If All Else Fails

[Intro - Joe Budden - talking]

Mic check, one two, one two

This what the fuck I'm talkin about right here though

You ready Parks?

[Verse 1 - Joe Budden]

Check it (woo!), if all else fails, I get back to what I know

Ratchet for my foes (uh), watchin for informants, take a stab at it with snow

Long john jacket for the cold, some habits are hard to outgrow

I work so hard, you think the studio's my lodge inn

If all else fails (what?)

I don't have a doubt that I'd be back in that studio apartment

Gettin it in, closet size living room and the kitchen's my den

Playin lotto, hopin numbers'll save the day

Back to price checking, back to layaways

Since I ain't never hit nothin like a bad fadeaway

Back to the corner, takin a bag of haze to face

Basic flow, when I tried to get my cake to grow (what?)

I hit the pawn shop and turn into Trader Joe

Sheisty kid, yack ya jewels while they glistenin

Snatch the hearing aid from a senior, while they listenin

If all else fail, don't know where I'd be

Scratch that, probably at home, nowhere to be

Or probably fuckin a broad that, I treat like a floor mat

Ugly enough to cover her face when a gauze pad (uh)

And that's a step down from my New York rat

That ride it like a horse back (uh), with the horse back

But it won't fail, so if you try to rob the kid

Banana clips by the bed'll put a stop to it

Nevermind that, first you gotta beat the guard

I can change the channel on my TV and see the yard

If it all failed, I'm ready for the scam

Forgin fake checks screamin �Catch Me If You Can�

If all else fails, I'd be out pullin Jerz capers

Knowin me, I'd be best friends with my worst haters

Uh, I'd be dustin off the AR or be behind state bars, for jackin a bait car

If all failed, I'd be right back in them block cyphers

Just to show these local niggas I'm a lot nicer

Cause the less you succeed, the more you loved for it

While the more you achieve, the more you snubbed for it

If all else failed and my pockets were empty

Everything I despised, I'd probably envy

Ignorant shit rappers floss that offends me

Cause I wouldn't be able to attain it, it would tempt me

Frontin in my man's Maserati

I might bag somethin with a modest body, from a college party

Next morning hungover so she can't remember

I would deck my whole crib out from Rent-A-Center

If all else failed and I ain't get a break yet

I'd get unemployment while collectin a paycheck

Would it mean I wasn't built for the bright lights?

Say goodbye to front row seats at fight night

If it all failed, I'd have a pretty common future

From a Chart House nigga to a Ramen noodler

Would my girl say you no longer attract me

Pack up all her shit and head South with an athlete?

My name would hold no weight, so I'd lose the perks

OD on OxyContin, abuse the percs

I'd be a felon gettin my scriptures tatted on (uh)

First 48 star gettin ratted on

If all else fails, I wouldn't take precaution

New hooptie every month would be my way of flossin

And the crib would be an all night party

With six baby moms, then I'd Jet 'em like Cromartie

Uh, fantasizin the girls I could of dated

Hood referrin to 'em as the one that could of made it

Uh, I'd be the only one who cares

Or am I just recitin my fears as they appear?

Shouldn't of even put the idea in the air

Cause it's not possible, let's make that clear baby (ta)