Smile (feat. Gloria Carter)

(Good morn' or evening friends)

Smile, you recording?

Slamming Bentley doors like we invented doors

Twenty years ago we drove Bentley Azures

We drinking Cristal then

Yeah, kept the tray on me like Chris Paul then

Drinking Ace of Spade like it's codeine now

Tryna put a million on the whole team now

Push through the pain so we can see new life

So all the ladies havin' babies, see ya sacrifice

Mama had four kids but she's a lesbian

Had to pretend so long that she's a thespian

Had to hide in the closet so she medicate

Society shame and the pain was too much to take

Cried tears of joy when you fell in love

Don't matter to me if it's a him or a her

I just want to see you smile through all the hate

Marie Antoinette, baby, let 'em eat cake

Bad times turn to good memories, smile

Even when I'm gone and you remember me, smile

Good times never fade away, smile

Even if I'm not with you here today, smile

(Good morn' or evening friends)

Smile

(Here's your friendly announcer)

Smile

Far as draft picks, my name did not get called

Bet before I go I put a billion on the board

Hall of fame Hov, I did it all without a pen

Y'all knew that was coming, I had to remind y'all again, huh?

Flying paper planes through the projects

Now the whole projects on my jet

Now you see the real in the front row

On every one of y'all televised shows

Super facts

**** switch sides, traded pride, we don't do all that

A loss ain't a loss, it's a lesson

Appreciate the pain, it's a blessin'

Bad times turn to good memories, smile

Even when I'm gone and you remember me, smile

Good times never fade away, smile

Even if I'm not with you here today, smile

(Good morn' or evening friends)

I mastered my aesthetics

I know you often heard me wax poetic

'Bout being back in the Lexus

But trust me, that was nothing

A **** up in the hundreds of millions

I have no ceilings, ah, this that feeling, I'm that boy

Anita Baker's 'You Bring Me Joy' slapping out of the toy

The separation is clear in my rear-view mirror

Objects is further than they appear

Oh yeah, I was born with a pair, playing for high stakes

Norman's Cay, he looked up and out of the Lear

How **** can't relate?

Fuck a slice of the apple pie, want my own cake

In charge of my own fate, respect Jimmy Iovine

But he gotta respect the Elohim as a whole new regime

And **** playing for power, huh

'Til our music is ours, **** own they own houses

Ours was, "Fuck you, pay me"

Now it's, "Fuck paying me, I pay you put the rest away for Blue"

That blood money, I giggle at it

Can't even support my miss' habit

Jewelry shopping in Par', all y'all jewelers should be embarrassed, huh

Blood diamonds dripping with guilt, I still ain't tripping

That's life, winners and losers, huh

Drug dealers and abusers, America likes me ruthless

My therapist said I relapsed

I said, "Pre-haps I Freudian slipped in European whips"

God sent me to break the chain, I'm the true and livin'

God in the flesh, the rest of these **** is vain

A stain on a white suit, inferior IQ

****'ll rip your shit off TIDAL just to spite you

Ah what did I do, 'cept try to free you?

****'ll love you but hate you 'cause they can't be you

Dump 'em all in the bayou, uh

Everybody wave bye to the guy you thought you could lie to

This was meant to be a haiku, huh

But my story's too wide to fit inside the line or two

Oh, these that drugs, Heron flow, I spaz on the stove

This is Hov, no flex zone, ****, who lied to you?

Look, you a pedestrian, don't ever question the security I provided you

Oh y'all thought I was washed? I'm at the cleaners

Laundering dirty money like the Teamsters, huh

Shout out to Hoffa back home, he in the church

When I heard you got booked, that shit hurt

Feel for you bro, we know the system don't work

Take a young **** freedom over some dirt

Yet it's legal in Colorado, yet we deny

Black entrepreneurs free enterprise

That's why it's a black market, that's why it's called the trap

That's why it's called the projects 'cause it's exactly that

All these people is gon' kill me, huh

'Cause the more I reveal me, the more they 'fraid of the real me

Welcome back, Carter, smile

Living in the shadow, can you imagine what kind of life it is to live?

In the shadows people see you as happy and free

Because that's what you want them to see

Living two lives, happy but not free

You live in the shadows for fear of someone hurting your family or the person you love

The world is changing and they say it's time to be free

But you live with the fear of just being me

Living in the shadow feels like the safe place to be

No harm for them, no harm for me

But life is short and it's time to be free

Love who you love, because life isn't guaranteed

Smile