It's been two years, man
Of, of, of waitin'
Man
"Can it be I stayed away too long"
From my supporters and my fans, man, I know y'all been waitin'
Now it's finally here and
Thank you for your patience
The world's gone crazy
Since we last spoke
Bloodshed and war
The absence of hope
Shootin' after school
Economy's a joke
Homies on heroine
Homies on coke
But can you even blame 'em when they only tryin' to cope (Damn)
"Can it be I stayed away too long"
All these rappers wanna talk about is guns and dope
Don't they realize, we all at the end of our rope
The future all depends on the power of our quotes
The power of a pen
The power of a vote
The power of your words
The power of your voice
The power of America's the freedom of choice
We choose to do nothin'
We lose and we sufferin'
"Can it be"
That it's time to do somethin'
It's not socialism
It's not communism
It's lovin' each other, realize there's no difference
It's positive movement
Gradual improvement
When no one else does
Believe you can do it
My heart is a speaker
I bleed this music
The beat's in my blood
I must transfuse it
If it wasn't for this
Yeah, I just might lose it (Damn)
"Can it be I stayed away too long"
My god daughters Nadia, Simone
Diana know when not, our father's ever comin' home
Claim by the streets with them other warzone
Tears in my eyes as I'm writin' this song
Mommy workin' two jobs, tryin' to do it on her own
No matter where I go
Or how far I roam
Know that I love and you'll never be alone
"Can it be" Damn, y'all so grown
And a, and a wise man told me, man, like ("You don't have to worry cause I'm coming")
Life is like a table
Full of like glasses of water ("Back to where I should have always stayed")
And your job is to keep 'em all full
You know what I'm sayin'
So everyone's happy ("And now, I've heard the maybe to your story")
But
At the same time, you gotta keep your pitcher full of water
So you could fill everybody else up ("And it's enough love")
And it's like ("For me to stay")
Damn!
"Can it be I stayed away too long"
From the independent hip hop scene
Now they talkin' like
How I'm not a hip hop fiend
Needle in my arm, can't they see I'm O.D.'in
You'll never take the strife from this triple O.G. in
I blaze trails
Created festivals
Lost fifty G's on Paid Dues, is that acceptable
What? I'm not down for the cause
"Can it be" (Hold on, Mike) I'm a need a few bars
I could've done the Nas and scream, "Hip Hop Is Dead"
I got up off my ass and I did somethin' instead
Signed with the devil, brought the scene up a level
Killed the beast from within, I'm a born again rebel
Tryin' to save the youth
From the way of the gun
And if I only save one, then my job is done
So you can say what you will, but you should judge me none
"Can it be I stayed away too long"
From my God, from my faith, as I move place to place
Times I thought, "If I could just die, it'd be great"
Drop on the spot, man, I didn't even care
I stopped talkin' to you, I stopped sayin' prayers
Numb from the liquor and the anti-depressants
Pressure from the label, studio stressin'
Almost lost my passion to persue this profession
"Can it be I stayed away too long"
From myself, from my soul, when I'm out on the road
I give so much shout to these kids, I don't know
I thought I lost you, with no one to talk to
But you're the one that open up these doors that I walk through
I can't fault you, only forgive you
I'm the only one that seen the pain that you been through
The drama, the struggle that built all your issues
"Can it be I stayed away too long"
The drama, the struggle, that built all these issues
Is all just to make sure they never forget you
"Did I leave your mind when I was gone
It's not my thing trying to get back
But this time, let me tell you where I'm at"
