Easy For You To Say

I lived a hard life Had to struggle through the day I've been through hard nights Say life's gamble I just hope I play my cards right OG told me don't you worry cause it's alright It's gon' be alright Man, that's easy for you to say You don't even know why I was late And I'll probably have to do a thousand things before I get a chance to snooze today You talking about homework Man, my first duty in my household has always been the same My parents ain't never home and I got two siblings expecting me to lead the way See me, I had to walk to school this morning Don't get me wrong, I could've took the bus But between having to get my brother ready while combing out my sister's hair That boat had already sailed and I had no chance of catching up As a matter of fact, I was up before my alarm went off cause the police sirens kept adding up And my siblings kept asking me to make them breakfast, so that's the first thing I did when I woke up You claim it's easy for me to say like it's something I don't know Like I ain't been where you still gotta go Like I ain't seen what you still gotta see Like I don't look at you and see me You youngins think cause we older we don't know what you going through And since you didn't listen to what I told you, now I gotta show you In the projects where I used to live, just like you I had to get my brothers dressed, make them breakfast, walk them to their bus then get myself to school Not to mention there was 8 of us in a 2 bedroom crib and we had roaches The closest thing I knew to a father was one of my high school coaches So yes, it's easy for me to say because I've been there Just like you, young with way too many responsibilities I was angry and full of rage But I wish I had a me to mentor me when I was your age See what my high school coaches don't understand Is that though we're lined up in the field by 2 I got homies being lined up in the field by 2 And every time I go to the courts, I'm being judged by my appearance as if I have something to prove It's like they set us up to lose And where I'm from, if you ain't playing ball, scoring touchdowns there's only one other path to choose So guess what I'ma do It's not cause I want to, but I'll do what I got to Cause I know some days the sun won't shine but a full dinner plate will put us all in a brighter mood I'm fixing to shed a light or two You being from where I'm from lets me know that the struggle is both inherited and recyclable But you being a teacher, tells me that you probably had opportunities that I consider impossible So I say it's easy for you to say Because the straight life and the lack of help are two things that you were never confined to That's easy for you to say You assume, but you don't know I have a rebuttal for every word you spoke but that's typical of us adults, right? Listening to respond, but not to understand you I get everything you said, but I need you to understand too First, only God can judge you It's unfortunate that the world does too but you ain't alone I got the same color skin on my bones I had dreads, just like you And you can keep them jokes But I know what it's like to have no food To have hoop dreams and no hoop in the neighborhood I had to use my back pedal to help me move forward I know what it's like to have counselors doubt you But they wouldn't have a job without you, like me And I got way more talent than teaching That'll make me way more dollars But I came back to give back To help you understand that you can be street and scholar You don't have to settle but you do have to listen I may be a little older, but our lives ain't that much different I lived a hard life Had to struggle through the day I've been through hard nights Say life's gamble I just hope I play my cards right OG told me don't you worry cause it's alright It's gon' be alright I lived a hard life Had to struggle through the day I've been through hard nights Say life's gamble I just hope I play my cards right OG told me don't you worry cause it's alright It's gon' be alright Let me paint a picture in efforts to help make a connection You are a reflection of my younger self You talk as if I don't know hardship Like adversity don't split the rent with me Like pain ain't been part of my past Like hurt ain't held hands with my mama Like having to bury my brother didn't create a lifetime of trauma for me It's easy for me to say, but it wasn't easy for me to live I'm trying to give you the gems that I wasn't given I know you hear my voice but are you taking time to listen This is what I wish I had Calling on my dad wasn't an option Having someone to tell it to me straight would have kept me from getting it twisted You don't have to carry that weight by yourself I'm here to help you lift it But you have to stop judging me based off who you think I am I'm part teacher, part test me if you think I'm playing Just take time to listen and I can help show you the way I've been there, done that So yeah, it is easy for me to say If I'm being honest, I never caught it from that perspective And I do apologize if at any point you felt disrespected I guess it was easier for me to judge you based off stereotypes But of course, in our culture that's expected Reason why I never thought for a second that it'd be possible for someone like me to be successful in a society filled with obstacles I used to actually find it comical but I'm starting to feel like maybe that's what we're designed to do I mean technically, according to what I learned in chemistry I'm an African American containing 1.09 points of density Living inside a field of electricity, aka dark matter energy But one always seems to forget that what starts off as an eclipse Always bears light in the end of things All I ever wanted was a bright future to hope for ahead of me I'm starting to realize that you might just have the recipe They call me chief, not chef But together we can cook something up Take two cups of confidence, an ample amount of ambition A dose of dreams and discipline Blend in that chip on your shoulder Find someone a little bit older that you respect And don't get offended when they check you They want you to be the best you, but sometimes you can't see that What you hear is an attack instead of seeing I got your back They say get out the kitchen if you can't stay where the heat at It's a cold world we live in and I'm just trying to feed that fire inside of you I know it burns for a better day but when you fight fire with fire you know what they say I want to help fuel it in a way that makes you believe A way that helps you see that I've always wanted what's best for you So you believe that you can be successful too Sometimes there will be setbacks but when an egg cracks you can still make breakfast, lunch and dinner You were born to be a winner I took some L's and hoped that I could teach you those lessons Listen, you ain't that much different from me We can both cook the same meal with two different recipes The last time I learned culinary lessons it included baking soda and watching the pans pressure But I won't lie at the moment I'm currently starving so I think I like that plan better I never really had a role model to look up to At least a positive one And I was taught to keep my guard up so I probably be neglectful if I ever spotted one I think I might be too prideful towards the people at the top as I'm stuck here with the bottom ones And I feel like I've been dying to live never knowing when the time will come I guess I'm just tired And I'm tired of being tired But I'm also feeling very encouraged today as I've been living through the wire You gave me a vision today and a feeling I haven't felt in a while I feel hopeful They say if you want to go fast go alone but if you want to go far go together Well, while everything's been speeding up and spiraling down I feel like maybe there is a chance that we can turn it around It's almost like life goes full circle The same system that hurt