DUCKWORTH. - Kendrick Lamar
Play the audio for 'DUCKWORTH.'It was always me versus the world
Until I found it's me versus me
Why, why, why, why?
Why, why, why, why?
Just remember what happens on earth stays on earth!
We gon' put it in reverse
Darling I told you many times, and I am telling you once again
Just to remind you sweetheart that my..
Oh Lamar, hail Mary a marijuana, times is hard
Pray with the hooligans, shadows all in the dark
Fellowship with demons and relatives, I'm a star
God is one funny mothafucka
The true comedian, you gotta love him, you gotta trust him
I might be buggin', infomercials and no sleep
Introverted by my thoughts
Children listen, it gets deep
See once upon a time inside the niggas in garden projects the object was to process and digest poverty's dialect
Adaptation inevitable, gun violence, crack spot
Federal policies raid buildings and drug professionals
Anthony was the oldest of seven, well respected, calm and collected
Laughin' and joking made life easier
Hard times, momma on crack, and forty oh telling his nanny he needed her
His family history pimpin' and bangin', he was meant to be dangerous
Clocked him a grip and start slangin', fifteen scrapin' up his jeans with quarter pieces
He even got some head from a smoker last weekend
Dodged a policeman workin' for his big homie
Small time hustler, graduated to a brick on him
Ten thousand dollars out of a project housing
That's on the daily, saw his first mil twenty years old
Had a couple of babies
Had a couple of shooters, caught a murder case
Fingerprints on the gun
They assumin', but witnesses couldn't prove it
That was back when they turned his back and they killed his cousin
He beat the case and went back to hustlin'
Bird shufflin', Anthony rang
The first in the projects with the two-tone Mustang
That 5.0 thing
They say 5-0 came circlin' parkin' lots and parking spots
And hoppin' out while the rats in the corner blocks
Crooked cops told Anthony he should kick it
He brushed them off and walked back to the Kentucky Fried Chicken
See at this chicken spot there was this light-skinned nigga that talked a lot
With a curly top and a gap in his teeth
He worked the window, his name was Ducky
He came from the streets the Robert Taylor Homes
Southside Projects, Chiraq, the Terror Dome
Drove to California with a woman on and 500 dollars
They had a son hoping that he'd see college
Hustlin' on the side with a nine to five to freak it
Cadillac Seville, he'd ride his son around on weekends
Three-piece special with his name on the shirt pocket
'Cross the street from the projects, Anthony planned to rob it
Stuck up the place before back in '84, that's when affiliation was really eight gears of war
So many relatives telling us, selling us devilish works
Killing us crime, intelligent, felonious, prevalent proposition with nines
Ducky was well aware, they robbed the manager and shot a customer last year
He figured he'd get on these niggas good sides, free chicken every time Anthony posted in line
Two extra biscuits, Anthony liked him and then let him slide
They didn't kill him, in fact it look like they're the last to survive
Pay attention, that one decision changed both of they lives
One curse at a time, reverse the manifest and good karma and I'll tell you why
You take two strangers and put 'em in random predicaments
Give 'em a soul so they can make their own choices and live with it
Twenty years later them strangers might make a meet again
And start recording studios where they reaping the benefits
Then they start reminding 'bout that chicken incident
Whoever thought the greatest rapper would be from coincidence
Because if Anthony killed Ducky, Top Dawg could be servin' life
While I grew up without a father and die in a gun fight
So I was taking a walk the other day..