DUCKWORTH. (Mixed)

[Verse: Kendrick Lamar]

Oh, Lamar

Hail Mary and marijuana, times is hard

Pray with the hooligans, shadows all in the dark

Fellowship with demons and relatives, I'm a star

God is one funny ma'fucker

A true comedian, you gotta love him, you gotta trust him

I might be buggin', infomercials and no sleep

Introverted by my thoughts; children, listen, it gets deep

See, once upon a time inside the Nickerson Garden projects

The object was to process and digest poverty's dialect

Adaptation inevitable: gun violence, crack spot

Federal policies raid buildings and drug professionals

Anthony was the oldest of sеven

Well-respеcted, calm and collected

Laughin' and jokin' made life easier; hard times, mama on crack

A four-year-old tellin' his nanny he needed her

His family history: pimpin' and bangin'

He was meant to be dangerous, clocked him a grip and start slangin'

Fifteen, scrapin' up his jeans with quarter pieces

Even got some head from a smoker last weekend

Dodged a policeman, workin' for his big homie

Small-time hustler, graduated to a brick on him

Ten-thousand dollars out of a project housing, that's on the daily

Seen his first mill' twenty years old, had a couple of babies

Had a couple of shooters, caught a murder case

Fingerprints on the gun they assumin', but witnesses couldn't prove it

That was back when he turned his back and they killed his cousin

He beat the case and went back to hustlin'

Bird-shufflin', Anthony rang

The first in the projects with the two-tone Mustang, that 5.0 thing

They say 5-0 came, circlin' parking lots and parking spots

And hoppin' out while harrassin' the corner blocks

Crooked cops told Anthony he should kick it

He brushed 'em off and walked back to the Kentucky Fried Chicken

See, at this chicken spot, there was a light-skinned nigga that talked a lot

With a curly top and a gap in his teeth, he worked the window

His name was Ducky, he came from the streets, The Robert Taylor Homes

Southside Projects, Chiraq, the Terror Dome

Drove to California with a woman on him and five-hundred dollars

They had a son, hopin' that he'd see college

Hustlin' on the side with a nine-to-five to freak it

Cadillac Seville, he'd ride his son around on weekends

Three-piece special with his name on the shirt pocket

'Cross the street from the projects, Anthony planned to rob it

Stuck up the place before, back in '84

That's when affiliation was really at gears of war

So many relatives tellin' us, sellin' us devilish works, killin' us, crime

Intelligent, felonious prevalent proposition with 9's

Ducky was well-aware

They robbed the manager and shot a customer last year

He figured he'd get on these niggas' good sides

Free chicken every time Anthony posted in line, two extra biscuits

Anthony liked him and then let him slide, they didn't kill him

In fact, it look like they're the last to survive, pay attention

That one decision changed both of they lives, one curse at a time

Reverse the manifest and good karma, and I'll tell you why

You take two strangers and put 'em in random predicaments

Give 'em a soul, so they can make their own choices and live with it

Twenty years later, them same strangers, you make 'em meet again

Inside recording studios where they reapin' their benefits

Then you start remindin' them about that chicken incident

Whoever thought the greatest rapper would be from coincidence?

Because if Anthony killed Ducky, Top Dawg could be servin' life

While I grew up without a father and die in a gunfi—