Turning 10

[Verse 1]

My man used to sling to his mother

Took a couple dollars off so she ain't think he don't love her

I said damn son your pops don't care? He said, "Son, I don't know"

My father been in and outta Rikers since I was 9 years old

He passed me the L and then continued to bag snow

I pictured myself in his shoes and took a drag slow

His mother came in the room with seven singles

He gave her a bag of stones, her face said heaven sent you

I was 14, known as a mixture of straight scheming and debate teaming

A tug of war to break me even, I was weaving through what was intended and what was a given

Where it's easy to jump in the rhythm and fuck with the vision

Been forever since we kicked it, last thing I heard is he was bidding

They got him infinity number dripping

The juxtaposition of what the allure be

They placed him with his pops so now gets to tell his father the story

[Hook]

All my friends who got a son with their ex, I tell them right off the deck

Go and get your son when he turns 10

And all the women I know who know what's best and the way that this shit is set

Give that boy up when he turns 10

I applaud you for thuggin' it, never wavering how you loving him

But now it's daddy's turn to run with him

So if you got a son with you ex, I tell you right off the deck

Go and get your son when he turns 10

[Verse 2]

I was 10 when I moved from Crown Heights to the Stuy

Took me from Ebbets Field to up the block from B.I

My mother said yo you've hit an age where you're bout to feel a change

And as a woman there's only so much I can demonstrate

At first I ain't get it, young and innocent, blind fold the differences

Penning and dribbling over 1010 skinnies and bigger reluctance

My father was always around but at 10 it adjusted

And all the layers that it comes with

Like a man can't teach a girl how to be a woman

And a woman can't teach a boy how to be a man

So like Tre and them, my dad made the call to moms

She said you wanted him you got him and my corner evolved

So when a block party's jumping and my friends moms pulled me aside like talk to him

Maybe your aura can touch him

I get it, but really though I'm just funneling this tradition down

From back when I turned 10 to the shit I give you now

[Hook]

All my friends who got a son with their ex 'cause I tell them right off the deck

Go and get your son when he turns 10

And all the women I know who know what's best and the way that this shit is set

Give that boy up when he turns 10

I applaud you for thuggin' it, never wavering how you loving him

But now it's daddy's turn to run with him

So if you got a son with you ex, I tell you right off the deck

Go and get your son when he turns 10

[Verse 3]

I know a girl who I told this all to

Homey of mine, heard it and felt it was all true

Told me her only problem is that if she can't find him

Then how can she realign him with her son like fuck is she 'sposed what to do?

I told her what you do, is show him what you're down for

Keep wearing the pants and never let him take his crown off

Never let him become the motherfucker he came from

Don't let that define him, there's still time to save son, but otherwise

[Chorus]

You got a son with you ex, I tell you right off the deck

Go and get your son when he turns 10

And all the women I know who know what's best and the way that this shit is set

Give that boy up when he turns 10

I applaud you for thuggin' it, never wavering how you loving him

But now it's daddy's turn to run with him

So if you got a son with you ex, I tell you right off the deck

Go and get your son when he turns 10

[Outro: movie sample]