Lyrics
Let me take it back to my childhood
Reflecting on childhood experiences and memories.
When six flags was still called wildwood
Referencing a place (Wildwood) from the speaker's past.
Where I had every race as a neighbor
Describing a diverse neighborhood with people of various races.
We were all working class trying to make it out of our hood
Highlighting a common struggle to improve living conditions.
My best friend back then was a white kid
Introducing a close friendship with a white childhood friend.
We was tight he liked the same things I did
Shared interests and camaraderie despite racial differences.
Despite us being different colors, man
Emphasizing the bond between friends of different colors.
We were tight as Elmer's, and we called each other brothers
Using Elmer's glue as a metaphor for a strong bond, calling each other brothers.
While I was trying to keep my Nikes clean
Contrasting personal concerns - keeping Nikes clean vs. scuffing Chucks.
He was trying to scuff his Chucks up
Highlighting the different styles and preferences of the friends.
He was grunge, I was fresh we were young
Describing the contrast in fashion and music preferences.
And we cuss along to rap trying to sneaking into punk clubs
Recalling shared experiences of enjoying rap and sneaking into punk clubs.
But things changed when his pops got laid off
Changes in the friendship due to one friend's father losing his job.
He blamed my father for the loss of his job
Blaming the speaker's father for the job loss.
He said immigrants robbed citizens jobs
Introducing xenophobic sentiments and job-related tensions.
And I better never set foot again in his yard
Friend's racial bias leading to a strained relationship.
As we became adults in a cult called America
Reflecting on adulthood in the United States and its challenges.
He got himself a job as an officer of law
Friend becoming a law enforcement officer, highlighting career paths.
My thoughts got blacker and his views got cracker
Contrasting perspectives and racial tensions intensifying.
There was no way backwards, to the roots at heart
Expressing a sense of irreversible change and divergence.
Many years apart, I recognized him in the news
Recognizing the friend in the news for a tragic event.
He shot a black man that was sitting in his car
Detailing a regrettable incident involving the friend as an officer.
Near the same park where we used to shoot hoops
Connecting the incident to a place where they used to play basketball.
And all I could blame was the cause
Expressing a sense of helplessness and searching for a cause.
You grew up
Chorus expressing a commentary on the impact of upbringing and societal influences.
No you didn't change
-You were made the same
-As those before you came
-You grew up
-All our growing pains
-Were given like our names
-You just bought the blame
-You grew up
You ever have a friend that became a fanatic
Repetition of chorus emphasizing the continuity of negative patterns.
Most of you all haven't
-But if you ever did
-You'd understand the one thing they all have in common
-That somebody took advantage of their damage as a kid
-I knew a guy who's folks were professors
-Proof in the flesh that Allah was a blesser
-Grew up in a mid-western town
-Where there weren't many brown people he could seek reflection
-Got picked on in school during lectures
-Graduated hating everybody in his class
-Picked on because he prayed five to the east
-And he didn't eat meat that Allah said was bad
-One day a man approached him in a mosque
-Changed his life when he asked him a question
-Do you ever feel your life was a loss
-And what if I could teach you that life is a weapon
-Attracted strong to the feeling of acceptance
-He was soon gone with delusions of a cause
-People of the present had faces of the past
-Make it easier to blast them if he feel they did him wrong
-You can raise a child in a house full love
-But can't keep them safe in a world full of hate
-So he blew up
-The only mistake that could hold all the blame
-You grew up
-No you didn't change
-You were made the same
-As those before you came
-You grew up
-All our growing pains
-Were given like our names
-You just bought the blame
-You grew up
My heart's a jug and when I was born it was filled with love
Reflecting on personal struggles, choices, and the inevitability of growing up.
It ranneth over, life ran me over till I spilled the blood
-I poured the cups and I left it up you to say enough
-Never ending, never quenching, I sealed it up
-Tried to change my reality but settled for, real enough
-Life is better when you're thinking lesser go on give it up
-When I was younger I was so determined
-I would change it all Couldn't fly but wasn't chained to fall
-So where is it I put the blame and cause
-Well, I grew up
Concluding with a reflection on personal growth and responsibility.
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