DUCKWORTH. Lyrics - Kendrick Lamar

1 It was always me versus the world

2 Until I found it's me versus me

3 Why, why, why, why?

4 Why, why, why, why?

5 Just remember, what happens on Earth stays on Earth!

6 We gon' put it in reverse

7 Darling, I told you many times

8 And I am telling you once again

9 Just to remind you, sweetheart, that my—

10 Oh Lamar, Hail Mary and marijuana, times is hard

11 Pray with the hooligans, shadows all in the dark

12 Fellowship with demons and relatives, I'm a star

13 Life is one funny mothafucka

14 A true comedian, you gotta love him, you gotta trust him

15 I might be buggin', infomercials and no sleep

16 Introverted by my thoughts

17 Children, listen, it gets deep

18 See, once upon a time inside the Nickerson Garden projects

19 The object was to process and digest poverty's dialect

20 Adaptation inevitable: gun violence, crack spot

21 Federal policies raid buildings and drug professionals

22 Anthony was the oldest of seven

23 Well-respected, calm and collected

24 Laughin' and jokin' made life easier

25 Hard times, Momma on crack

26 A four-year-old tellin' his nanny he needed her

27 His family history: pimpin' and bangin'

28 He was meant to be dangerous

29 Clocked him a grip and start slangin'

30 Fifteen, scrapin' up his jeans with quarter pieces

31 Even got some head from a smoker last weekend

32 Dodged a policeman, workin' for his big homie

33 Small-time hustler, graduated to a brick on him

34 10,000 dollars out of a project housing, that's on the daily

35 Seen his first mil twenty years old, had a couple of babies

36 Had a couple of shooters

37 Caught a murder case, fingerprints on the gun they assumin'

38 But witnesses couldn't prove it

39 That was back when he turned his back

40 And they killed his cousin

41 He beat the case and went back to hustlin'

42 Bird-shufflin', Anthony rang

43 The first in the projects with the two-tone Mustang

44 That 5.0 thing, they say 5-0 came

45 Circlin' parking lots and parking spots

46 And hoppin' out while harrassin' the corner blocks

47 Crooked cops told Anthony he should kick it

48 He brushed them off

49 And walked back to the Kentucky Fried Chicken

50 See, at this chicken spot

51 There was a light-skinned nigga that talked a lot

52 With a curly top and a gap in his teeth

53 He worked the window, his name was Ducky

54 He came from the streets, the Robert Taylor Homes

55 Southside Projects, Chiraq, the Terror Dome

56 Drove to California with a woman on him and 500 dollars

57 They had a son, hopin' that he'd see college

58 Hustlin' on the side with a nine-to-five to freak it

59 Cadillac Seville, he'd ride his son around on weekends

60 Three-piece special with his name on the shirt pocket

61 'Cross the street from the projects

62 Anthony planned to rob it

63 Stuck up the place before, back in '84

64 That's when affiliation was really eight gears of war

65 So many relatives tellin' us, sellin' us devilish works

66 Killin' us, crime, intelligent, felonious

67 Prevalent proposition with 9's

68 Ducky was well-aware

69 They robbed the manager and shot a customer last year

70 He figured he'd get on these niggas' good sides

71 Free chicken every time Anthony posted in line

72 Two extra biscuits, Anthony liked him

73 And then let him slide; they didn't kill him

74 In fact, it look like they're the last to survive

75 Pay attention, that one decision changed both of they lives

76 One curse at a time

77 Reverse the manifest and good karma, and I'll tell you why

78 You take two strangers, and put 'em in random predicaments; give 'em a soul

79 So they can make their own choices and live with it

80 Twenty years later, them same strangers

81 You make 'em meet again

82 Inside recording studios where they reapin' their benefits

83 Then you start remindin' them about that chicken incident

84 Whoever thought the greatest rapper

85 Would be from coincidence?

86 Because if Anthony killed Ducky

87 Top Dawg could be servin' life

88 While I grew up without a father and die in a gunfight

89 So, I was takin' a walk the other day…