Yeah, for your eyes only, for your eyes only, for your eyes only, for your eyes only, for your eyes only Hey, niggas be dying on the daily It seems my dreams faded for far too long The consequence is deadly Can't visualize myself as nothing but a criminal Control the block, serving up rocks and stay subliminal Cause young niggas is hard headed, they letting off Full of adrenaline, ignorant to what death can cause Ain't no coming back, family dressed in black Plus it's hot now, the cops outside, it's hard to flip a pack And my daughter gotta eat Her mama be stressing me like I ain't the one who put them J's on her feet Like I ain't out in the field like that I might be low for the moment but I will bounce back despite the charges Back to the wall, I fight regardless Screaming *** the law, my life is lawless That's what you call it, ain't gotta be no psychic To see this is like the farthest thing from heaven This is hell and I don't mean that hyperbolic I tried to find employment even if it's wipe a toilet But these felonies be making life the hardest Resisting the temptation to run up and swipe a wallet Or run up on your yard, snatch your daughter bike and pawn it That's why I write this on it If the pressure get too much for me to take And I break, play this tape for my daughter And let her know my life is on it Let her know my life is on it For your eyes do you understand For your eyes do you understand for your eyes do you understand You probably prone now so this song will hit you If you hearing this unfortunately means that I'm no longer with you In the physical, not even sure if I believe in God But because you still alive it got me praying that the spiritual is real So I can be a part of you still My pops was killed too, so I know how part of you feels Maybe you hate me, maybe you miss me, maybe you spite me Life goes in cycles, maybe you'll date a nigga just like me I hope not, I'm tired of dope spots And fiends that smoke rocks I've seen far too many niggas hopes rot I'm writing this because me and the devil had a dance Now I see death around the corner apologizing in advance Don't know if I ever had a chance At a glance I'm a failure Addicted to pushing paraphernalia But daddy had dreams once, my eyes had a gleam once Innocence disappeared by the age of 8 years My pops shot up, drug related Mama addicted so granny raised me in projects where thugs was hanging Blood was stained in the concrete Older niggas I loved talked like they was above Maintaining a timesheet, that's slow money Picked up the family business by the age of 13 6 years later was handed sentence Around the same time as when you came in this world Me and your mama thinking what the *** we naming this girl I told Anina the prettiest name that I could think of For the prettiest name my eyes had ever seen I was 19, took me 2 felonies to see the trap this crooked ass system set for me And now I fear it's too late for me to ever be The one to set examples that was never set for me I'm living fast but not fast enough Cause karma keeps on catching up to me And if my past becomes the death of me I hope you understand For your eyes do you understand me? For your eyes do you understand me? For your eyes In several ways I could've went out Too many to count Was it the trigger happy crackers that the badges give clout? Was it the young niggas blasted frustrated cause the cash running out? Niggas don't know how to act in a drought See baby girl I realize My definition of a real nigga was skewed My views misshaped by new mixtapes That confirmed the *** I learned in the streets was true That real niggas don't speak when they beef with you They just pull up on your street let the heat hatchoo And if a real nigga hungry he gon' eat your food I was a fool, spent all my time ducking school Ducking cops, ducking rules Hugging blacks that don't love you I pray you find a nigga with goals and point of views Much broader than the corner if not it's gon' corner you Into a box where your son don't even know his pops And the cyclical nature of doing time continues My worst fear is one day that you come home from school And see your father face while hearing about tragedy on news I got the strangest feeling your daddy gon' lose his life soon And sadly if you listening now it must mean it's true But maybe there's a chance that it's not And his album remains locked in a hard drive Like valuable jewels And I can teach you this in person Like I'm teaching you to tie your own shoes I love you and I hope to God I don't lose you For your eyes on me One day your daddy called me, told me he had a funny feeling What he been dealing with lately he wasn't telling I tried to pick his brain, still he wasn't revealing But I could feel the sense of panic in his voice and it was chilling He said Jermaine, I knew you since we was cheering I never asked for nothing, when times was hard I never had discussions With you begging you to help me I dealt with the repercussions of my actions I know you tried to steer me away from that *** But that *** was in my blood You know my life, I know your mama niggas It's in my love In case I never get a chance to speak again I won't forget the weekend spent Sleeping at your crib That's the way I wish my family lived When my granny crib was in the Jets I had to interject Like nigga what you talking about, *** is you getting at He said listen, I got no time to dive into descriptions But I been having premonitions Just calling visions from the other side I got a feeling I won't see tomorrow Like the time I'm living on is borrowed With that said, the only thing I'm proud to say I was a father, write my story down And if I pass, go play it for my daughter when she ready And so I'm leaving you this record For your eyes only, don't you ever scratch or disrespect it This perspective is a real one, another Lostville son I dedicate these words to you and all the other children Affected by the mass incarceration in this nation That sent your pops to prison when he needed education Sometimes I think this segregation would have done us better Although I know that means that I would never Be brought into this world Cause my daddy was so thrilled When he found him a white girl To take back the Jonesboro With Lil Zack and Cole, well barely one years old Now it's 30 years later, making sure this story's told Girl your daddy was a real nigga, not cause he was cold Not because he was the first to get some pussy 12 years old Not because he used to come through in the caddy on some Vogue's Not because he went from bagging up them grams to serving those Now your daddy was a real nigga, not cause he was hard Not because he lived a life of crime and sat behind some bars Not because he screamed *** the law, although that was true Your daddy was a real nigga cause he loved you, for your eyes only