[Intro] Ladies and gentlemen Second Thoughts on the beat (And you know how I feel) Big up to Lace Cadence Good lookin' out for this one, man Verse 1: I love hip hop music I just hate the ego The politics that follow it Getting caught in it can be lethal See I love the community Cause a community will embrace you But you turn it back the community is the people that will hate you See everybody's striving for that same shit To get paid and make it And I'll be honest, I'm trying to become famous When someone makes a move Watch that person next to you Cause I'll warn ya I love Hova but jealousy's The Takeover Here come the mean mugs "I can't do what he does" And where does that lead us? To the ego that feeds us I wish that I could just do what I do But when a door opens for him I'm afraid there won't be enough room Comparison's a mother fucker Like MLK said "We all want that band leader syndrome and it won't stop" This concept makes me wonder Is it the commodity of the music or the ego that is killing hip hop? (And you know how I feel) [Hook] It's the ego That makes me not give respect in dap It's the ego That makes me talk shit behind people's back You know that it's the ego That's constantly polluting my consciousness So ingrained in my brain that I can barely even acknowledge it It's the ego That makes the present moment jet lagged I said it's the ego That has me trippin about the next man You know that it's the ego That makes me not go to the front Of the show cause the performers have exactly what I want [Verse 2] "I'm so cool" For real? You know dude, I'm serious spit it different and if you just flow too I'll listen lookin' for glitches and rip 'em to shove improve That my rhythm's a little bit more intricate, just to boost My ego Is so evil Threatened by so many different kinds of people It seems that if you're going through somethin' and life is feeling uncomfortable The immediate place you go is to your ego to comfort you When Boom Bap got signed I hated on him When Grayskul got signed I hated Onry And that's hard to admit But since I'm really being honest I wanted to be one of the first to make it as a Northwest rap artist Instead of taking it as a plus for my region I took it as a cut to my dreams of makin' it out of this political scene of Northwest haters to be next I guess I'm just like them Jealous of who's taking that step [Hook] [Verse 3] Now everybody got one but people trying to front Claiming that they on the humble but cocky Now it comes up when we judge Or are threatened by someone But everyone still be like "man that's not me" Now let me break it down son It's only a lack of love for ourselves Cause we're submerged in "I gotta be" The best or number one But it's just that we don't trust In our heart and that's what stops me It's the ego