Gold Blooded

Intro: Kendrick Lamar

Look—

Everybody wanna sit at the throne table…

Nobody wanna carry the weight of the crown though…

Verse 1: Kendrick Lamar

My city raised me on survival and sirens,

Corner store wisdom and crooked horizons,

Mama said “watch these rappers idolizin’ violence,”

Then the radio turned pain into a genre assignment.

I seen fame turn friends into accountants,

Everybody countin’ favors and balances,

Niggas throw soul in the air for a challenge,

Then wonder why the house feel haunted after the banquet.

Look—

I walk through the industry barefoot,

Glass on the floor, blood on the damn foot,

Still kept movin’, God gave rhythm to the anguish,

Jazz in my pulse, rage in the language.

Every handshake got a hidden agenda,

Every “legend” got skeletons in the dresser,

But I still write scripture for the restless,

Young black America screamin’ through compressors.

Hook: Jay-Z

Yeah—

Money make the room colder,

Success just made the view broader,

Everybody love you when the jets land,

Harder find truth when the checks clear.

Still we rise from the floorboards,

Projects to the penthouse corridors,

Tryna keep our soul through the long wars—

Gold blooded.

Verse 2: Jay-Z

Uh—

I came from the hallway smell of piss water,

Now it’s boardrooms and mixed orders,

Still keep Marcy in the posture,

Can’t erase hunger when success spoil you proper.

Y’all buy chains, I bought the masters,

Different goals when you think past rappin’,

Everybody scream “culture” till ownership matter,

Then the room go quiet like a church after caskets.

Look—

Hov built lanes they ain’t notice yet,

Took pain public then invested it,

I made blueprints off bad circumstances,

Now my daughter growin’ up where the hills got fountains.

But don’t confuse wealth with peace,

Some nights the silence louder than the speech,

Rich nigga blues still blues to me,

Just better wallpaper when the wounds still bleed.

Bridge: Kendrick Lamar & Jay-Z

KENDRICK

Power got a scent to it…

JAY-Z

Smell like expensive liquor and paranoia…

KENDRICK

Niggas lose they soul tryna hold the door open…

JAY-Z

Whole room full of wolves wearin’ tuxedos.

KENDRICK

Damn.

Verse 3: Kendrick Lamar & Jay-Z

KENDRICK

Tell me what success mean when the spirit bankrupt?

When your own reflection start feelin’ like a stranger?

JAY-Z

That’s why I move careful with the language,

One bad decision turn kings into dangers.

KENDRICK

I still hear Compton in my cadence,

Gunshots hidden inside the bass kicks.

JAY-Z

I still hear Brooklyn in the train brakes,

Concrete ambition and champagne fragrances.

KENDRICK

We made art from survival instincts.