Live Up

[Verse 1: Jean Grae]
Fuck y’all motherfuckers, fuck your fame
Fuck your team of niggas, fuck your name
I could crush y’all cold, ice, diamonds, profane prolific
I’m Cobain but living, I’m “Don’t Explain” Billie
Holiday’s spirit, you feel it in your veins, heroin
Addict conceal it like the pain I revisit every time
I do a line, more rhymes for nothing (So what’s)
(My time for?) Writing off? I endorse nothing but me
Shit, no product but free speech, prophetical
Sleestak, nobody can reach me—go tweet that, Greasy
I’m the preacher of freedom rap, just freedom from
Being wack, no Perry, Madea crack—go ‘head if you
Feeling that. I know you gon’ give me flack for it. “She
Wacky, black. We, as a people, should stand for it”
Surprise, nigga. I’ll open your eyes bigger—no, not for them thighs
I have been destined to rise higher than all this

[Hook: Talib Kweli and Jean Grae]
We came too far to give up
So now we just got to live up
I live high, forget lows
And I fly, and I grow
See, we so high when we get down
And once you fly, can’t forget how
I live high, forget lows
And I fly, and I grow, keep it moving, man

[Verse 2: Jean Grae]
Outcast, misfit, the chick don’t fit
Outlast your quick shit, cliques, hits, boasts, beefs
Wrists, ‘fros, the gold teeth, trend brought back
The shitloads of switched dress codes—damn jeans. “Damn, Jean
You still rap? You’re still a fucking thorn sticking
Yourself into more war? For what?”
I’m so happy that you asked! (Applause!) To crack jaws
To black eyes, to change mind, to crack joke, to chastise
To toast drinks, to expose, to promote
Think! To post links, to face foes, to erase foes
To face those who ain’t know, to chase
Free caseloads with other free caseloads, but never
To catch a case though. Old-school queso
Not to get poked on Facebook or fame, no
Just kidding. This is for the same dough
Same lane-playing, same ball, same park, same glow

[Hook: Talib Kweli and Jean Grae]
We came too far to give up
So now we just got to live up
I live high, forget lows
And I fly, and I grow
See, we so high when we get down
And once you fly, can’t forget how
I live high, forget lows
And I fly, and I grow, keep it moving, man

[Verse 3: Jean Grae]
You gon’
Have to let me in at some point—eh, you probably don’t
‘Cept at gunpoint, and if I said I had a gun, it’d be
A cliché, plus it’d be a gun, plus be in your face
Welcome to my purgatory, the urgent story in a
Perpetual state, ignoring. If you can imagine
The things it burdens on me, you can just imagine
The hurt—I’ve learned ignoring. My person is the person
In the verses’ stories vs. the person in the first-person stories
Vs. the person to disperse the stories
No diversity that’s worth exploring, not commercially
Personal boredom can lead to shit that makes it worser for ‘em
I welcome it ‘cause Hell’s a flaming bitch, I’m working for him
It’s queer. You gonna shaft or pack her in the rafters
This year? Or tag her “backpacker stack” and slap her rear?
Whatever. I’m irrational, passionate
Clear, living in a moment you never will come near

[Hook: Talib Kweli and Jean Grae]
We came too far to give up
So now we just got to live up
I live high, forget lows
And I fly, and I grow
See, we so high when we get down
And once you fly, can’t forget how
I live high, forget lows
And I fly, and I grow, keep it moving, man