The Heart Pt. 2

[Intro: Dash Snow, Daniel Joseph & Kendrick Lamar]

"I’ll tell you what I don’t believe in, can I do that? All right, I don’t believe in laws, or the system by any means, whatsoever. I try not to obey them at anytime. That's what I believe in not believing in."

"So what keeps you alive?"

"Four big bottles of water a day, two packs of Marlboro Reds. And, uh, I don’t - what keeps me alive, shit. Music, I have to listen to music all day long. I'd say that keeps me going. I’m a pretty dark person, I’ve thought about ending it a million times. And I have to say that music keeps me here, by far, the main thing."

Thank you

[Verse: Kendrick Lamar]

Sitting in the studio thinking about which mood would go

Right now, freestyle or write down, whatever

It still'll come up clever, I just need to free my thoughts

And Lord knows that I know better, but I ain't perfect

I ain't seen too many churches or know them testament verses

You should either hear me now or go deaf

Or end up dead, die trying and know death

Might end up dead, swallow blood, swallow my breath

Fuck a funeral, just make sure you pay my music respect, nigga

I mean that from the bottom of my heart

You see my art is all I have

And victory tastes sweet, even when the enemy can throw salt

Still knock them out the park like a fucking tow car

Let bygones be bygones, but where I'm from

We buy guns and more guns to give to the young

I'm living the life of a nigga trapped, nigga

Inside the system all you envision is trap niggas

My uncle doing life inside prison; he wasn't wrapped too tight

He told me "Rap about life, not rap niggas"

That's why I'm shaking my head when you rap-dissin'

My stomach start turning, my nerves get to twitching

I start evaluatin' that my final intuition

Is that you wishin' to come up or just come up

We used to beefing over turf, fuck beefing over a verse

Niggas dying, motherfuck a double entendre

And this is Comp-ton, lions in the land of the triumph

Wrap-Saran our defiance, ban our alliance

Put burners in the hands of the black man

One hood with 20 four-fours like a cloned Kobe Bryant

You probably heard I wanna be heard and wonder who I am

You probably even listened to "Faith," and think I know Zion

But really I'm just caught in the loop, of understanding the truth

Because it seem like it's always clashing with science

I got a big fear of flying

My future so bright I'd probably go blind before I blink twice

I ain't lying

I swear to God, half of y'all just don't know Kendrick

The school of hard knocks, we was the first ones in attendance

You walking down the block, he got shot, you are no eye witness

You just mind your business

You just turn your head, kneel down and then tie your tennis

It's kind of scary, ain't it?

You can't act like no bitch, that only got Tyler Perry famous

Just let me explain this, why you pick up that stainless?

'Cause your pops wasn't anxious to see you and you hate it

So much you probably had your burner tucked at graduation

So if you see him on 'em bleachers then you kill him

Facing 25 to life with a murder charge

Your enemies was the prey and now you pray to God

I pray these bars get farther than Compton

And if our record never break, I still won’t break my promise

I promise to keep it honest

Secret society, all we ask is trust

And all we lack is communication like service sucks

The people scared of annihilation when Kingdom Come

And I'm like, "The Kendrick Lamar OD in less than a month, all right?"

Gotta keep it pushing

Can't let the government tell me how my future looking

I'm on Rosecrans and Central trying to duck the central bookins'

If the fucking pigs get behind me then you know I'm bookin'

Never will I surrender

I been a warrior when I came out my mom's placenta

In the gutter lane like I'm Master Splinter

How splendid, I guess my project had did it

Got all these niggas approaching they mixtapes different

They said seven tracks, I said 15

Called it an EP, they said I’m trippin'

But little did they know, I’m tryna' change the rules

That we’ve been confined to, so the corporate won’t make decisions

Uppity bitches handling business

Killing our dreams, stealing our vision

Out in Haiti, adolescents barely have a home

In LA everybody think they fucking on

Hop on Twitter, perpetrate we doing big shit

Who we hanging with and bragging about the iPhone

I swear to God most of y'all cats just don’t know Kendrick

You barely know yourself, so I guess most of y'all should be offended

Ain’t doing this for my health, I’m tryna' purchase my momma dem' Benzes

Occupying my time with riches, justifying my time ambitions

Just to coincide, just to go inside, plus we idolize why we living

Look, the mastermind took the master's mind

Just the perfect time, just to master mine

Just to match the grind with precision

Look, the mastermind took - (cough)

[Outro: Alori Joh]

We would like to call this an appreciation tape for those who recognized the Kendrick Lamar EP. For this is the Kendrick Lamar OD. Because of you we are Overly Dedicated

[Produced by The Roots]