[Hook]
Africa, Port-au-Prince, Knoxville, and then, Manhattan, South Bend, Albany, Brooklyn (repeat 4x)
Brooklyn, New York to wherever you at
This is autobiographical takin' you back
I lived a Charmed Life, we're going back in the years
Imagine if my whole world flashed before your ears
[Verse 1]
I've been around the sun 25 times
And I still find new ways to recognize shine
It's like life gets better with age
The way a song sounds better on stage
And rhyme books get better with each page
Before the first bar was written'
Or first verse was spittin'
Before label excets was bullshittin'
Way back when Aunty Leen
Aunt Mimi, and Aunt Jackie were babysittin'
Before food was bitten, consumed through a nipple
I'm talkin about when times were simple
To make a long story short it goes
Port-au-Prince, Knoxville, and then
Love in the City that never sleeps
Some thoughts to finish, I was born just a couple of weeks late
Stay home long just to make sure everything was on straight
All systems go, cut the umbilical chord
From old earth to new earth Manhattan to turf
For what it's worth, my mom held me down one deep
Pops was absentee but mind you, don't sleep
It took a village to raise me, Leen tought me how to read
By the time I went to school, I was at high speed
Ready willing and able, Jackie tought me how to add
With dried up black-eyed peas on the kitchen table
And coming home to a mother's love and good care
Never wantin' him, it was always enough
Except when it came to education
It's like she had one rule
There's no such thing as too much school
Not to mention Leen tought me how to play the piano
And then, every summer I was out at South Bend
Grampaps a bartender at a country club
Me and my cousin from Grand Rapids was livin it up
Me Granny watchin Notre Dame football
Gold and blue, she said you can't beat the team and the beans too
Some say I got my sense of humor from her
And I got my patience from making models in the basement
Brooklyn, New York to where ever you at
This is autobiographical, takin you back
With no time for refrains
I barely got enough time to explain
How hip hop captivated my brain
My momma raised me on Soul to Beethoven
Sports Club and private school put me on soft rock
Thats was cool, but I left C100 and WPLJ to find bliss from BLS and KISS
Video Music Box showed me what time it is, wrote my first rhymes to Corey
But J-Live would spark, makin pause-mix demos with my main man Mark
We playin ball in the park, there were other heads too
I was the herb of the crew, then I learned what to do
Got my weight up at school, started battling fools
G-Nice, my friendly rival at the lunch table
We started spark in the dark
With Damien and Ade
I was down for a bit, but that was just to DJ
Started spinnin in the PJ's with Facho and them
Back and forth from the tables to the Pad and the pen
But then I had to do a bid up state, but wait
I wasn't incarcerated, but college-educated
At SUNY Albany I was a full time student, part-time emcee
At the time Rorschach was the place to be
Livin' on dutch quad, started buildin' with gods
16 man squad, by the time my knowledge 120, we was just 5 deep
I went from Mecca to Albany a student
And landed in Medina as a teacher
And have this rhyme reach ya
You recognize whats happenin'
I'm makin records and I'm winnin'
But thats another story and thats only the beginning
Brooklyn, New York to where ever you at
This is autobiographical, taken you back
Not my whole entire life, just a slice of the pie
A few pieces of the who, what, when, wheres, and whys
