How can you fairly assess something from the outside looking in?
There's gotta be them times you'll be wrong, nah mean?
How can a motherfucker go round and hate a nigga
He never even met, that he don't even know and shit?
I think this rap shit is all beef

Y'all don't even know every day I'm living with stress
Got up out the streets you think a nigga could rest
Can't even enjoy myself at a party unless
I'm on the dance floor hot ass vest
You think I'm freakin' these chicks right?
Try not to brush against they chest
You get a lawsuit for shit like that, I feel trapped
Swear to everything when I leave this earth
It's gon' be on both feet, never knees in the dirt
You could try me fucker but when I squeeze it hurts, fine
We'll lose two lives, yours and mines
Gimme any amount of time don't let Ms. Carter grieve
At the funeral parlor, drippin' tears on my sleeve
Told the judge didn't budge, it was him or me
Now I ain't tryna to be hard but I'm guilty as charged
Put my mercy on this court and my faith in God
And pray hard none of my nephews wanna be stars, lucky me

You only know what you see
You don't understand what it takes to be me

I hate all girls with ulterior motives
That's why I'm twenty plus years old, no sons no daughters
Hate putting my life in the hands of fake promoters
Hear the hate in my voice right? I hate that you noticed
Niggas wanna strip you to the bone for shit you own
Hate a nigga like that, faggot, get your own
Hate that I can't roam the street without the clip and chrome
Knowing one day I'ma have to flip, c'mon
You know the shit don't stop 'til the Cris' don't pop
And you have to kill a nigga and your wrist don't lock
I'm trapped the whole worlds against me in fact
It ain't no turning back, bring it on
Hate the price of fame 'cause it cost too much
Can I live without y'all niggas saying I floss too much?
Hate the way you make this hate flow all through us
Steady looking for flaws through us, lucky me

You only know what you see
You don't understand what it takes to be me
(Since I was four years old, I been told, everything that glitters ain't gold)
You only know what you see
(And now that I've arrived, I see those truths unfold before my eyes in this world so cold)
You don't understand what it takes to be me

And niggas see you in the street, pretend to be friendly
But I know any type of success breeds envy
I know in the back of your mind your conjuring ways to hem me
Leave my friends in a circle pouring out Henny
But G's is heaven bound so how I'm goin' receive
Anything y'all pour to the ground next time throw it up
And ain't nothing changed so even in my afterlife I show it up
Don't grieve for me my art remains
Like a dart from the speaker to your heart
Spiritually through the portal now my words is immortal
Don't plan to leave without a fight I plant a seed I give life
Though I can't see past the girls greed to call her wife
Next time your thinking heist better be precise
'Cause I'm fully prepared, one of us is gon' leave here
I have no regrets even though I wanna see grow
My godsons Boogie, Sonny and Remo, lucky me

You only know what you see
You don't understand what it takes to be me
(Since I was four years old, I been told, everything that glitters ain't gold)
You only know what you see
(And now that I've arrived, I see those truths unfold before my eyes in this world so cold)
You don't understand what it takes to be me

You only know what you see
You don't understand what it takes to be me
You only know what you see
You don't understand what it takes to be me
You only know what you see
You don't understand what it takes to be me

Copyright: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Writer(s): Anthony Best, Karen L. Anderson, Shawn C. Carter, Steven A. Jordan