Outside

I used to dream every night, now I never dream at all

I'm hopin' that it's cause I'm livin' everything I want

I used to wake up in a bed between my mom and aunt

Playing with this Land Before Time toy from Pizza Hut

My dad works nights, putting on a stone face

He's saving up so we can get our own place

In the projects, man that sounds fancy to me

They called me fat nose, my mom say you handsome to me

Mrs. Glover ma'am, your son is so advanced

But he's acting up in class and keeps peeing in his pants

And I just wanna fit in, but nobody was helping me out

They talking hood **** and I ain't know what that was about

Cause hood **** and black **** is super different

So I'm talking hood **** and cool it now like New Edition

Mom and dad wouldn't listen

They left the Bronx so I wouldn't be that

All their friends in NY deal crack

It's weird, you think that they'd be proud of 'em

But when you leave the hood they think that you look down on 'em

The truth is we still struggle on a different plane

7 dollars an hour, WIC vouchers, it's all the same

Facebook messaging hopin' that could patch up ****

But all they get now is,

"Can your son read this script?"

There's a world we can visit if we go outside

Outside, outside

We can follow the road

There's a world we can visit if we go outside

Outside, outside

No one knows

There's a world we can visit if we go outside

Outside, outside

We can follow the road

There's a world we can visit if we go outside

Outside, outside

No one knows

Yeah

Dad lost his job, mama worked at Mrs. Winner's

Gun pulled in her face, she still made dinner

“Donald watch the meter so they don’t turn the lights off"

Workin' two jobs so I can get into that white school

And I hate it there

They all make fun of my clothes and wanna touch my hair

And my uncle on that stuff that got my grandma shook

Drug dealers roughed him up and stole his address book

He’s supposed to pay ‘em back

He owe 'em money but his bank account is zero

So my momma made us sleep with Phillips heads under the pillow

Like that would do somethin'

But she’s got six kids, she’s gotta do somethin'

She don’t want me in a lifestyle like my cousin

And he mad cause his father ain’t around

He lookin’ at me now, like

"Why you so ****** lucky? I had a father too

But he ain’t around so I'mma take it out on you"

We used to say "I love you," now we only think that ****

It feels weird that you’re the person I took sink baths with

Street took you over, I want my cousin back

The world sayin' what you are because you’re young and black

Don’t believe ‘em

You’re still that kid who kept the older boys from teasin'

For some reason

There's a world we can visit if we go outside

Outside, outside

We can follow the road

There's a world we can visit if we go outside

Outside, outside

No one knows

There's a world we can visit if we go outside

Outside, outside

We can follow the road

There's a world we can visit if we go outside

Outside, outside

No one knows

Can you hear me now?

Can you hear me now?

Oh, help us Lord

Oh, baby baby baby