being an independent hip hop artist has taught me more about loving without expectations than anything else

"Be the music you want to hear." - Khingz

they wonder if it's worth it
people my age say they dreams desert them
i work completely uncertain
if anyone'll feel it
just know that it is healing
and enough for me
i bleed publicly
believe love should be critical and free to go
see i don't fit into a role
that they have given me before
and won't shrink down to make em feel safe now
i flow for the same reasons that i first started
purpose won't change
i could stay uncharted
or go nuclear
and keep the same cool core
cuz i done seen a couple supernovas before
the faster they blow
they sink back in to a black hole
many don't know how to survive that road
i'm owed nothing
and neither are you
so anything we do here has gotta be mutual

when you got that spotlight on you
your gonna attract other brights lights
and moths
and energy vampires
and everything...

fame consumes humanity
but it's also temporary!

i know i'm an oddity
if you follow all of my offerings
you probably gonna see that music's not a commodity
or product to me
behind bars we feel free
and that's a contradiction in my industry
i'm operating in a system i do not believe in
authoring some stories we could leave for our children
honestly wish we all approached it different
but everybody's got a high cost of living
imagine if substance trumped all image
and we celebrated what we made
without names
if the music could touch the world
without fame
well... maybe it does in small ways
but i'm battling a mainstream machine with no face
my homies just want to get a piece of the rat race
so they could run it
and eventually end up in a cage
it's a vicious cycle as history indicates
but i don't believe what's been done is the only way

there's so many ways
to imagine and invent your life
don't let anybodies idea of success define yours
just like not all music is created equal
we might not do it for the same reasons either
be more