- If you don't listen to this record
and get something from it
then I feel like we're headed for self-destruction.
And I want you to understand how powerful that is
because we will not be headed for destruction
if we come together and we do something about it.
We're starting to implement small change here and there,
but how we implement positive
and very, very huge impactful change
is coming together being as one
and trying to figure out how we get our shape, form,
and fashion together and on the same page.
The inspiration behind the song
is what's going on present day
and what's been going on with all the injustices in America.
In terms of the analogy of basketball players
and their free throw percentages,
I would say Lil Wayne is shooting up about somewhere
between 90 and 95% from the free throw line.
So, I felt pretty confident of sending him the record
and Timberland produced it
and I think he loved the lyrics just as much,
if not more than I did
which is something a lot a people don't know
because on the second verse,
that's Lil Wayne doing my ad libs
which I didn't expect and then the record is complete.
The world is screwed of niggas pouring drinks
like Bill Huxtable.
I love R. Kelly, but around my daughters,
I'm not comfortable.
So, with that line, there was obviously a lot
of speculation about what I meant.
First and foremost when I say I love R. Kelly,
I love his music and I'm not afraid to say that.
I feel like he's a musical genius.
Based on his catalog and all the phenomenal music
that he's made.
I also had to question myself in terms
of when people would come to me
and be like, "You have all daughters.
You have nothing but daughters.
Would you feel comfortable around it?"
And I had to ask myself that question.
And the honest truth about it is
sometimes we have to separate the artist
from the actual person and it's hard to do
and that's why I said that line
to provoke that type of thought,
to create that type of conversation
and it has created that type of conversation.
Stand for what you believe in like Kaepernick.
He kneeled, but he actually stood for something
and it's still even more relevant today
than it was when he did it, in my opinion.
Just because of all the injustices that are still going on
and then you see what happened with George Floyd,
police officer kneeling on George Floyd's neck
and then everybody making these memes
which are comparing and contrasting Kaepernick kneeling
to the police officer kneeling
and then everybody is reinforcing
what Kaepernick was kneeling for.
You either in control or you getting fucked, no abstinence.
It ain't enough Blacks in the driver seat like in NASCAR,
'cause most races people still drinking
what's at Roseanne's bar.
There's multiple meanings in these bars right here.
Multiple meanings which is
what makes this record so special.
Obviously you've heard the term
who's in the driver's seat,
meaning, again, who's in control.
NASCAR, we do realize that there's been a lot of talk
about why there's not enough minorities
that are behind the driver's seat.
And then obviously talking about racism in America
and the incident that happened with Roseanne
that is a public incident and you can look that up as well,
and then you hear people saying I need
to be drinking with that person drinking
to be on the same page or to be on the same level.
These are all sayings that you have.
So, if someone is still drinking what's at Roseanne's bar,
they're still in the racist mentality.
Then her last meaning bar, and her last name being Barr,
there's a double meaning there as well
because it's all drinking what's at her bar.
Gandhi told me to be the change that I wanna see,
but Mayweather told me blow my change on a shopping spree.
On one part of me and one side of my conscious,
I want to do all these things and sacrifice all a my time
to try and make the world a better place
and be a leading example of what we can be
and what we should be.
And on the other side of me is like, man,
I need to go spend my damn money on a drop top beans
or a chain because that also makes me feel fly
and makes me feel good as well
because I come from humble beginnings
and I didn't use to have anything
and I love to just be fly as hell.
So, there's no wrong or right in anyone one of these lines,
it's just that line to understand that we're all conflicted.
What the world needs now is love, sweet love.
Well, while the world takes its time,
can I get some drugs, sweet drugs?
'Cause when you rich, too rich,
all you get is mug, mean mugs.
And I'm getting to that age, sweet age,
I shouldn't be up in the club, sweet club.
Damn.
Grown shit oldest daughter 'bout to go to college, nigga.
Least I can do is leave with a little knowledge, nigga.
Yeah, the clock's ticking,
but just know all my music timeless, nigga.
Rap brought me back to restore
a little bit a balance, nigga, uh!
I think we need more rappers
that enunciate to a degree
and that do their best job to make it
to where every word is understood
so that people don't have to wonder what the hell you said.
And I know that some of that might be genetic.
Some of that might come from practice.
So again, no offense to anyone who naturally just
is very difficult for them to do music
and it's very hard for the majority of individuals
to understand them, but I felt like
I'm trying to balance things out
by being someone where you can understand every word.
The world's a test that X's all the losers from winners, oh!
Watch me pass on that ass like Kendall Jenner, whoa!
Now, there's the pass the test of life, of course,
and then there's the Kendall Jenner line
which, you know, correct me if I'm wrong,
you can use process of elimination
of what Kendall Jenner may not have done
that maybe her sisters did do.
They say between love and hate,
there's a thin line.
I say love or hate, still no snitchin',
that's a six nine.
.45 tucked away in the gut.
Ain't a killer, but don't test me.
'Cause if anybody try to come at me or my family,
then the cops is gonna have to arrest me,
catch me, fetch me.
Niggas is wearin' a bulletproof vest
just to go outside.
100% a nod Tupac, you can go back
and do your history on that.
There's also a play on words because
I had just said two numbers,
I just said another two numbers,
so .45 tucked away in my gut.
Another way of me being vulnerable
and being honest with everybody
'cause rappers like to say all the time
that they're murderers and they'll kill somebody
and they'll shoot somebody.
Hey man, my name is Chris Bridges, I'm not a killer,
but if you come close to my family,
then I will turn into one in a split second.
Innocent people are bystanders.
People recordin' murders on there cameras or they on Live.
In terms of people on social media,
they're on Live, recording murders on their cameras.
This is something that's going on.
Obviously it just happened.
There's been a lot a talk and conversation
about the person that's recording
could have actually done something to help.
You have the people
that's recording speaking up for themselves.
It creates dialogue so that maybe in the future
if these things happen again,
some may consider putting their phone down
or handing it to someone else to record
while they maybe outta do something or help.
Social media got kids wanting to commit suicide
'cause everybody's getting scrutinized.
'Gram stunting, those the truest lies.
Now the parents need to be supervised.
That's ass backwards.
Bombs blowing from the terrorist attackers.
Natural disasters, computer crashes.
World leaders clashing.
Separating us into different classes.
Protect the elite and destroy the masses.
Now all up in the hood, it's pistols blasting.
No wonder why the hood gets no compassion.
We don't have no shape, form, or fashion.
Feeling like Mother Earth is mismatching.
You heard Beyonce say, "Let's get into formation."
When I say we don't have the shape, form, or fashion,
we're trying to get there.
So, we need to get some shape.
We need to get some form.
And we need to get some fashion.
Now that, again, is a metaphor.
Fashion meaning, that's a double meaning,
you have one fashion
and then you have the fashion of clothes.
And I'm saying Mother Earth is mismatching,
we're not all as one, everybody is divided.
So, Mother Earth has a certain type
of fashion about itself.
It's mismatching, it's different colors.
This is a deep, deep line people.
It's so many different colors,
but these colors are not getting along
and they're mismatched.
So, we better hurry up and take some action
or close your eyes and just imagine, damn.
People can throw that, oh he's an older rapper out there
as much as you want to, it doesn't bother me at all.
Because, again, this record is a testament
to how hungry I still am, how many metaphors
and punchlines I still have,
and that I'm still out here in the lyricist category
and doing what I need to do.