Lyrics Listening - J-Live, Kola Rock

Listening

Hello?
Peace, baby, it’s me.
How’s it going?
Oh, peace!
What’s up, baby?
Oh, just chilling.
Just finished doing a show.
Figured I give you a call before
I turned in
Okay, where are you today anyway?
Um, we in Albuquerque right now.
We heading to Texas tomorrow
Oh, yeah, cool.
How’d the show go?
Show was going good, you know?
Place was packed, know what I’m saying?
Merch did good, flow did his thing
So yeah, wha-what time is it over there?
It’s a little late right?
I’m sorry
Oh no, no, I’m up, I’m up.
I was just writing something actually
Oh, okay.
Word
I want you to hear it?
Oh, word?
Alright
You ready?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Kick it for me
Alright, listen to this
Alright
I’m listening to Lonnie Liston Smith
Lonnie Liston, Lonnie Smith, and Lonnie Lynn
They sort of share a common sense
And if you spend enough time listening to me
Then this is what you’ll find inside my mind’s contents
It reads like Chronicles 13, the Constitution, the Kama Sutra
Morrison, La Ruda, Buddha, Mansa Musa, Pharoahe Monch, and Pharoah Sanders
It seems I got low tolerance and high standards
It seems I got questions that defy answers
If you were rich while I was starving
Tell me how are we crew?
I’m feeling like a throwaway blue
Like God’s first draft of the sky
He balls it up for something new
And if you got something better
Then I’m listening to you
If you got something better
I’m listening to you
I let the beat ride when I’m listening to you
I’m through
Ahhh, okay
So, you know, that’s basically it.
Just a little something I wrote, you know.
So, what’d you think?
Yo, I’m feeling it.
I liked it a lot actually.
Yo, it reminds me-it goes ill
with something I wrote actually
Oh, really?
Yeah, yeah!
Um, I’ll let you hear that.
Cause we talking about listening
Cool, let me hear it!
Hold on a second, let me find it.
You ready?
Yeah, I’m listening
I been listening to records I collected
Records I selected and inspected
Dissected on examination tables until my technique I perfected
Records that have served and protected
Of confidence and my own perception of the world
Once the wax is reflected
I found my self connected to the music like the lyrics were injected
So now when times are hectic
I close my eyes and listen to the words
Like advice from somebody I respected when I was found ejected
That saying about art and life is just the half
When you realize music is math
Like a true song, it’s just a product on the answer sheet
Life’s craft is a scrap where you show your work
I would listen with a smirk from irony to Ireif
From Bob Marley smoking stones at the building refused
My girl left me
Roberta Flack said «Never You Mine»
Love may lose, but at least you tried
The wisdom hit me in the eyes and almost cried
Stevie Wonder saw my tears and put the joy inside
Sade showed me love that was stronger than pride
Minnie Ripperton invited me to come inside
Marvin Gaye taught me lessons of anger and time
That’s just the tip of the iceberg floating in my mind
Not to mention all the jazz and instrumentals that’s essential
And the hip-hop elders that taught me to rhyme
That’s why I’m still listening
Ahh, that was nice!
You know what I’m saying how it goes with yours, right?
Yeahhh…
With the whole listening…
And then with the whole mmmm
Yep, yep, yep
Okay, when did you write that?
The first day of the tour, I was just-
Yeah, I like that a lot.
Maybe we could put those together
Yeah, that would be dope!
As a matter of fact, this reminds me, I have another verse that could work
Okay, kick it
Alright?
Uh-huh!
I’m competent with competitions, I’m competitious
I complement my compositions with lots of pictures
An album full of mental photographs, assorted similes
Packed between the documents of dowries and pedigrees
Hip-hop is like my family
On holidays we bitching like
«Why you don’t freestyle no more?»
«I'm better written»
I like to place my posture in a positive position
I like to be the conduit in control of my conditions
I’m sitting on the back porch, thinking
And I’m listening to the Earth spinning
To the trees rustle, wind whistling
To the grass being crushed by the feet of small children
Generations of women whose end was my beginning
Settling of the foundation of the building
Settling of the foundation itself
Knowing that my best work has yet to be written
I’ll probably never press it up to put on a shelf
But when problems are rock hard and money skin tight
I write my love songs on the back of my battle rhymes
The question wouldn’t be if I sold my soul
My soul’s been sold
The question is was it worth your dime?
Alright, that was dope too, yo
See what I mean?
Yeahhh
Uh-huh
Alright, so I like the way it went together
Exactly, yeah
Cause the first one’s really slow, and the second one’s a little faster.
And your’s-
Mine’s is sorta like in between
Yeah, exactly!
You know what?
We need to just go ahead and do a song together
For real, I think so too, but we just got to find a time when neither of us is
busy.
So, one day
One day.
That’s what we always say
It’s true though, you know?
It’s not like we can do it right now
Maybe when were in the same city together or something
Yeah, yeah.
That would definitely help
Okay
Alright, so I’ll let you go.
But I’ll talk to you soon
I’ll talk to you when you get home
Alright baby, peace
Peace