_____
I swear, don't be stupid
If you wanna take me out, you die
_____
Beware the sleeping ego
_____
To be better than yesterday
_____
Nothing guarantees I'll make it
_____
Nothing guarantees my reason
_____
I'm on a razor's edge
_____
Wage war on my duties
_____
I feel too close to the fire
_____
I've known you a long time
_____
This close to cutting ties
_____
This close to cutting yours
_____
If you betray me and threaten
_____
A dish best served frozen
_____
This close to coming back strapped
_____
To smashing the barriers
_____
To cover my back
We'll see about my career
_____
Like a hustler from the struggle
_____
This close to getting revenge
_____
This close to spilling blood
_____
This close to diving in
_____
This close to finding them
_____
This close to lifting them
_____
I'm this close to putting them down
_____
Everything I've worked for
_____
To catching a heavy sentence
_____
Mom doesn't know it's going bad
_____
I'm this close to snapping
_____
Me, go see a shrink?
You ever seen a Black dude
About shooting into the crowd
_____
In the name of the outcasts and pariahs
I come from the proletariat
_____
Don't mess with me
_____
Don't mess with me
_____
Don't mess with me
_____
Don't laugh with me
_____
For refusing to comply
_____
You get smoked by a scumbag
_____
No witness, no case if you're not filmed
_____
All your folks will have left
_____
Are their eyes to cry
_____
To macabre urges
_____
One fist, six to kill an Arab
_____
When you're at war
For soldiers from the projects
_____
I'm this close to leaving this country
_____
That has nothing but contempt for us
_____
They don't like what I believe
_____
Students don't have enough
_____
High schools without heating
_____
Is measuring the length
_____
I'm this close to leaving this country
_____
Of hypocrite racists
_____
They don't like what I believe
_____
To heal the divide
_____
Under the riot cops' boots
_____
I'm this close to punching the sheriff
_____
To leaving my ride on the beltway
_____
To setting the hood on fire
To putting on a yellow vest
About shooting into the crowd
_____
I won't hesitate if I don't have a choice
_____
There's a Demba asleep inside me
_____
All my youth, I defied the State
_____
In the name of the outcasts and pariahs
_____
I come from the proletariat
_____
Don't mess with me
_____
Don't mess with me
_____
Don't mess with me
_____
Don't laugh with me