Wrote My Way Out

[Chorus: Aloe Blacc + sample + together]

("I wrote my way out")

When the world turned its back on me

I was up against the wall

I had no foundation

No friends and no family to catch my fall

Runnin' on empty, th'was nothin' left in me but doubt

I picked up a pen and "I wrote my way—" out

[Verse 1: Nas]

I picked up the pen like Hamilton

Street analyst, now I write words that try to channel 'em

No political power—just lyrical power

Sittin' on a crate on a corner, sippin' for hours

Schemin' on a come up, from evening to sun up

My man awaitin' trial, misdemeanors we younger

Courtroom prejudice, insufficient evidence

Jailhouse lawyers, these images still relevant

Flickerin' lights inside my project hall

Sickenin', the mice crawl all night long

And '87 Reaganism, many pages I've written on

Writin' songs about rights and wrongs and bails bonds

Master bedroom, bigger than the crib that I was raised at

I'm the architect like I wrote the code to Waze app

I'm driven, black Elohim from the streets of Queens

The definition of what It Was Written means

Know what I mean?

[Chorus: Aloe Blacc + sample + together]

("I wrote my way out")

When the world turned its back on me

I was up against the wall

I had no foundation

No friends and no family to catch my fall

Runnin' on empty, there was nothin' left in me but doubt

I picked up a pen and "I wrote my way—" out

[Verse 2: Dave East]

I really wrote my way up out of 6E

Develop relationships with fiends, I know they miss me

Before the metrocards, it was tokens, I did the ten speed

Never had wrote a rhyme in my life, what was a sixteen?

At sixteen, arrested in housin', trip to the mountains

Came right back, trappin' off couches, watchin' for mouses

Only tools we was posed with, had a spot, smoke lit

The hate is just confusion, pay attention how them jokes switch

Diadora was my favorite, the Mark Buchanans

Mama couldn't afford them, I learned everythin' on the border

That's a big 8, Clicquot parties with private dancers with no mixtape

Bumble Bee Tuna, now we could get steak

I persevered, composition, I kept it close

Competition near, I'm a Spartan without the spear

Three hundred rhymes, it was written before I wrote it

Opportunity knockin', might miss it, that window closin'

This poetry in motion, I'm a poet

[Chorus: Aloe Blacc + sample]

("I wrote my way out")

When the world turned its back on me

I was up against the wall

I had no foundation

No friends and no family to catch my fall

Runnin' on empty, there was nothin' left in me but doubt

I picked up a pen and I wrote my way out!

[Verse 3: Lin-Manuel Miranda]

High speed, dubbin' these rhymes in my dual cassette deck

Runnin' out of time like I'm Jonathan Larson's rent check

My mind is where the wild things are, Maurice Sendak

In withdrawal, I want it all, please give me that pen back

Y'all, I caught my first beatin' from the other kids when I was caught readin';

"Oh, you think you smart?"—Blaow!—start bleedin'

My pops tried in vain to get me to fight back

Sister tapped my brains, said, "Pssh—you'll get 'em right back."

Oversensitive, defenseless, I made sense of it, I pencil in

The lengths to which I'd go to learn my strengths and knock 'em senseless

These sentences are endless, so what if they leave me friendless?

"Damn, you got no chill," fuckin' right—I'm relentless

I know Abuela's never really gonna win the lottery

So it's up to me to draw blood with this pen, hit an artery

This Puerto Rican's brains are leakin' through the speakers

And if he can be the shinin' beacon this side of the G.W.B and

Shine a light when it's gray out?

[Bridge: Aloe Blacc + sample + together]

("I wrote my way out")

Oh, I was born in the eye of a storm

No lovin' arms to keep me warm

This hurricane in my brain is the burden I bear

I can do without, I'm here (I'm here)

'Cause "I wrote my way—" out!

[Outro: Samples]

"—picked up the pen like Hamilton"

"I wrote my way out of the pro—"

"—wrote—"

"—wrote my way out of the projects"

"—pick—"

"—picked up the pen like Hamilton"

"I wrote my way out of the—"

"—wrote—"

"—wrote my way out of the—"

("I wrote my way—")

"—picked up the pen like Hamilton"

"I wrote my way out of the pro—"

"—wrote—"

"—wrote my way out of the projects"

("I wrote my way out")

[Spoken: Samples]

"Really, I saw, like, a hole in the rap game, so, if I wanted to put my little two cents in the game, then it would be from a different perspective."

("I wrote my way out")

"I thought that I would represent for my neighborhood and tell their story, be their voice, in a way that nobody has done it. Tell the real story."