Everyone in the world has gone to bed one night or another with fear Or pain or loss Or disappointment And yet each of us has awaken, arisen Somehow made our ablutions Seen other human beings And said, Morning, how are you? Fine thanks, and you? It's amazing Wherever that abides in the human being There is the nobleness of the human spirit Despite it all Maya Angelou Chess piece movin' on its own accord No one check on you in this lonely world Heart get knocked down, shown no remorse You gotta get that bishop if you know your worth Speak your truth until your throat is horse You ain't no rook once you took the floor Wanna be a king but they call you pawn Well next year you're gonna own the board So one step at a time cuz that's all you can do Back to square one with all you been through No can do, the only path is forward On the other side's where you transform, or so they say You don't need a queen to beat the game If you get her back, you'll just see she changed All you got is you and that's not a lot So what's your survival plot, as a Grain of sand movin' through the sands of time Try'na put to good use the chance to ride The amber waves ampersand the Atlantic tide God damn, we be damn to die Turned to dust as a pantomime Must express your mind Independent of whether they understand the rhyme or reason Carve a mark regardless and sand it fine Even if it means goin' against the grain And they say that you vandalizin' Turn away, strap your sandles tight You ain't here forever Better ban the Sandman from eyes Open 'em wide to expand horizons God lookin' wry while you walk the maze Try'na break bread in a box of rain You don't need a sand dollar, but the thought's ingrained If we grateful dead, then why not today We're alive Cherish the ride Till I die All my homies are humble Rose from the rubble your soul crumbles into When you thinking nobody love you I love you for who you really are, beautifully scarred I see the hope in the struggle Noses too stuffed to smell roses, suppose I'm still owned by the hustle Slowin' my stride feel almost like I'm dying And sleep feel like askin' the reaper to cuddle Woke up in an uncontrollable cold puddle of sweat And realized that I been all alone all along No one who can promise you what god'll do Here today, gone tomorrow, we live in a space and time borrowed Chronic crumbled on the coffee table Notebook pages faded but nothing is muddled, no fables inside They say "facade" but I say I'm creating my life one day at a Why do you play with your time as if it doesn't matter While dashin' to make up your mind what to do They say pick for the cash or your wishes'll shatter Don't differ from patterns They play us for fucking fools What's a rule to a king, though? Can't tell me nothin I show don't tell, so just watch if you wanna know What it look like to be someone I'm my momma's sun and I rise We're alive Cherish the ride Till I die My moms got up at dawn every day since 1999 To watch sun rise right Always been my rock and my life line So who am I to deny 'em that? I admire and Aspire to pay homage to the way that they raised Robin But if I go to college to get the grades that they wanted I ain't bein' honest, and they the ones who gave me a conscience I have to prove that I can rap my route to success But the map is a mess, and atlas, too true So I can't really call it I'd rather focus on the gratitude I have for you and Keep at it until the green paddin' us like botanical roofs Planted roots but this planet is huge And my plan is to do it big, so I have to get movin' I grow like ivy, though: no matter my magnitude I keep ties to home If I should go 180, know one day you'll see the cipher Full circle again- return to my kin Each one of us comprise the whole earth in my chest Though I rise alone