[Intro: Ragen]
Hold my own
[Grouch:]
I pass now and maybe have fun later
Sacrifice feeling nice the outcome's layered
Surface is so centered 'round greed I need peace
And that's a long road to travel the gravel beneath feet
Sands first severe the worst stayed near I persevere
Inside I need discipline Lower the tide
I'm drowning in sound and sight drunk off light
Dim to him and show that we unite vision
I'm all seeing who's livin' for love's sake
Thinking above great limits and tomorrow I'll win it
Today my task finish with my heart in it
Starred in it like a blockbuster's jock
Real people respect with equal effects back
Plant the seed check that then when you get back
Blend, once you've learned to be a friend
Men recognize how to speak and when
So start for yards gained next
I pass on what's stressed in the present
'Cause I'm fresh for the future
[Chorus: Ragen]
Gotta separate myself from this world
Grasp what's pure and let rest fail
Hold my own and leave time free
With sacrifice success will be
[Eligh:]
Beats made by the lips and teeth and streets
Freaks high school like non-athletes nor geeks
Cleats with the rhymes that dug deep into the beat
Made by colleagues over asphalt quite unique
In spite of a forthright notion that we were discreet
We made our presence known through poetry on the quad
Odd as it may seem daydreams start from a nod
Sweet like Pralines were reactions on the spot
From the parking lot where the narcs would catch you with a joint
To the point where you can't smoke a cigarette without the sweat
I bet if I went to class and didn't have no interest in the ass
I'd circulate my energy to the grass
Where we gathered in circles representing the revolution
Evolution of mind patterns gathering resolution
To the daily constitution of psyche to the institution
Of High School Hamilton high dues lamped in a ritual
Habitual constitution
Never bite never steal the light never hog the mike
Invisible to the sight never say lyrical and miracle
In the same rhyme at the same time (yeah, right)
Under the code at the age of fifteen like young men
In the service swerving and curving through potholes
And gutter snipes and rotweillers and bottom feeders
Spring autumn and winter from beginner to intermediate
Specialists in the winter never not a sinner but
Fond of glimmering truth on the roof with a pair of
Binoculars and one hundred and fifty-one proof
Boots that stomped through puddles of acid tabs
Flaccid laughs at the way I move when I bust my raps
At last it's my time to shine
Travel the world and make due what's mine
Never give up from the plastic bump and grind
Rhinestone reality in these shiny days of mine
It's just the sacrifices made
That got me where I need to be today
[Chorus: Ragen]
[Bicasso:]
Put me in a pot stir me up let me marinate
In the spice of life then simmer sauté
What I say and what I do make sure that smells right
And taste the love too when I'm done I'll be ready
To serve to my people the stuff that we can grow from
Knowin' what level we live we only equal to the work
That we put into our lives that's what we get out
You having these doubts well first things first
Up early in the morning feel the burning in your eyes
Make sure to keep them open wash them out and realize
That your wakin' up alive give thanks for another day
Another way to figure out just how you gonna survive
Sacrifice is key multiply what it is to be
Sprinkle in some discipline I put that on me
Keep your soul so focused thing that I bet you could see
Have it clearer than a vision quest open your chest
Dig in your heart hold your love tight it just might
Be a certain premonition that you needed in life
Through the performing intuition if you heeded it right
When you ride the wave of light certain things fall in place
It's a matter of your space and time and how you use it
I put that on mine and meditate to the music (to the music [x2])
[Chorus: Ragen]
Hold my own [x2]