When will the calls stop
I can’t sleep Sallie Mae’s my alarm clock
Yet I’m still here, still real, still hurt and fear, still love
And I been out of work for years
They say greatness comes with perseverance
That our best and worst is to find out what our purpose here is
That’s everyday for twenty-eight
If my love is labor I feel I’m underpaid
Don’t really want to be yall, rather be unafraid
See I ain’t in the ghetto but I suffer it’s rage
Young colored boys coming of age stuck in these cages
Shuffling in chains, shucking for change and education
One of these days my college degree will mean something
Other than slavery, other than leading this country
Other than pay me, other than maybe
Something then wakes me
It’s a dream
There is no escaping, save me

Do they love me? Or do they understand?
I’m not sure that I need them to love me
I just need them to understand

So when I tell it I tell them to dream big
Then let it live
It is what it is
So let it live
When I tell it I tell them to dream big
But let it live
It is what it is
Said it is what it is

It’s winter, 6:06am
Up trying to make end for FAM
I got a wife who feels slighted every time that I’m away
And I’m reminded all the time I’m from a line of great men
So I know who you think I am but I aint them
I’ve gone to great distances to prove that
London, Côte d’Ivoire, the Carribean to prove that
There just aren’t many men who do that
So you rap, I came to bring the blues back
A dream deferred, unseen, unheard
I’m bringing Langston Hughes back
So if it ever do matter that’s one master, two doctors, two bachelors

Do they love me? Or do they understand?
I’m not sure that I need them to love me
I just need them to understand

So when I tell it I tell them to dream big
Then let it live
It is what it is
So let it live
And when I tell it I tell them to dream big
But let it live
It is what it is
Said it is what it is

I hate that I slept this long
Dreamt so hard til all that’s left is gone
I could be up writing better songs
I could be up getting ready for em
I could be up in that echelon
The World at my beck and call
I’m so afraid of being Dave, Eddie, or worse Lamar
I wasn’t sent here to be a star
I was just meant to work really hard and see where the cards would fall
So excel as I exhale
Survived and failed
and now I finally get Chappelle
In order to live my life and live it well
I gotta give up something
So might as well give em hell
Let it live

So when I tell it I tell them to dream big
Then let it live
It is what it is
So let it live
When I tell it I tell them to dream big
But let it live
It is what it is
Said it is what it is

Egypt to Elizabeth to prove that
You rap I came to bring the blues back