Crooked Ways

[Verse]

Uhhh...

Word to Grandpops who couldn't fathom the Obamas'

I don't hate America, just demand she keeps her promises

20-teens looking like the 60's, it's crazy

A nationwide deja vu, what my people 'posed to do?

Go to schools named after the Klan founder

Word 'round town is y'all don't see why we frownin'

Native American students forced to learn about Junípero Serra

How is that fair, bruh?

Some heroes unsung and some monsters get monuments built for 'em

But ain't we all a little bit a monster? We crooked!

Man, your heroes are worthless

And man can sure try, but only God gives purpose

You crooked!

Be humble or be quiet

Your kingdom can catch flames as effortless as riots

Entire empire's a card castle, chill

And the strength of your whole team is crumbled with one meme

It's crooked!

Your whole works is twisted

He ain't old enough to buy beer but go on and enlist him

Send him to Iraq and why he come back crazy?

'Cause no human being should see the inside of a baby

You expect trust in a system that needed to be convinced

Of the madness of trustin' a court that waved a Confederate flag

It's crooked!

That's twisted, demented, perverted, got fallen written all over us

And got the nerve to judge each other

Crooked!

That logic fatally flawed

Like sickness is a sign that you out of the will of God

Like one ounce of crack gains the same amount of jail time

As eighteen of cocaine, but ain't they the same thing?

It's crooked!

Stay eating our own kind

And muster up a scandal 'stead of celebrating shine

And somehow that's righteous like the world needs to know

We exposin' them posers with judgmental boulders

Crooked!

And at one time, we built pyramids

One can only wonder why we ain't wiped ourselves out yet

We're as good as it gets: crooked!

Clueless buffoons put a man on the moon

And I still can't get cellphone reception in my room

It's crooked!

Boy, that's often off-kilter

Awful standoff-ish, plan is outlandish

And awful uncanny, resemblance a mis-mark

Like Chris Columbus might as well have landed in Denmark

Me - just an Allstar Chuck Taylor rhyme sayer

And the fact I ain't get lost on the way here is amazing

Me, just a crooked stick in awe of His goodness

And somehow the school-to-prison pipeline missed this

And moving minds swiftly and change an entire industry

Tailor made for greatness 'cause cuz got bad blood

Yeah, y'all still lookin' at a Tunnel Rat

Pen player, earthworm, battle cat, hates trend

Might learn my lesson the day after the world ends

And been wrestling with it since my wife was my girlfriend

Crooked like I'll take a bullet for my wife

Yet I wonder what's under the skirt of the girl on my flight

These eyes are mine, wander lost sight, come and get me

Homie, I'm not a leader, just a hippie with daddy issues

Shatter dreams and promises, a closed-minded hypocrite

All the while standing in the pulpit, the culprit

We are all of the above, right and wrong and indifferent

Yet none of the above, it naturally fit in this

Subjects and predicates subjected to my detriment

Dedicated to elevating devastating pride

It's quite a ride but if you look inside, bruh

Some things just don't make sense, go wit' it

We stay perplexed at the truth that defies logic

But who say that logic the best way to understand it?

Man, that's the thinking of our colonizers

Truth is proven only through ears and eyes and

If you can't touch it, then you can't trust it

That's why they can't explain the love in my daughter's eyes

And that's that conscious rap, oh that's played out

You old-school, you old, dude, you aged out

It's not cool, them old rules, they phased out

There's new rules, them new dudes ain't like you

They say you hating when you don't toss 'em a re-tweet

I study for every test and y'all is looking for a cheat sheet

Things I gotta tell ya, love you too much to be scared of ya

Concoction of contradictions, misnomers and paradox

Conclusion confusion like the way that I see me

An apex predator, ten steps ahead of ya

Desperately trying to hide my insecurities

Papier maché property trying to hide the duct tape

Defending my card castle like it could stand in one gust of wind

The lust of eyes shackle me just as I be tackling

My inner demons eat through my marriage and my parenting

What is arrogant and humble?

Eloquent ridiculous, confident and nervous

The smell of cigarettes and broken dreams

Sold out the tickets for the VIPs

Bands that could've been contenders now Venice Beach vendors

Like dawg, that could be me

I swore I'd never wear skinny jeans

My homie looks real dumb in size 40 Dickies

That's laughable, better be adaptable

And hit the road to see how far that rabbit hole go

This is present tense

None of this "already I've been delivered" mess

None of that pseudo-righteousness

I'mma let you guess the rest

Lusted little clusters surrounded by natives

That's the picture of foolish pride in the eyes of General Custer

They watched his eyes slowly close like

"Yeah, guerro, we remember the Alamo"

It's confusing, American generals get statues

Even for the battles that they lose

People are so perplexing

Perpetuating the same hate they out protesting

And Netflix exposing the holes in our morals like

Whose side are you on: Walter or Sky's?

You cornered now 'cause every corner boy is now humanized

Tryna make ends meet just like you and I

That shifts your paradigm, bruh that go

Change your life on sight like the skies in Morocco

What is man but rich soil toiled in fine Hennessy

A beautiful garden that cost a pretty penny

Listen it's freely given, but you've been warned

These halos stay balanced on the tip of our horns

We crooked!