Composure

[Intro: Nas]

Ayo, Hit, I like this IE weather

[Verse 1: Hit-Boy]

Ayy, look

Vote yes on Hit-Boy, bitch, I'm the city spokesman

They see we got this shit crackin' and now they spirit broken

I'm standin' on the green like the British Open

And stackin' ice on top of ice, but I'm not building snowmen

Doctors couldn't even detect my disorders

One case, six figures on six different lawyers

I put my soul in every song with limited support

Focused on the output, not the outcome, big God is my source

Spirit of excellence in my genetics

Complexities come with my complexion

'Fore you shut me down, let me reach my level first

Y'all be too proud to do the devil's work

All that actin' and fakin', I can't take part in it

I'm washin' my hands with the soap opera shit

I set the cameras to speed, co-directed KD

We know the caged bird sings and screams when it's free

Every second I spend on this, I got it back in blessings

You can't stop and run no errands on the way to legend

[Chorus: Hit-Boy & Nas]

They should've told 'em I'm raising up on the totem

Yeah, boilin' over, pot full of yola

Mix it with the cola, son of a block controller (Yeah)

Can't let 'em fuck me over (Nah) gotta keep my composure, look

[Verse 2: Nas]

Had yellow jaundice when I was born

Kept me in an incubator, ten days long

I made up songs, I was like humming tunes ten years later

Writin' in my room ten years after that on stage like it's too soon, but

For me see, my parents met inside a nightclub

Olu started to fight and then my moms broke it up

She said "This boy, he's in the Navy, settle down before y'all need savin'"

Pop went to war around the world, came home, we celebrated

AWOL

Fast forward to when I started to play ball

From a place where we hate law

See the Jakes and we take off (Whoop whoop)

Hit the gate, I get home and take my chain off

Thankful I got through the day and all the evil I prayed off

Everything is cause and effect

Make the wrong moves in this business, you lose all your respect

My block is dark as it gets

We all make mistakes, only a few will recover from 'em

Don't spend your whole life runnin' from 'em, run up the numbers

[Chorus: Nas]

Should've told 'em I'm raising up on the totem

Yeah, boilin' over, pot full of yola

Mix it up with the cola, son of a queen and a soldier

Can't let 'em fuck me over, gotta keep my composure, look

[Outro: Shaka Senghor]

Keep your composure, on city blocks, and cell blocks

Keep your composure

Hold it down, hold it tight

Hold it close, hold space for yourself

It's the way of the ancestors

Our elders, our artists, our OGs, our dreamers, our builders

With each breath internalize their successes

Their struggles, their sense of self, their sense of overcoming

And take that power forward through your life

Remind yourself of the magnitude of your good fortune

And the mere chance, one in billions, that you survived

That you will thrive

And even the strongest kings and queens bend, yet remain unbroken

Keep your composure

And believe in the magic of who we are

Because what you believe is everything

And what someone believes about you is nothing

Keep your composure, I am Shaka Senghor