faith

cloud nine

kendrick lamar

uh

i take a sip of hennessy and then get pissy drunk

i ain't a drinker

i'm a thinker

call it what you want

but if you turn your back

know that you just missed your chance

to witness the realest shit that's ever been told to man

i found myself losing focus at a sunday service

embarrassed so i started questioning god

what is my purpose?

he say to live the way he did

that's all he want from me

spread the word and witness

he rose on the first sunday

i said alright

enthused that my lord gave a listen

i opened my bible and searched to be a better christian

and this from a person that never believed in religion

but shit

my life is so fucked up man

i can't help but give in

i'm giving testimonies to strangers i never met

hopped on the pulpit and told 'em how i was truly blessed

felt like i'm free from all my sins when the service was over

walked out the church

then got a call that my homie was murdered

and lost my faith again

what am i gonna do? gotta have faith

life is too much

understood? where is your faith?

oh

faaaaaaaith. all you need is the size of a mustard seed

single black parent from compton raising children of four

that's four innocent bastards

cause papa they don't know

her day consists of working back and forth with babysitters

can't find no one to watch her kids so she pay her sister

her baby daddy ain't bout shit

that nigga ain't bout shit

spent his daughter milk just to cop a new outfit

she pray to god every night hoping that he'll mature

and maybe one day his kids

something that he'll live for

baby wanna go back to school but she need some help

because it's hard tryna pay the bills when you're by yourself

she thought about credit card scams till she heard a voice

that said the devil is a lie

make a better choice

and so it's back to mcdonald's and every month dealing

with them crazy ass people at the county building

looked to the heavens and asked 'em to make a better way

then got a letter in the mail

lost her section 8

then lost her faith again

kendrick

i appreciate the opportunity to vent my nigga

this about how faith works

yeah

murk it. i had dreams of holding a nine-milla to raise killa

ask him why as my eyes fill up

each day it gets more realer

orangutans bang like gorillas

it's jungle when the niggas ensue

the rat's lurking

vulture's circling the serpents

cats lying through they teeth

my nigga didn't deserve it

i flirted with the idea of caressing the steel

to make karma come faster than she normally will

it's ill

to see my faith try and leave me

it's so hard to get it

to get rid of it is easy

i'm tryna reach cloud nine

that's what my niggas bout

but it never rain in california 'less them pistols out

until then

my feet planted on the ground

shadowboxing my conscience till my faith start responding

and if i get no answer

just know i tried

i should have never looked into his son's eyes

ray charles voice

this for my people that stressing whenever times is hard

your mind's slipping

wondering is there really a god?

knowing you shouldn't think that way and tryna freeze your brain

but whenever it's pain

that feeling forever remains

we can't believe what we can't see and reality seems stronger than prayer

cause you tried to change your life

and now you live in a wheelchair

and your son was born with cancer and he live in urgent care

at the tender age of twelve

and you feel that no one cares

searching for answers

that's human nature

you ain't in the wrong

just know

when you feeling that way his spirit's in the room

i watched people i know pray and catch the holy ghost

and wonder why i ain't never caught that feeling before

maybe they know him better

or i don't know no better

but what i do know is that he's real and he lives forever

so the next time you feel like your world's about to end

i hope you studied because he's testing your faith again

i'd rather not live like there isn't a god

than die and find out there really is

think about it