Let’s be clear from the start,
I don’t have it.
And I should impart
I can’t stand it.
And I know in my heart
I’m not stranded
due to anyone’s part,
but I was handed
a beautiful portrait
of big screens and new wheels,
and I’m sure I'll afford it
cuz I got a great deal
where I don’t have to pay shit
until the calendar turns.
Then it’s just a little payment
and besides I can earn
some good credit.
So the next thing I want,
I can get it.
Keep up this glossy front.
I don’t regret it.
How could I when it’s this fun?
And not yet, it
hasn’t set in
so let’s run
to the new store
that opened on the good side of town.
Reaching higher and higher
so I know I can't drown.
Hey, you feelin’ ok?
Yeah, me too, I'm just checking.
Making sure you don’t feel like
we’re headed straight for a reckoning.
No, I won’t worry
just as long as you don’t.
I guess it all could cave in,
but I know that it won’t.
I’ll just pick up some extra hours
and eat smaller for dinner.
I can’t get rid of this stuff,
it’s how I know I’m a winner.
We can’t sustain
this kind of livin.
We got fucked in the brain,
and we thought it was a given
that we have to attain
a certain status,
because they’re at us with their ads to buy the next apparatus.
But I’m sick and fucking tired of tryin’ to cover my neck
and not knowin’ how the hell we’ll make it to the next check.
And I’m eatin’ all my chicken with a pair of cheap forks, yo
cuz butterknives are useless on a hunk a’ greasy bones.
Hold up.
My money owns me.
This shit is backwards as fuck.
Now I’m ready
to acknowledge
that a little’s enough.
Said a little’s enough,
I mean a little’s enough.
Say it with me
I’m in debt (x5)
I owe a lot of money
to people I’ve never met.
By the time that I earn it,
it’s already spent.
We’re in debt (x4)
We owe each other money
though we’ve never met.
By the time that we pay it,
It’s already been spent.
Fuck.
credits
from Five Ounce Mouth,
released February 25, 2015
"May-December" by Mos Def
from Black On Both Sides (1999)
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