Something To Hold Onto

[Intro]
Bismillah
Surah 115
I'm trying to find that missing note
While you niggas is at the club looking for pussy
I'm try- I'm looking for the missing note

[Verse 1: Jay Electronica]
As I scratch the last days off the calendar
Niggas roam the streets with heavy metal like Metallica
Pistols with the silencers, killing soldiers softly
The crime pays a little but the consequence is costly
My cousin, I love him, we go back in the days
But now he struggle with the monkey and he trapped in a maze
I still care for him, to tell the truth I'm kinda scared for him
Cause when he conscious, he in rare form
But that's the story of his life, getting locked up or shot up
Or in somebody's kitchen on the block cooking rocks up
I think he lost hope when he seen them lock his pops up
Or when he seen his sister babyfather get his knot bust
My grandmother complain and tell him make a change
But her thinking is outdated she can't understand the game
Syeah, hard time three to nine in a jailhouse
Is no different from slaving nine to five in a warehouse

[Hook]
There's a lot of shit going on up in my hood
I thank God I'm alive, homey knock on wood
Yea though I walk through the valley of death
I know the lord got my back with every step
You see nothing here surprises me
I got a whole lotta soldiers down to ride with me
But lord please give me, something to hold on to
Something to hold, I need something to hold

[Verse 2: Jay Electronica]
Yo in the projects shit is mad real for the youth
Niggas get ill for the loot
The more guns ya bust, the realer your crew
Cats carry gats concealed in they suits
Whether cee-loo craps or Macs gorillas may shoot
When the eyes meet don't steer wrong and don't stare long
Cause niggas'll kill for that, when they be full of heroin
It's like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder
How crews remain standing once the AK's thunder
Under the slum roof tops, career thugs cook rocks, then hit the blocks
To make a killing plus fame, man, they loving this game
It's mega action; the trees stay hot like saunas
Shorties with fly hair-dos get dipped to play the corner
Summer time they shine block parties galore
So many soldiers die, they buy a separate forty to pour
I knew this kid Larry; niggas thought he was poor
But he had cream for days, ran a solid scheme with K's
AKs with the banana clips, rubber handle grips
The same nigga that got Randal hit, he living scandalous
He used to pop no-doz so he won't be caught sleeping
And he couldn't even walk around the block cause he was beefing
I say that to say this, that's ghetto everyday shit
Where slugs miss chipped bricks leave scars on chicks
It's kinda trife right now, but that's the life right now
And way back it was a half-assed trife like now

[Hook]

[Verse 3: Jay Electronica]
Peace god what's today's math, just trying to escape wrath;
With two left feet, it's kinda hard to walk a straight path
Soldiers laying in gutters from God to greed
My old dad left momdukes and scarred his seed
We all family, but seemingly these cats can't stand me
Haters gonna hate be it a Lexus or a Camry, understand me
But do the knowledge first, swallow my verse
Which is my universe, God obeys no thirst
Fallen angels in the ghetto trading in they wings for things
Semiautomatic machines with red beams
Street magicians converting the crack into cream
Sat back saw 'em turn Black Zack to a fiend
He's a teacher, had a fly daughter named Lakeisha
If you hustle, have a beeper, smoke reefer, you can freak her
I seen her giving head inside the club behind the speaker
Last year she had three abortions for the preacher
And one miscarriage for this kid they call Harris
He told her that her loved her and he's moving her to Paris
She fell for it
Touched the third rail for it (uh)
And next year she would've been sixteen
Once told me that she wanted to go to God, get clean
So she could be a role model for her brother Eugene
He's a beautiful seed, eight years and can't read
At night, his asthma so bad he can't breathe
He wants to be an astronaut, and fly to space
But his teacher told him that he just ain't go what it takes
So he cried while the other kids played at lunch break
What will it take to raise our mind-state?

[Hook x2]