New Leaders

[Verse]

They say hip-hop need new leaders, what we leadin' 'em to?

I think you mean lead 'em to you

Like gather 'round, y'all, my boss wanna give you somethin' cheap to consume

And sell your info to the companies whom they be in cahoots

This the type of verse could get me silenced, yeah

Affect your purse or wallet, but that risk, that's what leaders do

'Tween me and you, this could be 'tween me and you

That corporate megastar shit is not needed, dude

And if you need the truth

We been settin' the tone from the bottom up

Every money tree needs its roots

The soil where the culture's seeded you and me

Get envied by big artists 'cause they ain't be what they was meanin' to

They find reasons to delete the proof

Of stealin' from the underground just to make it less believable

Like for me, it's how I look or it could be how you booked

Or if you refuse to give 'em a piece of you

I've grossed millions off streamin' too

But 'cause I's me, the looked on like, "You don't got no heat on you"

Denied me every vehicle, fuck it, I'll walk, fam

The future is the people, fuck what y'all got planned

Industry dudes got police vibes, y'all Roxannes

Rollouts remind me of cats who talked loud 'til they got dropped

Guess y'all albums don't got hands

We got a real community of people that's locked in

Yeah, so I lead by example

Not lead 'em to get trampled, ain't tryna off-ramp you

Could lead 'em to the knowledge, but can't make 'em think

Like you could lead a horse to water, but can't make him—

If I's leadin', I'd take you back to yourself

Your passion, your presence, your spirit, your health

Puttin' time in the sublime so you can hear it yourself

'Fore you commodifyin' your mind and in fear of yourself

Yeah, but it feel like the goods is back

We outside, the neighborhood is back

So if they rank me lil' lower, guess I'm good with that

'Cause that applause had to be twice as good for that

For twice as long, in fact

But my legacy, legacy ain't about how many see

It's 'bout the depth that it goes in souls that it get to reach

Promise that I ain't as good as I'll ever be

And I birthed a lot of rappers, think it's time y'all take a look at the registry

But I know in due time, I'll get what's meant for me

Plus the craft bigger than me, especially me

So if they never let me lead, I guess that's how I get to lead, yeah

New leaders that we'll never need