High Expectations

[Intro] Come on, let's get started. Don't listen to that street talk. That street talk is dead. Don't be talking about no drugs and no popped Uzis around here. If you ain't got no basketball in your hand and wanna shoot it out, you gotta go somewhere else [Hook: Sample from Chaka Khan's "Move Me No Mountain"] (x2) I don't expect you to be something you're not All I expect you to give is all you got [Verse 1: Common] Yo, yo, check it Unattached and calm, sundaes and pills I palm With intentions to make it to the league Intrigued by two-letter cars, SE's and GS'ses On the court, niggas I leave like messages Plagued by this ball-player exorcist It's sort of foul how the world be reffin' us Kenny is our Moses in this five-on-five Exodus For the game of life, full courts ain't preppin' us Schools want me, but the ghost of Manigault haunts me Plus they wanna crib me, way out in the country I'm city like street lights and some games that be fights Never worked on my left so it's hard to be right Either rich, poor, or Mike is who I wanna be like Story of many black males that I refuse to rewrite [Hook: Sample from Chaka Khan's "Move Me No Mountain"] (x2) I don't expect you to be something you're not All I expect you to give is all you got [Verse 2: Common] Yo, brothers opinions is Bias-ed, like Len That I'll end up like Ben... Wilson—still, some pretend to be friends Beneath the grin, I see the jinn spoke of in the Surah More so than my soul, my jumper is purer People play juror. I witness the fall of legends Once was the joint—now they resin. Got a God-given present My gallant talent is like a magic Trick turned by a chick with a bad habit Opportunity to move, I grab it Me and my moms had static. Now I reek Hennessy and havoc Man to man talks with Kenny send me to a zone Been on my own for so long, my vocal tone's grown Competition gets blown like speakers When I cross her like Jesus out of bleachers, broads, and beepers Yeah I boogey it's all good, but it could be better Want to stay eighteen forever But now I stay on point like Rod in this Strickland If Brooklyn courts was a campus, then I would be the big man [Hook: Sample from Chaka Khan's "Move Me No Mountain"] (x2) I don't expect you to be something you're not All I expect you to give is all you got [Verse 3: Common] From thoughts that pennies bring, I assemble teams like the Kenny Kings Think fast over breaks, dialect I'm dribbling Remembering night posters of Moses and the Supreme Court Realizing that rap and life are team sports I follow these thoughts Moves never receive thought, lyrical Johnny Cochran 'Cause of the way I free thought The system make a nigga think to make it that he need sports Or either to the tip he gotta resort My seed'll be taught to start his own in the George Carter zone Don't wanna be a dope MC living in his momma's home Or speaking to my fans in a starving artist tone Unknown zones I roam with mind architecture Spark the lecture, emphasizing: let God direct ya [Hook: Sample from Chaka Khan's "Move Me No Mountain"] (x4) I don't expect you to be something you're not All I expect you to give is all you got