This song took forever for us to make. 32 line verses about the struggles of life and a powerful instrumental (courtesy of Crosswire Audio) add up to create one of our most ambitious songs to date.
nerds while azn
Lyrics
Nerds While AZN - Birthmarks
(Jam Master Jun)
all alone again with paper and pen
got a lot to say but don't know where to begin
guess i'll just say whatever comes to mind
and find the source of my mind through the force of the rhyme
my birth was seared with the curse of fear
but i willed myself, never burst with tears
but when the curse was near and the worst was here
all the vows that i made, disappeared
i found my fears sound, pound, and drowned
my mind, 'till my head spun round and round
bound for a world flipped upside down
where the sounds of nightmares abound and surround
spent a long time on the outside, lookin' in, hopin'
someone would get careless and just leave the door open
and finally it happened, i got to step inside
but as i walked into the door, my visions of it died
my dreams were fashioned from the stories found in book
pleasant nights thinking 'bout how regal i would look
with armor and crest emblazoned across the chest
who needs the real world? fiction was the best
but fiction never lasts long, dreams will die
while the world unblinking, unflinching marches by
how much human pathos intimated with a sigh?
why'd they have to tell me "ever after" was a lie?
if you're thrown in a whirlpool you learn to swim fast
i was thrown in the world, learned nostalgia for the past
cause dreams'll never last, hopes'll never come to pass
life was like a brick, my dreams were panes of glass
i'm not really bitter, just embittered with the taste
of what i had and i'm just sad for what i threw away
but it's not bad and i'm still glad for what i have today
and i'm not mad cause i still laugh and everything's okay
(DMK)
now let me take you down to Cherry Hill
let me take you down to Cherry Hill
let me take you down to Cherry Hill
it ain't the ghetto or the city but still
this is my home, street's Longstone, where I've grown
from the new kid to holdin' my own with a preacher's flow
hard work's good livin', success is a given
but what's it take here to make a driven difference?
two blocks down the court, Iverson uniforms
no gangs, twenty hands, reaching out to form a friendly game
a shot rings out, released by familiar names
stealing hits on the block, but the friends never fade away
back to school, scholars everywhere, filled with knowledge, off to college
come out moral, difference lies in a wedge
between middle/high class, but we've had class, and always will
our future’s rarely in doubt, but still
you’d think our problem's textbook, maybe in the looks
but look, birthmarks brand me suburban, stuck up
i try to connect, but it's all so phony
who am i kidding, what i do benefits only me
i'm not a billionaire, but not that billion a year
shredded to tears, in fear the next meal never appears
try to create estate, grounds to relate
the weight of their fate, but i can't communicate
preach it, teach it, make a speech of it
i still can't learn the language that's so unique to it
1 billion that speak it, nobody believes it
Chinese is useless, when poverty abuses
i sit here so confused while birthmarks leak
my heart's fragility, i'm trying to build on something weak
but in the end, still it's me, trapped inside
the same suburban Asian guaranteed success in life
(Blummer)
suburban slabs of concrete, they're all passin' me by
as i stare out this bus window from the corner of my eye
i'm tryin' to comprehend, i got a verse on my mind
etching it out on my palm as a way to unwind
and if i wrote a little more it'd run up my arm
over birthmarks that been there for oh so long
like Eminem in 8 Mile, i'm just tryin' to find
an end to the cypher of rhymes i'm feelin' inside
times have been hard, i been walkin' with a shuffle
bags under my eyes, fingers graspin' my belt buckle
this educational rigor has got my patience
livin' off an hour of sleep, i cannot take this
and my pockets stay empty, cash flow is nill
i'm starin' at kicks i can't cop on the store window