sixteen
J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League
Huh! This is special
Extremely special
When 16 ain't enough
When 16 ain't enough
Ooh, yeah
Aw yeah-eah-eah-eah-eah-eah-eah
When 16 ain't enough
When 16 ain't enough
Ooh, yeah
Aw yeah-eah-eah-eah-eah-eah-eah
It's funny because, it's been on my mind lately
Having a dope beat, a dope idea
Sixteen bars ain't enough!
How the fuck, can I squeeze my whole life into a 16-bar verse?
You know, so many different levels, to living your life and
Depicting, with your wordplay
Exactly what life means to you, and sixteen ain't enough
I know y'all gonna feel me on this one
You gotta feel me on this one, huh!
It's funny how things change, funny how time fly
More than my feet travel, the more that I feel fly
More that I make now, the more that the chicks smile
She call me a local nigga, I opened a Swiss account
Eisenhower status, Etta James on the dash
Smooth as John Coltrane cruising in the Cadillac
Seville, feel my life on the real
We the Last Poets so this is a world premiere
Rolling like Mick Jagger, the women just getting badder
All I see is the money, cream, Eric Clapton
And all I wanted was one, 16 ain't enough
Talking that fast money, 15 every month
When your people labelled poor, that motivated me more
Everything I ever wore was once worn before
Roll with the punches now it's box office numbers
Dressed like Sammy Davis, steaming my marijuana
Double M G's, double M fees
We in every hood, nigga: government cheese
Yacht to Yachtmasters, Ol' Dirty Bastard
Floor seat for the Heat, paper that I'm stackin
Better put away a penny for the rainy days
Pick and roll, give and go, fuck a fade away
Living like Scottie Pippen, dribble riddles for vittles
Started off with a scribble, now I'm flowing a river
She say my heart cold, I'm naming my son December
Whitney died night before the Grammys – damn, what a memory
Trump Tower and I started with a 10 speed
Born broke, had to use a nigga's instincts
Now I get a hundred racks for the 16
Waking up to turkey bacon and my thick queen
Niggas hating, I'm just watching on the big screen
Three Stacks on the beat and the kicks mean
When 16 ain't enough
When 16 ain't enough
Ooh, yeah
Aw yeah-eah-eah-eah-eah-eah-eah
When 16 ain't enough
When 16 ain't enough
Ooh, yeah
Aw yeah-eah-eah-eah-eah-eah-eah
You know how sometimes you got so much to say but
They on-, they only give you 16? Hehehe
Man it's like, I mean, I got so much to say
The world has said so much to me
And I just wanna give right back to 'em
But, I only get 16, that's like a cage, you know?
I really can't say what I wanna say, you know?
It's just a glimpse, that's all
Just one uh, one little single glimpse, just a page
But I guess I'm defeating the purpose of doing all this talking
Aight
Summer '88, or was it '89?
Or was it wintertime? Aw never mind
I'm in my room, booming
Drawin' LL Cool J album covers with Crayolas on construction paper
I'm tryna fuck my neighbor, I'm tryna hook my waves up
I'm tryna pull my grades up, to get them saddle lace ups
Before lil' Marc was Jacob, before them girls wore makeup
Before my voice would break up, before we'd tour them shake clubs
Before my mama wake up, before my crumbs would cake up
Before they tell me they love me and we'll never break up
Before the time she makes love to someone that I thought was my homeboy
But boy, was I wrong now
I don't budge, don't want much, just a roof and a porch
And a Porsche, and a horse and unfortunately but of course
An assortment of torches that scorches the skin
When they enter, intruders whose tutors did
A lousy job, how's he God if he lets Lucifer let loose on us?
That noose on us won't loosen up but loose enough to juice us up
Make us think we do so much and do it big
Like they don't let us win, I can't pretend
But I do admit, it feel good when the hood pseudo-celebrate
Hence, why every time we dine we eat until our belly aches
Then go grab the finest wine and drink it
Like we know which grape and which region it came from
As if we can name 'em, hint hint, it ain't, um, Welch's
Hell just fell three thousand more degrees cooler
Y'all can't measure my worth
But when you try, you'll need a ruler made by all the Greek gods
Because the odds have always been stacked against me when back's against the wall
I feel right at home, y'all sitting right at home
All Kelly green with envy while I'm jelly beans descending
Into the palm of a child, looks up at mama and smile
With such a devilish grin, like "Where the hell have you been?"
She's yelling, "Selling’s a sin", well so is telling young men
That selling is a sin if you don’t offer new ways to win
A dolphin gon shake his fin, regardless if he gets in
Or out of water, most important thing for him is to swim
And Flipper didn’t hold his nose, so why shall I hold my tongue?
I miss the days of old when one could hold his gal on his arm
And not set off these alarms, when camera’s snap-snap-snap
Return fire, pap-pap-pap pap pap-pap pap pap
They’ll learn why, mere privacy, so essential
They won't make no laws, I break their laws 'til they see out our window
I take the fall to make them all treat human kind more gentle
Forsake them all, I hate them all, don’t like em, don’t pretend to
Yeah something tells me, we ain’t in Kansas anymore
All that shit that used to be cool ain’t cool anymore
All the women we were pursuing, now they want more
And they deserve it all, don’t settle for what ain’t yours
When 16 ain't enough
When 16 ain't enough
Ooh (Lord!) yeah (oh Lord!)
Aw yeah-eah-eah-eah-eah-eah-eah
When 16 ain't enough
When 16 ain't enough
Ooh, yeah (when 16 ain't enough)
Aw yeah-eah-eah-eah-eah-eah-eah (when 16 ain't enough)
Breakdown, breakdown
Does your mama know you see me? Does she know you're freaky?
Does she ever wonder if it's 'bout ya I am speaking?
Do you ever ponder where I'm at when you get sleepy?
How the hell I'm gonna tell the youth don't be me? Yeah
Hahahahah, hahahah, I love it
Does your daddy think you perfect? Does he know for certain?
Does he know how you act when you pull back all them curtains?
Do he think I'm 2Pac cause I'm black and put the words in?
Does he know his daughter might have caught a real merman? Yeah
Hahahah, it's funny because, because you're a changer (huh!)
But because we love you, we go that extra mile
Break it down for 'em, André, huh!
(Guitar solo)
Next level, amazing