The Standard

Beat Starts

Verse 1: J. Cole

The standard is the bar that I been setting since day one

every rapper in the game better know where it come from

Carolina in my chest and the chest never lie

every bar a different level and the level touching sky

built from every basement every notebook every night

every bar a different weapon and every weapon right

I been the standard since before they gave me the credit

now the culture paying full attention and I'm ready.

Every fake nigga doubting better watch the clock tick now

Jermaine from 910 and I'm done taking the vow

of silence on a culture that been settling for less

every bar I write is everything I got in my chest

the standard is the benchmark and the benchmark is mine

every rapper in the game better study every line

I been the template and the blueprint and the cold code

the standard is the story and the story being told.

Fuck the ones who said the market didn't want the real

I been the real and every bar is how I feel

past every quarterly past every label past the deal

the standard is the truth and every truth got steel

in the spine of every bar I ever wrote alone

the standard is the vision and the vision is the throne

of a culture that I built without permission or a hand

the standard is the legacy and I'm taking every stand.

Every bitch ass rapper coasting on a borrowed name

I been building from the bottom and the bottom never same

since the moment I decided I was done with the floor

the standard is the ceiling and the ceiling wanting more

of everything the craft can give before the craft is done

I been the standard and the standard only just begun

to show the culture what the pen can do when trained right

Jermaine from Carolina running every single night.

Verse 2: J. Cole

Second verse and the standard getting higher every day

every bar a different level every level showing the way

the craft been operating past the surface of the game

every rapper chasing trends better know my fucking name

cause the name been the standard since before the deal came

every bar a different fire every fire the same

hunger that was planted when the dial tone went cold

the standard is the story and the story being told.

No ceiling on the standard no ceiling on the bars right

every bar a different planet every planet burning bright

of a solar system built from hunger and the grind

the standard is the benchmark always running through my mind

every fake nigga sleeping better wake up and feel

the weight of what the standard means when standard is real

I been the standard since the basement and the standard stays

Carolina raised a king and the king know his name.

Built from every scar built from every cold and dark night

built from every version of myself I had to fight

with — the version that almost quit before the standard rose

every bar a different door and every door that closes

on the obvious — I been operating past the floor

the standard is the ceiling and the ceiling wanting more

of everything the craft got left to give to the game

the standard is Jermaine and Jermaine never ever the same.

Riding through the city with the nine millimeter seat

every rapper setting standards better come and feel the heat

of a bar that hits different when it's built from the truth

I been the standard since the first day in the booth

every level that I reach becomes the new baseline

every rapper in the culture better study every line

the standard is the vision and the vision is the throne

Jermaine from Carolina built the standard all alone.

Beat Ends