[Intro: JAY-Z & Stevie Wonder] ~#**************#~ Good morn or evening, friends ~#**************#~ Smile, you recordin? ~#**************#~ [Verse 1: JAY-Z] ~#**************#~ Slammin Bentley doors like we invented doors ~#**************#~ 20 years ago we drove Bentley Azures ~#**************#~ We drinkin Cristal then ~#**************#~ Yeah, kept the tray on me like Chris Paul then ~#**************#~ Drinkin Ace of Spades like its codeine now ~#**************#~ Tryna put a million on the whole team now ~#**************#~ Push through the pain so we can see new life ~#**************#~ So all the ladies havin babies, see ya sacrifice ~#**************#~ Mama had four kids, but shes a lesbian ~#**************#~ Had to pretend so long that shes a thespian ~#**************#~ Had to hide in the closet, so she medicate ~#**************#~ Society shame and the pain was too much to take ~#**************#~ Cried tears of joy when you fell in love ~#**************#~ Dont matter to me if its a him or her ~#**************#~ I just wanna see you smile through all the hate ~#**************#~ Marie Antoinette, baby, let em eat cake ~#**************#~ [Chorus: JAY-Z & Stevie Wonder] ~#**************#~ Bad times turn to good memories, smile ~#**************#~ Even when Im gone and you remember me, smile ~#**************#~ Good times never fade away, smile ~#**************#~ Even if Im not with you here today, smile ~#**************#~ Good morn or evening, friends ~#**************#~ Smile ~#**************#~ Heres your friendly announcer ~#**************#~ Smile ~#**************#~ [Verse 2: JAY-Z] ~#**************#~ Far as draft picks, my name did not get called ~#**************#~ Bet before I go I put a billion on the board ~#**************#~ Hall of Fame Hov, I did it all without a pen ~#**************#~ Yall knew that was comin, I had to remind yall again, huh? ~#**************#~ Flyin paper planes through the projects ~#**************#~ Now the whole projects on my jet ~#**************#~ Now you see the real in the front row ~#**************#~ In every one of yall televised shows ~#**************#~ Super facts ~#**************#~ Niggas switched sides, traded pride, we dont do all that ~#**************#~ A loss aint a loss, its a lesson ~#**************#~ Appreciate the pain, it’s a blessin ~#**************#~ [Chorus: JAY-Z & Stevie Wonder] ~#**************#~ Bad times turn to good memories, smile ~#**************#~ Even when Im gone and you remember me, smile ~#**************#~ Good times never fade away, smile ~#**************#~ Even if Im not with you here today, smile ~#**************#~ Good morn or evening, friends ~#**************#~ [Verse 3: JAY-Z] ~#**************#~ I mastered my aesthetics ~#**************#~ I know you often heard me wax poetic bout bein back in the Lexus ~#**************#~ But trust me, that was nothin ~#**************#~ A nigga up in the hundreds of millions, I have no ceilings ~#**************#~ Ah, this that feelin, Im that boy ~#**************#~ Anita Bakers “You Bring Me Joy” slappin out of the toy ~#**************#~ The separation is clear ~#**************#~ In my rear-view mirror objects is further than they appear ~#**************#~ Oh yeah, I was born with a pair, playin for high stakes ~#**************#~ Normans Cay, he looked up and out of the Lear ~#**************#~ How niggas cant relate? ~#**************#~ Fuck a slice of the apple pie, want my own cake ~#**************#~ In charge of my own fate, respect Jimmy Iovine ~#**************#~ But he gotta respect the Elohim as a whole new regime ~#**************#~ And niggas playin for power, huh ~#**************#~ So our music is ours, niggas own their own houses ~#**************#~ Ours was, “Fuck you, pay me” ~#**************#~ Now its, “Fuck payin me, I pay you ~#**************#~ Put the rest away for Blue” ~#**************#~ That blood money I giggle at it ~#**************#~ Cant even support my miss habit ~#**************#~ Jewelry shoppin in Pa- all ya jewelers should be embarrassed ~#**************#~ Huh, blood diamonds drippin with guilt, I still aint trippin ~#**************#~ Thats life, winners and losers ~#**************#~ Drug dealers and abusers, America like me ruthless ~#**************#~ My therapist said I relapsed ~#**************#~ I said, “Pre-haps I Freudian slipped in European whips” ~#**************#~ God sent me to break the chain, Im the true and livin ~#**************#~ God in the flesh, the rest of these niggas is vain ~#**************#~ A stain on the white suit, inferior IQ ~#**************#~ Niggasll rip your shit off TIDAL just to spite you ~#**************#~ Ahhhh, what did I do? ‘Cept try to free you ~#**************#~ Niggasll love you but hate you cause they cant be you ~#**************#~ Dump em all in the bayou, uh ~#**************#~ Everybody wave bye to the guy you thought you could lie to ~#**************#~ This was meant to be a haiku, huh ~#**************#~ But my storys too wide to fit inside a line or two ~#**************#~ Oh, these that drugs, heron flow ~#**************#~ I spaz on the stove, this is Hov, no flex zone ~#**************#~ Nigga, who lied to you? ~#**************#~ Look, youre a pedestrian, dont ever question the security I provided you ~#**************#~ Oh yall thought I was washed? Im at the cleaners ~#**************#~ Launderin dirty money like the Teamsters, huh ~#**************#~ Shout out to Hoffa back home, he in the church ~#**************#~ When I heard you got booked, that shit hurt ~#**************#~ Feel for you bro, we know the system dont work ~#**************#~ Take a young nigga freedom over some dirt ~#**************#~ Yet its legal in Colorado, yet, we deny ~#**************#~ Black entrepreneurs, free enterprise ~#**************#~ Thats why its a black market, thats why its called the trap ~#**************#~ Thats why its called the projects cause its exactly that ~#**************#~ All these people was gon kill me, heh ~#**************#~ ‘Cause the more I reveal me, the more they ‘fraid of the real me ~#**************#~ Welcome back Carter, smile ~#**************#~ [Outro: Gloria Carter] ~#**************#~ Living in the shadow ~#**************#~ Can you imagine what kind of life it is to live? ~#**************#~ In the shadows people see you as happy and free ~#**************#~ Because thats what you want them to see ~#**************#~ Living two lives, happy, but not free ~#**************#~ You live in the shadows for fear of someone hurting your family or the person you love ~#**************#~ The world is changing and they say its time to be free ~#**************#~ But you live with the fear of just being me ~#**************#~ Living in the shadow feels like the safe place to be ~#**************#~ No harm for them, no harm for me ~#**************#~ But life is short, and its time to be free ~#**************#~ Love who you love, because life isnt guaranteed ~#**************#~ Smile