[Intro]
Yeah, Warm Up
La-la-la-laaaa, la lala la lalaaaa

[Chorus]
Now I am (Here's to the Roc')
Hey and they ask and they ask and they ask and I tell them
(Here's to Roc-a-Fella) It's the Fayettenam
Raise your glasses, your glasses, your glasses to the sky and
(Here's to the Roc')
This is the last call for alcohol
This is the warm-up

[Verse 1]
Now to the few n***as out there who heard my last shit
Which if I must say so myself that was a classic
I never been the type to ride my own coat tail
But it's obvious I'm here to stay, a fucking hotel
I came up, I warmed up
The next up, I blow up!
If you ain't peep the trend by now with each rap I go up
Look all he wanted was a deal so when he got it he just faded
But tell me what's a deal when you want to be the greatest?
So Jay I appreciate it, hell of a stepping stone
Wonder if he see it in my eyes I'm trying to get the throne
Wonder if the people know how many nights I spent alone
Making beats writing rhymes, thinking deep fighting time
I'm getting better but wasn't getting younger
And all that time can make the most confident n***a wonder
But never doubt it or allowed that shit to phase me yo
Just switch my thoughts up like the stations on the radio n***a now I am
[Chorus]
And they ask and they ask and they ask and I tell them
It's the Fayettenam
Put your glasses and your glasses and your glasses to the sky
This is the last call for alcohol
This is the warm-up! (Yeah)
So get your back up off the wall

[Verse 2]
Now may I never slip up or let my grip up
I know my girl be praying Lord just keep his pants zipped up -
Now if some groupie bitch is on his dick then make it's stiff up, at least give the n***a common sense to wrap his dick up
Toast, let’s lift up our glasses, then sip up
We fly past they look up
They don't last they give up
They don't blast we clip up then empty
And indeed we hit the target yes these n***as think they the shit and they ain't even farted yet
Style incomplete like a garbage ass quarterback
My offense is for real, ay fuck sack, n***as getting coffined in the Ville
Way too often and it feels wrong
New York n***as fuck with me, I got 'em singing Ville songs
Guess it's only right because we grew up singing they shit
Big shit, Mase shit, Nas shit, Jay shit
Time for a Carolina n***a to take his place with the greats
A slim n***a making bold statement
Uh, ay J. Cole how you do that there? I hear you blowing up my n***a
I'm like, true that yea
In NY but smile every time I flew back there
That Carolina, Fayettenam oh yea my crew back there
I go home been so long they saying, you back here? -
Took a turn for the worst boy don't move back here
Don't do that, yo who dat?
He rep the Ville when he spit it told you he be back with a record deal and he did it
N***a, fuck spinning on my pivot homie, I'm finna travel till 'refs blow the whistle on me
I got a whole fucking city that's just sitting on me
But it fits on my back, my state is sitting on that
Will I drop? I think not I get up while they stop-like a sleeve on tank tops
They ain't give it all they got so they flop
So hey watch, how I'm finna take their spot
Now I'm starting and they not-let me show you how to stay hot
I play not, man I'm killing em even your idols feeling em dog
The same n***a used to chill in the mall
While they were still in the mall, I was up there spilling my rap
The hero fighting villains just to put the Ville on the map
Now I am
[Chorus]
And they ask and they ask and they ask and I tell them
It's the Fayettenam
Put your glasses and your glasses and your glasses to the sky
This is the last call for alcohol
This is the warm-up!
So get your back up off the wall

[Outro]
Yeah man so shit, this was The Warm Up
Um, what can I say, what can I say?
If you heard The Come Up that was about just a lil n***a from North Carolina man
Fayettnam to be exact
Moved to NYC, chasing the dream
I used college, if y'all n***as don't know, I used college as a tool to get to New York
I ain't have no family up here or nothing like that, I came up here on a scholarship, n***a went to college
And the whole time I ain't even think I would have to finish college, I just thought I'd be signed by my freshman year so I wouldn't have to finish college
But it didn't happen like that obviously, a n***a graduated and things started falling into place
I got more focused, I dropped The Come Up
And I look at The Come Up like, how kinda like how I was in high school
Just picture this, The Warm Up is about a n***a who did not make the team when he tried out and I know it's a lotta n***as who know that feeling man
You try out, you think you deserve to be one the team and you go that day to look at the cut-list
You wake up and you can't even sleep, you're like, "Damn I'm gon' make the team, I did my thing at tryouts."
You go to the list. All the n***as is looking at their names on the list, some n***as is like, "Aww shit I see my name n***a I'm good, I'm good n***a I'm good, I see my name."
And you're looking for your name, and you kinda play in the back, tryna wait for n***as to clear out cause you're not sure
And you go to the list and your name ain't there
And you're like, "How the fuck did I not make this team? I'm better than him, I'm better than him, I'm better than him."
So a lotta n***as either quit or some n***as go harder and so that's kinda how I took the rap shit when I put out The Come Up
Cause ever since I was 15 I thought I was supposed to be signed
But you know, shit, everything happens for a reason
So shit fast forward to The Warm Up, this just me, like you know, me being that n***a that's practicing and making sure it's no way, it's undeniable that when I go to tryouts, there's no fucking way the coach is passing up on me, my n***a
So that's what this whole mixtape was about and lo and behold, you know
As I'm finishing the mixtape, the deal comes
Thank God, I'm blessed. Everything happens for a reason. And it couldn't have been with a more fucking, with a better fucking squad
You know the n***as I got on the squad if you listen to this then you might have heard who I signed with, I ain't even gon' blast it off like that
Shoutouts to, you know, Mark Pitts, definitely
Shoutout to my n***a Mike Rooney, my n***a E, shoutout to my whole fucking crew, man
That's The Warm Up is about man
RG what's good, Mike Shaw, my n***a Mez, Mez held me down, n***a
More than anybody in the whole fucking, in the whole crew, honestly
So shit, let's get it, man
We got a lotta shit for '09, '010, '011, '0 goddamn 35
That's all I got man, that's The Warm Up
I made the team
So when you go from making the team, now what you gotta do n***a, you gotta start
You gotta be a starter, you gotta make it to college
You gotta make it from college to the league, n***a
Trust me, I ain't get no fucking deal and relax man
I feel like I ain't made it yet period n***a
And that's all I really gotta say yo, it's The Warm Up
Thank you for listening man
Yeah