Composure (feat. Hit-Boy)

Ayo Hit, I like this IE weather

Aye, look

Vote yes on Hit-Boy, bitch I'm the city spokesman

They see we got this shit crackin' and now they spirit broken

I'm standin' on the green like the British Open

And stackin' ice on top of ice but I'm not building snowmen

Doctors couldn't even detect my disorders

One case, six figures on six different lawyers

I put my soul in every song with limited support

Focused on the output, not the outcome big God is my source (Big God)

Spirit of excellence in my genetics

Complexities come with my complexion

'Fore you shut me down, let me reach my level first

Y'all be too proud to do the devil's work

All that actin' and fakin', I can't take part in it

I'm washin' my hands with the soap opera shit

Set the cameras to speed, co-directed KD

But we know the caged bird sings and screams when it's free

Every second I spent on this, I got it back in blessings

You can't stop and run no errands on the way to legend

They shoulda told 'em, I'm raising up on the totem

Yeah, boilin' over, pot full of yola

Mix it with the cola

Son of a block controlla (Yeah)

Can't let 'em fuck me over (Nah)

Gotta keep my composure, look

Had yellow jaundice when I was born

Kept me in the incubator, ten days long

I made up songs, I was like humming tunes ten years later

Writin' in my room, ten years after that on stage like it's too soon, but

For me, see my parents met inside a nightclub

Olu started to fight and then my moms broke it up

She said, "This boy, he's in the Navy, settle down before y'all need savin'"

Pop went to war around the world, came home, we celebrated

AWOL

Fast forward to when I started to play ball

From a place where we hate law

See the Jakes and we take off

(Whoop whoop)

Hit the gate, I get home and take my chain off

Thankful I got through the day and all the evil I prayed off

Everything is cause and effect

Make the wrong moves in this business, you lose all your respect

My block is dark as it gets

We all make mistakes, only few will recover from 'em

Don't spend your whole life runnin' from 'em

Run up the numbers

Shoulda told 'em, I'm raising up on the totem

Yeah, boilin' over, pot full of yola

Mix it up with the cola

Son of a queen and a soldier

Can't let 'em fuck me over

Gotta keep my composure, look

Keep your composure

On city blocks

And cell blocks

Keep your composure

Hold it down

Hold it tight

Hold it close

Hold space for yourself

It's the way of the ancestors

Our elders

Our artists

Our OGs

Our dreamers

Our builders

With each breath, internalize their successes

Their struggles

Their sense of self

Their sense of overcoming

And take that power forward with you in life

Remind yourself of the magnitude of your good fortune

And the mere chance, one in billions, that you survive

That you will thrive

And even the strongest kings and queens be in, yet remain unbroken

Keep your composure

And believe in the magic of who we are

'Cause what you believe is everything

And what someone believes about you, is nothing

Keep your composure

I am Shaka Senghor