2007 Lyrics – JID ft. J. Cole & Ibrahim Hamad

[Intro: JID]
Our offense is oh so, our defense dominate
We got that winning combination
To what? To regulate
Offense is oh so (Forever)
Yeah

[Verse 1: JID & Ibrahim 'Ib' Hamad]
2007, Cole dropped The Come Up
I was in high school playing corner
I never dreamt of mumbling words in front of hundreds
Studying plays all summer
I'll hit the league if my growth spurt come in, on my mom
2009, bro dropped The Warm Up
I was in warm-ups playing Weezy
And Yukimi, Little Dragon, flame breathing the weed
Patrick had the studio dorm room next to me
I freestyled over his beats
My n!gga Keys transferrеd in from Tennessee
He's a rеceiver, I played DB like a keeps
Snatch a n!gga chain, Talib, Talib Kweli
I could be lyrically, but I put on cleats
Scribbled lines going through my mind like a paper piece
While I covered three, playing nickel
Doing safety reads, watch the flats
I can rap, but I rather tackle and pedal back
Get a pick when my growth spurt hit
I'ma be captain, and I was around 2010, no cap
I got 'Freshman Player of the Year'
And figured I was on track
This n!gga Pat' been in my ear talking 'bout rhyming on tracks
So after practice we record and then we got it on wax
And on campus I heard about a couple rappers from Atlanta (Okay)
Some of them n!ggas was snapping
Maybe we could make something happen and sh!t
I wasn't serious enough to even be curious
And we lose like every game, so every day I be furious
So, the spirit of a n!gga had changed
To the point I had to reframe
And focus my skills for other things
I took the steel wheel, I'm steering in other lanes
But my fuel on low and my oil need to be change
Amongst all the other sh!t that's going in my brain
My brother got out of jail, I only know him by name
He did a nickel and a dime in time
Probably be staying with my mom
And dad probably get mad, acting lame some times, uh
Look, The Sideline Story came out September of 2011
Ib said around that time:
We was hunting for a record, under lots of pressure
Just combine the leverage with a better effort
You could find a sound to get us out the underground forever
Maybe you can bless a little, brown effervescent kid
Youngest of seven from the six, eight sections
Section.80 dropped, yeah
We used to play that sh!t to death
And if I recollect correct
You tried to sign him for yourself
All the while I was 'round my out of town college, wilding out
Restaurants, destine dining, dashing, call it dining out
F**king b!tches, 'posed to be in class
But I was hotting out
My friends take a little shot, smoke a lot of cannabis
Foolish n!gga on the campus
Now n!gga skipping practices, and acting like a rock star
Bored from in the dorm to in the car
Leaving the football field
But f**k that, we still sorry
And the problems from the home front
On my home screen calling me, I don't wanna answer
My brother, Carl, hit me, said my granny had cancer
I'm 'posed to graduate and make my way back to Atlanta
No job, no money or nothing from balling
Because between that and school, that was really all
And maybe here's the back that broke the camel with the straw
I wasn't on camera with them amateurs that they saw
But they said they still caught me and my dawgs stealing boxes
Like Craig on his day off
Called us in the office day before we 'posed to walk, uh
Called a squad car, a couple officers
I know bro was finna tell, he was looking nauseous
Now I'm sitting in a cell, n!gga double crossed us
Crossed me off the list for scholarship because I lost it
No more football, my red-shirt senior season
Exhausted, so I'm off it
And I'm right back in Atlanta with a half a gram of weed
And a gold Pontiac that my granny had bought for me
I was sleeping in the back, my dad kicked me in the streets
When he saw my neck tatted, then I told him I was rapping
F**k school, no going back, he said
If I can not follow his rules, just go and pack
Told you he be acting lame some times

[Interlude: Carl Route Jr.]
This my son, he came from these nuts
This negro come back from school
All tatted up like the Sistine Chapel
Talking 'bout he ain't playing football no more
Because he know he ain't going pro
(Hey, it's a standard that you left the house)
But he left on a full scholarship to go to school and get a degree
Because we taught education was the number one thing
Anyway
He came back, determined to do what he was determined to do
And I know because I know he
He is, who he is, we taught him
Hey, whatever you do, put your full self into it
So he did that, anyway
He's back home, I ain't with that
So I'm saying "Hey, you got to go to work"
And he saying "Hey, this is my job, what I'm about to do"
So I'm like "Hey man, some times you got to work
To do what you really wanna do"
We went through this whole brain wrestle
But anyway, he won
He decided that "Hey dad, I'm putting this thing
I'm doing this
This is my job" and he committed to it
And hey, the rest is history
I'm looking at him, I believe in him
I know what was in him
All him and his brothers and sisters
They all got the same mindset
Do your best, give a hundred percent or don't do it at all
So, I know whatever he put his all into
It was gone be golden
Anyway

[Verse 2: JID]
Look
March 10th, 2017, The Never Story dropped
And I'm coming off of tour with ****
That was three years after opening up for Ab-Soul
But it's EARTHGANG's set, I only came to do a song
DoeBurger used to say "Ayy bro, this lil' n!gga cold
Keep on doing what you doing
You gone make it, you 'gon blow"
I ain't know that when he said
He went ahead and played my sh!t for Cole
But I knew he knew the game, and he pulled up to his show
And then that's where we first met
But I ain't think of it no more
'Til Ced Brown said that
I should open up for Omen on my own sh!t, if I wanted
Only four cities, maybe we get Rob Gibbs on the phoning
I got to hone in
In the game grown men uncomfortable in they own skin
But all I wanted was a chance
It feel like I'm in a mannequin challenge
Still stance, but I'm still standing
'Til my n!gga lend a hand and I'm no longer stranded
Looking for strengths in the streets of East Atlanta
Momma said "Don't take advice
They gone try and take advantage"
I was 'bout to sign with Coach K, I ain't take the advance
Cole say "Hold on, wait, bro, I got the plan"
So come on, damn, lil n!gga
Come on, sh!t, let's roll, f**k

[Outro: J. Cole]
Shsh, yo, that's crazy
That's crazy, yo JID, I remember
I remember you came to the crib
You remember this? After we had met
And I told you and EARTHGANG to pull up
To the crib in Carolina, it's the studio house
I wasn't on no sh!t
Like "Yo, I'm tryna do some Dreamville sh!t with y'all", nah
It wasn't no talking no deal
I didn't even know if I wanted to sign n!ggas
I just knew I, y'all was dope, I f**k with you
Just pull up, let's see what the vibe is like, let's work
In my mind, if something happen, it happen
If not, then cool, n!ggas just got a chance to link and kick it
But while we was there, the thing that I noticed off rip
I said, "Oh, this n!gga want it, this n!gga really want it"
That look in your eye, n!gga, I know that look
I know that look too well
But a lot of n!ggas want it
The thing I noticed about you my n!gga, off rip
"This n!gga don't just want it
He willing to do the work that it takes to get it"
And that's the difference, that's the separator
That's the difference between the n!ggas
That never get what they want
And the n!ggas whose names ring out forever
Forever