Word Is Bond - Khantrast

This some shit I just need to vocalize

Arguments with the family, we scream until our vocals fry

Used to get jealous whenever one of my friends would get showered in compliments by they parents

Used to wish they were mine

Not to say I’m not grateful for what my family provided

But at times I was wishing I had more gentle guidance

And not to be called a pussy just ‘cause I envied kindness’

Or be made a social pariah ‘cause I enjoy the silence

My fondest memories clouded by ambiguity

‘Cause most of them moments that I had cherished had felt bittersweet

You would have thought that some progress would earn some trust in me

But it seems I’m still fighting so they could hear me speak

Asian traditions telling me to respect the fam

But at what cost? Should I continue to neglect the chance

To vocalize my feelings and feeling inadequate?

I grabbed a pen so I could vent and show ‘em all how much this rapping shit had mean to me

How much it really saved my soul and helped me and keep the peace

How painting pictures with these flows, I was healed with ink

How strong I felt when on the stage with my first sixteens

Felt like I be super powered-up, nothing could damage me

So thank God for the Joey Bads

The capital steezs, underachieversand and A$APs

The Earl Sweats, Team BackPacks and Miller Macs

Vinny Stape, K-Dot had me thinking the West was back

Schoolboy was chilling in school; boy, was my brodie smacked

Bumpin’ Pro Era, I felt fly, like “Where CJ at?”

Doomsday coming, I hear ‘em yelling in all caps

Still remember when Logic bodied that Under Pressure track

Even Lil B had me shook with them exhibit raps

Even had an edgier era, was spinnin’ Hopsin back

The way I freestyle, you would have thought I brought Mamba back

‘Cause I was getting hungrier every year when I wasn’t rapping

I was tryna see how to put the game in a body cast

And take ‘em out if anybody want to try me out

Then I’ma walk ‘em down and show they asses where the coffin at

Like, just to show them I could rap

Like, yeah, just to show them I could rap

Like, yeah, just to show them I could rap

‘Cause all the things, the diamond, the gold rings

I’m good off all of that if I could show them how to rap

Look, I’m tryna build me a milli to get my brothers up

‘Cause some of them don’t know about a feeling of when the Sun is up

Some of them been in survival state since they was young

And I just wanna build a world where my peoples don’t need to care about none

I got a homie whose mind is sharp and they grindin’ hard

But when you from the P’s, it’s hard just tryna find a start

One of my guys lost his pops and had to go to work the day right after

Back to the same routine, living life reversed

Don’t got the time to be processing any of the pain

Numb the pain just to pass the days off minimum wage

A numbing cycle, he waking up just to end the day

In the same place he woke up in, and shit don’t change

I thank God one of my guys made it out the mud

I pray his company earn him a million in funds

One of my guys gettin’ extorted by his landlord

I wish I had a crib, I could swing them to keep them up above

I’m always movin’ with love in my heart

Strength in my steps, never waver, I never forget

For those I cherish, you should know, I’m forever in debt

Within my soul, I’m a rap ‘til we can all take a breath

‘Til we can all eat together

‘Til we can all take that flight out to Japan, like we said, without all the pitfalls of life

‘Til we can feast without stressing ‘bout what we eatin’ at night

But ‘til then, I’ll be grinding until we all eatin’ right (Yeah, alright)

So when the party dies, I’m hoping I still got time

To build me a legacy, and my name be immortalized

I’m hoping my circle flourish, no stressing pennies or dimes

I pray my brothers succeed with businesses multiplied

I pray one day I could look at my pops and tell them I love him

Despite the fact that I’ve never embraced him or vocalized it

I’m hoping my mom retires, she overdue for vacation

The trauma that she been through, she be the toughest one alive

To my sisters and my cousins, I’m grateful for they support

Even though affection is a luxury we can’t afford

But despite all of the clowning and joking and back and forth

I wouldn’t change it for a thing; they still my family, of course

This the life I been living, keep it true to a T

I wasn’t capping when I said I’ll move my guys out the P’s

Think I’m acting when it’s culture, it’s the reason I breathe

So when I say that these my brothers, that’s the shit that I mean

Word is bond