
Now he missin’ work and him and mom cursin’
And then my mom’s blurtin’, “with him it’s not workin’”
But what about me mom? Don’t I deserve him?
I guess this how it works then
Chorus:
‘Cause I’m a bastard child
I’m the one they passed around
Said I’m a bastard child
I’m the one they laughed and clowned

Verse 3:
Yes it’s me the bastard
Everything I achieved, every book that I mastered
Even if I went to Yale and got my Masters
It still wouldn’t matter, I’d still be a bastard
But that’s now a badge that I wear in disasters
You cannot defeat me or beat me so laugh
‘cause your laughter is fuel you fool
You only help me up
If I can overcome my pops you can’t tell me much
I’m from the hood, you know what the news telling us?
Telling us lies deprived and cops jailing us
Gunshots, some die and lie belly-up
Can anything good come from Philadelphia?
Tell ya what, I am the answer to that
It’s like I be walkin’ on water when I rap on a track
And the devil ain’t got a answer for that
Now tell me, what kind of bastard is that?

Chorus:
Sometimes I just wanna run away (sometimes I)
To a place very far inside (sometimes I wanna leave, ya know?)
Sometimes I just wanna run away (wish I could)
But I just can’t run (I can’t), and hide (I can’t hide, ya know?)
Sometimes I just wanna run away (sometimes I wanna flee, ya know?)
To a place very far inside (I try to go deep within)
Sometimes I just wanna run away (but you know what?)
But I just can’t run (I can’t run), and hide (that’s me)
Dr. Cornel West:
Let me tell you about this brotha. This brotha is a genius. This brotha is one of the grand musicians of his generation. This brotha like Prince plays a variety of different instruments which brings it together in such a way that the level of his melody and harmony and he’s got [?] the dissonant element is there and I am blessed to know him and I’m blessed to appear on his album. This brotha is my brotha. Love him much. Keep track. O’hene, O’hene, O’hene