That Real - Oddisee

Before I knew what I was doing, I was trying to do something

That’s the definition, listen, of a know-it-all young’n

Hard headed, hardly headed, in directions I intended

Where I ended wasn’t deaded, like no exit except the entrance

Now I’m making my entrance as if I’m hopping the fences

Thinking I’m being careful, but really I’m just an infant

Adolescent at best, had a lesson at livin'

Given to me the stress, inherited with the vision

Wool over my eyes, blue, say is the sky

Gray is the true color, but who sayeth the why?

So do that make me pessimistic

If I fill up my head with the best of this shit?

Niggas say I’m cool, shorties say I’m their lipstick

On the tip of their tongue is my lyrics they’re whisperin'

Let’s make it apply, right place and the time

Tight space and the vibe is right for lacing a rhyme

Might say I’m in prime, light laced in the lime

Bittersweet is the beat and together taste is divine

Lemonade in my shine, dimmer shade in the blind

Spots in my mirror, forward never rewind

Plot’s vividly clearer, not saying that I’m

Knowing just what I’m doin', but got faith in my grind

So stop, haters, you’re lying, if you say that you can get it how I get it

Swab test;

you failed, can’t spit it how I spit it

One of these days, baby, I hope to be

Whatever they be is all that I hope to be

One of these days, baby, I hope to be

They’re saying «oh, bring that real shit, something you can feel shit»

Numb to that dumb it down spun overkill shit

Run over hills shit, dated like the fifth wheel

Hate it when they made it but they praise it just to get deals

Me, never that, Man: that’s never happening

See, I be rapping for that feeling I got back when

I was riding on a big wheel

When friends owing me a dollar was a big deal

Sunday night, grandmama would cook a big meal

Meaning that I do it for the innocence in it, still

And if I’m naive, fuck it then, shit will

Seems better even though the weather seem chill

Spleen chills at the idea seeming fake

Even though imitation makes mean bills

I mean, innovation will get you recognition

But «keep it real» is really code for when the check is missin'

And that’s cool, cause me, I’m a realist

Optimistically drinking from the glass of the pessimistic

Hey, check it, listen