Kendrick Lamar I (from California Dreams, 2015) lyrics

Produced By: Rahki


[Intro]
"We got a young brother that stands for something! We got a young brother that believes in the all of us! Brother Kendrick Lamar! He's not a rapper, he's a writer, he's an author! And if you read between the lines, we'll learn how to love one another! But you can't do that... — (Right on!) — I said, you can't do that without loving yourself first. "

[Verse 1]
(This is a world premiere)
I done been through a whole lot
Trial, tribulations, but I know God
Satan wanna put me in a bow tie
Praying that the holy water don't go dry
As I look around me
So many motherfuckers wanna down me
But ain't no nigga never drown me
In front of a dirty double-mirror they found me

[Hook]
And I love myself
(The world is a ghetto with big guns and picket signs)
I love myself
(But it can do what it want whenever it wants and I don't mind)
I love myself
(He said I gotta get up, life is more than suicide)
I love myself
(One day at a time, sun gon' shine)

[Verse 2]
Everybody looking at you crazy (Crazy)
What you gon' do? (What you gon' do?)
Lift up your head and keep moving (Keep moving)
Or let the paranoia haunt you? (Haunt you)
Peace to fashion police, I wear my heart
On my sleeve, let the runway start
You know the miserable do love company
What do you want from me and my scars?
Everybody lack confidence, everybody lack confidence
How many times our potential was anonymous?
How many times the city making me promises?
So I promise this

[Hook]

[Verse 3]

They wanna say there's a war outside and a bomb in the street
And a gun in the hood and a mob of police
And a rock on the corner and a line full of fiends
And a bottle full of lean and a model on a scheme, yup
These days of frustration, keep y'all on ducking rotation
I duck these gold faces, post up fee-fi-fo-fum basis
Dreams of realities peace, blow steam in the face of the beast
The sky can fall down, the wind can cry now
The strong in me, I still smile

[Hook]

[Bridge]
Walk my bare feet (Walk my bare feet)
Down, down valley deep (Down, down valley deep)
I keep my fee-fi-fo-fum (Fee-fi-fo-fum)
I keep my heart undone (My heart undone)

[Hook]

[Verse 4]
I went to war last night
With an automatic weapon, don't nobody call a medic
Imma do it 'til I get it right, I went to war last night
I've been dealing with depression ever since an adolescent
Duckin' every other blessin', l can never see the message
I can never take the lead, I can never bob and weave
For my nigga that be letting ‘em annihilate me
And its evident I'm moving at a meteor speed
Finna run into a building, lay my body in the street
Keep my money in the ceiling, let my mama know I'm free
Give my story to the children and the lesson they can read
And the glory to the feeling of the only unseen
Seen enough, make a motherfucker scream, "I love myself!"

[Outro]
I lost my head, I've must misread what the good book said
Oh woes keep me, it's a jungle inside
Give myself again 'til the well runs dry

[Car Horns]