Knowledge

C-Rayz Walz - “Knowledge”

[Emcee(s): C-Rayz Walz]

[Producer(s): Aesop Rock]

[Hook: C-Rayz Walz]

I don’t

Know how I’m supposed to live in the streets.  I don’t

Know.  I’m just a local kid from the East.  I don’t

Know, but I don’t want to do my thing if I’ll

Be stuck in the bing.  I don’t know.  I don’t

Know how I’m supposed to live in the streets.  I don’t

Know.  I’m just a vocal kid from the East.  I don’t

Know, but I don’t want to do my thing if I’ll

Be stuck in the bing.  I don’t know.  I don’t

[Verse 1: C-Rayz Walz]

It all started with that metro card—damn!

Why my moms ain’t let me use that metro card?  Unlimited

Scars.  What I spit on bars bone-chill.  She said

“No” to me—what?!?  I just paid the phone bills.  My stone-

-willed ego screamed, “You broke?  Do a robbery”

My guardian said, “You’ll let locked up probably”

With anger in my heart, I retorted, “Don’t bother me,” and

Continued to “Deal in the Now” constantly

I hopped the train.  Flame on my brain, I see my target

Avirex leather, platinum chains, fat pockets

I punched him in his face.  Blood dripped on my cloth, kid

Thinking to myself, I’m like, “Damn, I’m beyond this”

But, regardless, I gotta finish what I started

I drugged him with punches like a knuckle narcotic

I heard the gun click right before I seen the sparks spit

The bullet ricocheted.  I’m like, “Damn, this is a knock home” (Oh shit)

[Hook: C-Rayz Walz]

I didn’t

Know how I’m supposed to live in the streets.  I didn’t

Know.  That day, I could have killed police.  I didn’t

Know.  Now how I’m supposed to do my thing?  If I’m

Stuck in the bing?  I didn’t know.  I didn’t

Know how I’m supposed to live in the streets.  I didn’t

Know.  That day, I could have killed police.  I didn’t

Know.  Now how I’m supposed to do my thing?  If I’m

Stuck in the bing?  I didn’t know.  I didn’t

[Verse 2: C-Rayz Walz]

With a swift arm twist, I let a shot up in his heart kit

By mistake, I reacted to a flashback of bondage

I heard the radio, started my sprint like a runaway

Slave in a maze.  Because of this, I might be

Using the walls to count days/daze—confusion

Left me choosing the wrong ways.  I feel

Like Kunta.  Pounce on my tail, there’s drama, god

Cops chasing me and jails is packed like Amistad.  I don’t

Wanna manifest Allah through bars (Nah) or dress in

Green that ain’t fatigue, and I’m used to “Camouflage”

Claustrophobic, I’ll go crazy in my cell.  Fuck

Rhyming.  I’ll roll acapell in that hell.  Instead

Of stoges, I’ll ignite my soul and write

Like Mumia: “Live from Death Row.”  I’ll feel

Lightning blows from nightsticks, a crowd of chokeholds

Black boots massage my limbs—ten in a row.  I could

See it now: murder-page face, I’ll be famous.  In the

Precinct, they beat me like Larry Davis.  The cop

Died.  I see my moms cry in my mind.  Threw my

Watch against the wall ‘cause now Amadou/I’ma do time.  I know

Justice.  The judge ain’t got to speak fate.  Damn

I should have stayed home and wrote rhymes to that beat tape

I could have been paid with fame from lyrical flame.  Now I’m

Slave, using the walls to count days

[Hook: C-Rayz Walz]

Now I

Know everything is real in the streets.  Now I

Know.  That day, I killed police.  Now I

Know I’m never gonna do my thing, forever

Stuck in the bing.  Now I know.  Now I

Know everything is real in the streets.  Now I

Know ‘cause, that day, I killed police.  Now I

Know I’m never gonna do my thing, forever

Stuck in the bing.  I didn’t know.  Now I

Know

[Outro (Overlapped with Verse Adlibs): C-Rayz Walz]

Knowledge.  Believe (Believe we’re the illest).  Aesop Rock on the track.  Bazooka (Bazooka Tooth your cat).  Minneasota.  Sun Cycle solar