Prologue

I told 'em get on or get out
Bandwagon shit, wagon numbers 'bout to max out
Working till I pass out, look who put his past down
Now he come around and they don’t know how to act now
Whoa, all my producers hail from overseas
Whoa, stopped fuckin' round and started living dreams
Inspirational fan mail addressed to me
Finding out that something I said helped someone else believe
That we are the artist, that we paint the targets
That those who believe in themselves travel the farthest
That life is a journey, decide the path you will take
Most like to follow the footsteps, I rather work to be great
Rather work till the sun up, and son, that’s only the warm-up
Heard a lot of basic shit out rappers I gotta burn up
I don’t fuck with your vision, you only talk, never listen
I speak my mind with precision, my heart a gift I’ve been given
I throw that all on a track
They throw me all on the map
Never did it alone, thank my supporters for that
Word to my people at home who were down way before that
Young and disgusted with how a female could act
How a person could change in just matter of days
When someone get around others and they stop actin' the same
How love lost could make a heart gain frost
Make your brain get cross and your soul get lost
Make you lose your way, make your skies go gray
Make your friends question why the hell you ain’t the same
No one to blame but me
Live in what we decide to see
Perceptions corrected when we elect to see different
Take a glimpse from the other side to see where their vision lies
Without that, your vision lies, I realized in watching mine
'Cause a one-sided view between two will leave everybody blind
Wasn’t always right, going off into that mic
When I was trapped inside my pain tryna vent into the night
That’s an apology, but look at what it did for me
I’m done with the past and all my negative energy
Heartbreak to mixtapes, mixtape to album
What I’m doing now, only dreamed about this outcome
And they ask me, «How come you never gave up?»
«I mean, you really skipped the layup, you went straight to the dunk»
Said, «What up?» to local and then went right into global
Working till I’ma mogul inside this industry shit
But don’t get it twisted, won’t be an industry bitch
Tryna get up inside it and make the industry switch
Got a lotta heart, lot to give, drive like I work at the dealership
Dreamt of stages for ages, wanted that shit since a little kid
Life at home was too hectic, headphones on when I’m stressin'
They say, «More money, more problems,» looking back, I learned from that lesson
Looking back, I learned I should question
All the ways that we live
All the things that we value
All the ways we take and we give
All the ways we lose and we win
All the ways we end to begin
All the ways that we cope
In the ways they tell us we sin