Renegade lyrics

Motherfuckers say that I'm foolish I only talk about jewels

Do you fools listen to music or do you just skim through it?

See I'm influenced by the ghetto you ruined

That same dude you gave nothing, I made something doing

What I do, through and through and

I give you the news with a twist, it's just his ghetto point-of-view

The renegade, you been afraid

I penetrate pop culture, bring em a lot closer to the block where they

Pop toasters and they live with they Moms

Got dropped roadsters from botched robberies, niggas crouched over

Mami's knocked up cause she wasn't watched over

Knocked down by some clown when child support knocked

No he's not around

Now how that sound to ya, jot it down

I bring it through the ghetto without riding round

Hiding down ducking strays from frustrated youths stuck in they ways

Just read a magazine that fucked up my day

How you rate music that thugs with nothing relate to it

I help them see they way through it, not you

Can't step in my pants, can't walk in my shoes

Bet everything you're worth, you'll lose your tie and your shirt

Since I'm in a position to talk to these kids and they listen

I ain't no politician but I'll kick it with em a minute

Cause, see, they call me a menace and if the shoe fits I'll wear it

But if it don't, then y'all'll swallow the truth, grin and bear it

Now who's the king of these rude, ludicrous, lucrative lyrics

Who could inherit the title, put the youth in hysterics

Using his music to steer it, sharing his views and his merits

But there's a huge interference: they're saying you shouldn't hear it

Maybe it's hatred I spew, maybe it's food for the spirit

Maybe it's beautiful music I made for you to just cherish

But I'm debated, disputed, hated and viewed in America

As a motherfuckin' drug addict, like you didn't experiment, nah nah

That's when you start to stare at who's in the mirror

And see yourself as a kid again, and you get embarrassed

And I got nothing to do but make you look stupid as parents

You fucking do-gooders, too bad you couldn't do good at marriage

And do you have any clue what I had to do to get here

I don't think you do so stay tuned and keep your ears glued to the stereo

Cause here we go, he's {*Jigga j-Jigga*}

And I'm the sinister Mr. Kiss-My-Ass, it's just the

Renegade, never been afraid to say

What's on my mind at any given time of day

Cause I'm a renegade! Never been afraid to talk

About anything, anything, anything, anything, renegade

Never been afraid to say

What's on my mind at any given time of day

Cause I'm a renegade, never been afraid to holler

About anything (etc.)

I had to hustle, my back to the wall, ashy knuckles

Pockets filled with a lot of lint, not a cent

Gotta vent, lot of innocent lives lost on the project bench

Whatchu hollering, gotta pay rent, bring dollars in

By the bodega, iron under my coat, feeling braver

Durag wrapping my waves up, pockets full of hope

Do not step to me, I'm awkward, I box lefty

An orphan my pops left me, and often, my momma wasn't home

Could not stress to me I wasn't grown, especially on nights

I brought something home to quiet the stomach rumblings

My demeanor, thirty years my senior

My childhood didn't mean much, only raising green up

Raising my fingers to critics

Raising my head to the sky B.I.G. I did it, multi before I die

No lie, just know I chose my own fate

I drove by the fork in the road and went straight

See I'm a poet to some, a regular modern-day Shakespeare

Jesus Christ, the King of these Latter-Day Saints here

To shatter the picture in which of that as they paint me as

As a monger of hate, satanist, scatter-brained atheist

But that ain't the case, see it's a matter of taste

We as a people decide if Shady's as bad as they say he is

Or is he the latter, a gateway to escape

Media scapegoat; who they can be mad at today

See it's easy as cake, simple as whistling Dixie

While I'm waving the pistol at sixty Christians against me

Go to war with the Mormons, take a bath with the Catholics

In holy water, no wonder they tried to hold me under longer

I'm a motherfucking spiteful, delightful eyeful

The new Ice Cube, motherfuckers hate to like you

What did I do, I'm just a kid from the gutter

Making this butter off these bloodsuckers

Cause I'm a muthafuckin'

• Artist:Jay-Z
• Album:The Blueprint