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1. |
Chilly
01:57
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Chilly day in Chicago
We’ve broken the planet
Flood waters flowing over the granite
Grin to a grimace
Green crack in a gremlin
At least something is hitting
But that’s well tapped a reservoir
I take the position
1st or third, pinch hitting
Pitch in a pinch
Knuckleballs in the dirt
Looking ultra rich
Super fat, plush and deluxe
Triple plays in the field got me feeling a rush
Like…
I’ve never known
I’ve never known
I’ve never felt before
Know what I love
Know what I don’t love
What’s bringing me up
What’s breaking me down
Stopped looking over my shoulder
If it’s coming, it’s coming
I’m doubling down
Until it’s taking me under
Tough to call it
When most of life’s problems absolved
Because of what’s in your pockets
Not potential or promise
Making bank
Making folly out of trauma
Who knew back bones could break from a comma?
Like…
I’ve always known
I’ve always known
It shouldn’t be like before
While we still got a choice
Just kidding we don’t
If I lose my voice
I’ll either die or float
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2. |
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(Rich Jones)
Would you like to try the tuna melt I left in the car?
I’m parked a block away
Hey, it ain’t that far
Ya say you’re hungry
Ya say you’re hungry
Well let’s see how hungry you are
(Davis the Dorchester Bully)
Oh shoot, the devil's loose
Chasin' me down with some blue racks and a golden noose
Pick of the litter, Dirty D the golden goose
The moorish oompa loop
Singing death praises to you Verruca salts, Augustus Gloops
Charizma like apple juice
break
What’s really at stake?
One word from my lips
Cracked a seal from the good book and made the ground quake
So I use these words sparingly
Why study what comes naturally?
Style ain’t native shit processed like hot lye and potatoes
Does you’re gaze go towards your naval?
Or to the stars like Galileo?
I’m good at these games, i’m kin to Kaiba Seto
But still asking the questions
Like why do magical negroes still need white saviors?
I guess it’s all labor
Whether out of love or a venomous nature
Shit
I don't know
I don't know
(RJ)
Always fought with lovers
Never been a puncher no
But I heard some chatter lately
From some jokers
And they think they got my number
Don’t put Jonesy in a corner
Cause I’ll bounce you off the bumper
Sons of Bumpus’
Ain’t no nemesis’s
Cool summer
I feel followed
Trying to spot my hunters
Accomplices accomplishing nada
Nunca, light showers
Heavy sleepage,
Life was messy
Where I left it
Uncompleted
Complicated
I receded
They applauded
So I take it
That by leaving
Now they’re wanting
Absences and fondness
A correlative study
Of the path from total strangers to drinking buddies
Wet kisses, feeling buzzy
Jet tickets around the country
It all felt so deep
Wondering how do I sleep?
Physical labor and weed
But for what or for whom?
Do I let consume
My moments of ecstasy
My to A to Z, 5 days a week
123 say with me
This is bullshit
I ain’t playing
And I quit + I leave
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3. |
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Talk to the hand, don’t talk to the man
He’s got other plans
Talk to the hand, don’t talk to the man
He’s got other plans
(Rich Jones)
I Take a cool sip of water
floating on the surface
Refresh
Break down
Reset
Sweat big
Recess
Stack big
Tetris
Roll nice
Yahtzee!
Yahtzee!
Yahtzee!
Yahtzee!
At your own peril
Moved past caring if I’m being transparent
And the path is feeling narrow
Squeezed
Time, space, love + money trees
Check please
Turning at the cemetery for my pet peeves
Leaving things dead and buried
Birds getting drunk off juniper berries
I’m feeling baby jealous
Selfish
Seldom
Second helpings of the pile on
3-2-1, pull the fire alarm
Rainy exits
In search of a nexus
The truth is out there and it’s ambidextrous
Talk to the hand, don’t talk to the man
He’s got other plans
Talk to the hand, don’t talk to the man
He’s got other plans
(Joshua Virtue)
Funny how life is mad expensive
Yet the violence free
Headless n*ggas waddle down the street, reminds me of me
Too upset to go to bed and then too tired to sleep
Too hungry to hit the blunt and then I’m to high to eat
These days bishop or rook look the wrong way, get your shit took
Big whoop
Normalized it cause have to adapt, just like when I started rapping,
When my rapping was whack
Little bean was all it take to bring the giant down
And planet earth was 25k miles around till dial up dialed it down
But fuck it
What’s another hundred trillion transistors?
You ain’t getting off that phone without your hand blistered
Like was it worth it? Perks, earnings, World burning
Was it worth it? They mutter curses and sing to you in cursive
A wizard is the universe’s servant not it’s master
These n*ggas had it backwards
We thought that OxyContin was the magic word, the password,
Nothing ever made me feel like that
Nibble on the darkness hard enough it will bite back
Let the cauldron brew im sipping black soup
Necklace dangling with my dead cats tooth
Truth
The bones will act as proof
This one’s for you
Talk to the hand, don’t talk to the man
He’s got other plans
Talk to the hand, don’t talk to the man
He’s got other plans
(IL. Subliminal)
Gumshoe gung fu
Swine flu mooshoo
Dumb smooth fly tooth
Hung to time booth
Phantom toll atom stole
Matador actin swole
In Madripor
Landau, Luckman, and Lake
Asshole stuck in the cake.
Clams be fuckin the bake
Royal Casino,
Don’t seem so evil
When the dead walk awake
Hold my phone people,
I’m goin to take
My bitter time
Spit a rhyme in the grime
Get in line for the brine
Vinegar state
I’m bout to swim on a date
More like the whirlpool
Sittin’ in wit you’re girl fool
Adrenaline, make the curls drool
Like activator,
Lost in Grenada.
I’ll be you’re waiter
Hand grenade salad toss
Olympic game stake
For the name sake
A month later,
Have you lost
Pressin License plates.
Not the nicest fate, Boss
Dumb haters
Wonderin how much sense my
Artistic license makes
awww
Scratch the crossfader
I dont need rap for my
Dough to bake
But you gon need a nap
For this tag,
Yo toe gon take
What a strange spell to fate
What dreams may sell?
Poor Eurich knew too well
The hell he couldn’t escape from
Hamlet head ass n*gga
dont be actin fake dumb
What did the face say to the
Palm, fingers and thumb?
Hamlet head ass n*gga
dont be actin fake dumb
What did the face say to the
Palm, fingers and thumb?
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4. |
Speed Bump
01:41
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Better get out your own way
They cried as they passed
I thought to myself
Why? It was the end anyway
Better to leave on my own
That’s a choice for another day
A choice for a holiday
Better get on my own time
as my life passed
If I don’t get that
What was the point anyway?
Speed bump ahead
SPEED BUMP AHEAD
High hopes
Met with low bars
High hopes
Speed bump ahead
SPEED BUMP AHEAD
Was on a mission for a minute
Something was missing
Unidentified objects of desire
Detected but uninspected
Expectant
Imminence
Diminishing
By the 2nd
Denial
Put me on trial for my enthusiasms
While others get off on hurting people
And get off anyway
Almost like rules don’t apply
Naive
Since Eve
Someone’s always holding something up their
sleeve
Speed bump ahead
SPEED BUMP AHEAD
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5. |
Life Goes On
02:48
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6. |
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What do you got?
When you strip away
The lies you've told yourself to stay warm
Lies passed on from others
To keep one foot in front of the other
Yes, it's dark but you're not alone
(Rich Jones)
Watching the world pass by
My favorite pastime
I was going places once
I could show you how to run away
But I really hope you like yourself
Keeping my head down
There's no lifelines
We were going places once
But what's the point in running now?
What's the point in running now?
(Yomí)
The souls of my shoes
Have run down to the ground
Let’s go on the skin of our toes
Whatever it takes just to go
The souls of my shoes
Have run down to the ground
Let’s go on the skin of our toes
Whatever it takes just to go
(Curly Castro)
Most people want a third Eye,
I wanna Third Tongue
Speak the unspoken we lost once the
Earth’s Dun.
Wakandan Old Testament God
Ba’ath with Raw Papes
The one who remains
Rach Summers with the Scarface
Excaliber cut Blunts, the wound
Heals,
Last audible for Flame, I quote
Some Bob Seal
My Flannel can handle three Hollows,
from Bishop’s power trip
Fortified Live, stole the Jumper from
my man’z Steel
Lost my Dad’s Reel to Reel to a
Black Widow Rant,
or a Shadow Cabinet, you can deal,
Cuz I can’t.
Journalist Gonzo, Hunter S. Is
Rolling up Fronto
Fake out Supreme drop, they took
My red & white Tonsils
Underground Rails, cocaine,
Provided by Chapo
Burnt my nose at both Ends
And got the power of Grayskull
Spelled-out Skeletor with Black
Phillip Staff
Black folks swear (that) they ain’t good,
But I’ll do the Math.
(Semiratruth)
Feet running
Feet running
They scared of me like I wear a pumpkin
Hoes cover cracks in the story
String line long cause I'm clueless
The blues cover ruthless
Mad cause I'm misunderstood
Missing tooth is
The truth is
The soil match the soul
Growing words out my lymph nodes
Creepy how it dissects
I've gotta digest it all
Appalled by the black light
Be back by 9 or so
I'ma go til the wheels fall off
A dirt road
Tell me where the peace lost
Many see
Only few wanna face off
Sweaty face cloth
(sweaty face, sweaty face cloth)
What do you got?
When you strip away
The lies you've told yourself to stay warm
Lies passed on from others
To keep one foot in front of the other
Yes, it's dark but you're not alone
What do you got?
When you strip away
The lies you've told yourself to stay warm
Lies passed on from others
To keep one foot in front of the other
Yes, it's dark but you're not alone
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7. |
Dream Life
02:35
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A sunny beach
A place I’ve never been before
Season’s done
And everywhere is closed
A sandy walk
My friend’s pointing out the boats off shore
He’ll paint em nice
One day I’m sure
Those winding roads
Misty from a little rain
(a little rain)
No danger felt at all,
(at all)
I’m with friends after all
Cigarettes
2nd hand, I take it in
A chapter’s getting closed
Goes unsaid but not unknown
Of all the truths
Those dollars looking mighty short
But for the memories
I'd say it's well spent
Take me back please
Take me back please
Take me back please
Take me back please
Take me back please
Take me back please
To my dream life
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8. |
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(Rich Jones)
Big goals
Been froze in the red zone
(Convertible Ashley)
Gotta stay woke
Like Donald Glover on "Red Bone"
(RJ)
2 choices,
1, 2,
Yes, no
(CA)
Best flow since the West Coast
Gave us Death Row
(RJ)
Peaks and valleys
Camouflaged by weed smoke
(CA)
Blunted off of three tokes
Find myself on Pico
(RJ)
600 Paid and I'm walking away
(CA)
Then I exit off the stage like there's nothing left to say
Like there's nothing left to make
When both of our verses laid
(RJ)
Squeaky wheel gets the fade
Then I hit the buffet
(CA)
My plate consists of the whole fucking tray
Oh what a day
(RJ)
Sauces, dips
Fried, broiled and baked
600 paid and I'm walking away
With at least a half thing
And a little bit of trade
Yeah, uh huh
Ok, damn
Talk your shit
Ok, yeah
Lemonade in the lobby
I think I need some new hobbies
(CA)
Sativa hit my body
(RJ)
Not a damn thing could drop me
I'm feeling it man
(CA)
Got em shaking like a Spirit Airplane when it lands
(RJ)
600 paid and I'm walking away
(CA)
Like I tripped walking down the street
And hope nobody peep
They running in the rat race
That's infinitely steep
I'ma sip this tea
And say a prayer for you before I sleep
Yeah, uh huh
Ok what
Talk your shit
Ok, damn
(Together)
600 paid and I'm walking away
600 paid and I'm walking away
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9. |
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They got a gun to your head?
You try turning yourself off and on again?
Off and on again
Awful lot grin for something so grim
If nothing else
I control my expressions
Got a hand in your pocket?
Try turning yourself off and on again?
Maybe then they’ll stop it
But that’s as likely as a goal in stoppage
If nothing else
I control my ascension in
Ha
Energy’s low wattage
Back doors no red carpets
Neutral parties still a target
Victor’s + marks
No martyrs
In this caper
Look sharp
I’ll explain later
Pop tart sweet
For sweeps week
Weak kneed
We need
We want more
Inside the fricassee
Gumbos dumbo
I dunno man
Make it jumbo
I’m trying to switch back on, yeah
Hit power 2-3 times
And all I’m seeing is blinking lights
Trying to switch back on, yeah
And all I’m seeing is blinking lights
They got a gun to my head
Deer hunter shit
Russian roulette
Coq au vin at dawn
It’s last crumbs
Game set
Paths of glory
Yo, all hollow
They yelled mahalo
Then tried to give me a halo
Bouncing slugs off my flower wreath
Limousines loaded with baby chocolate Heath
Counted my chickens too early
Like LeBron when he joined the Heat
82 games plus a post season B
Whiskey in the beer was a potion for me
Until my guts too hurt
Acting way too sure
About the route that I’m lured
What’s the allure
When your most secure
In a state too blurred
To recall the words
That you’re sharing with a person
That you swear is your family
4:30 am everybody’s rambling
Scrambling for last dances
With melted ice
When you turn me back on again
Better leave me wiped
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10. |
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(Rich Jones)
Do what I gotta just to cross the finish line
What then?
Do what I gotta just to cross the finish line
What then?
Party time
Party time
Party time
Thought it was given that I’d see next summer
The way we disappear
I’m starting to wonder
What’s around every corner
Got my neck feeling sore
From looking over my shoulder
On the way to the store
What for, what for
I don’t wanna guess
Dirty butter or they didn’t like the smell of my breath
I’d just heard they’d sent for me
Shit
Fade in
I’m faded for the 3000th day
Mr. 3000, trading card
Hall of Fame
Party time
What you got inside that paper plane?
Stupid question
Stupid dank
Like it was grown in the depths
Of oceans,
Go + see it, need a scuba tank
Or a submarine
Suicide missions,
Might as well stay serene
A living version
Of the “Everything’s fine” meme
(Defcee)
C-note boat to a cocaine paradise.
Richard Pryor Fahrenheit.
Minks keep the Farrahs right
Are those spinnin mirrors or thinnin ice?
Winkin lights
shinin like Christ upon righteousness and sin alike
White lines, double yellows, and wide lanes
Fine blades
Ichabod Crainin the Pai Meis
Village torches burn in glass
Late bloomers learnin fast
For history to repeat, you gotta earn the past
Ask for more
Gasp as the body parties crash
The floor.
Gold confetti, tag the toe
First to try, always last to know
The clinic reattached your nose
The devil stole it
Hard to grow away from stems with your petals folded,
And the vials in the concrete are never roses.
High off your own supplier
Bounced from Studio 54 by the other Michael Myers
A backstage eight ball is your ticket for showtime,
Meanwhile you’re up shit's creek, swimming in low tide
Goldmine of cosigns tried to make you go to rehab,
And you sure did, insides like a rope bridge.
Change gon come, and here you are ten years later,
Still waiting on that solstice.
Least you got no kids,
just a lease on a garden apartment you ain't lived in since '06
So much money
So much space
So much time
So little grace
You and your discipline are going at it like middleweights.
Sayin sorry, on step 9, with a twitchy face.
Smoking cigarettes tryna write songs
Outside the studio in your Impala
While everybody inside is rolling up ganja,
You’re calling up your sponsor
Your biggest enemy's nostalgia.
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11. |
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(Rich Jones)
Some day is here and I’m letting it
Weigh me down
But what’s new
It’s a life of etc’s
Whatever’s ahead of us
Whatever’s ahead of us
It doesn’t seem friendly
It doesn’t seem merciful,
It doesn’t seem friendly
It doesn’t seem merciful,
I wanna be friends so
Please be kind, be kind
(Lord Cartel)
So no need to even the score
Came in at 16,
But my demeanor said more
There's a flood
Give FEMA a call
Reality checks
Get kicked to the chest
Like Kareem Abdul Jabar
Even some more
I just hope I get my point across
Cuz when they looking for the real
They ain't never point at y’all
How you fake & comfortable up in ya own skin?
You feeling lucky give that coin a toss
Yeah
I Light the sage
So I don’t rage
Keep the gremlins in the cage
And we smudging all the hate
Smoked gouda & some grapes
I can’t front I’m feeling great
And she surely fill my plate
Can’t feed my ego
Oh no man that tends to sky scrapes
(RJ)
Be kind
Be kind
All my thrills are free
If I just let it be
Too many on the mind
Get a rest in peace
Relief fleeting
That’s a recipe
For a lost month or 3
Damn dude
I’m zooted
A pollution or a curing of my choosing
The conclusion
Inconclusive
Let’s just say I hope I know what I’m doing
It don’t just be glory or ruins
As the options
Mediocrity comes for all
No matter the size of the star
And I’m just trying to stall
Feels like I’m falling through time
I'm at once at the front and behind the ball
Working my way through
Peace be with you
Show kindness to all
Show kindness to all
Write down who you are
Because of what you might do,
They may not be so kind
So kind
So kind
So kind
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12. |
There Are 2 Of You
03:13
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13. |
See You All The Time
02:42
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Who here among us
Is getting out alive?
I seen the top of your head
And the bottom of your hide
Where you running?
I’ll hitch that ride
So nice to see you
When I see you
All the time
Heading out tomorrow
Catching a ride
I’m going down to New Orleans
Taking Lake Shore Drive
I give a wave
And a kiss goodbye
So nice to see you
When I see you
All the time
So nice to see you
When I see you
All the time
Keeping my head down
A buck 65
Weight I was hitting at
But I had to climb
You see in this life
Keep it close to the hip
So good to see you
When I see you all the time
I need my moments
To get my grip
Got a bag of dope
And I’ll roll all of it
Empty bottles
I’ll pour out for you
So nice to see you
When I see you
All the time
So nice to see you
When I see you
All the time
So nice to see you
When I see you
All the time
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Rich Jones Chicago, Illinois
Rich Jones is a prolific Chicago artist, community figure, and veteran of the cultural scene. Known for his versatile and evolving style, his latest album How do you sleep at night? finds him returning to his Hip Hop roots as he tackles class complacency, complicity under American authoritarianism and the value of human life vs. what’s profitable. ... more
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