Kendrick Lamar - Prayer lyrics

I was born on February 24th, 1970
The day I was delivered
They said I would build a legacy
Picture me with influence
That last generations
I was made out of love to
Keep you happy and educated
The first three letters of
The alphabet my name
I made you laugh, I made you dance
I made you sing
I been around the world and back
You recorded my almanac
So dearly way before the fact
Me and pops was estranged
My father was a public figure
Bigger than life
Lived as a winner, on stages alike
Rivers of people surely united
Just to see our bond
Time carried on, that was a common thread


My perfect father had many flaws
Still they moved they legs and
Shook they heads in unison
He had more children, I was the oldest
We always played with each other
'fore they ruined 'em
He told me his personal secrets
Childhood catching on beatings
Sexually touched and abused
Never seen life in a school
The price of being iconic
Was demonic and screwed
I stood on stage and had to
Watch my father on the news
Stress on the head of my spirit
I was lost and confused
I knew both sides of the story, but still
I couldn't choose see, it was more than
Humiliation and bein' sued
They crucified my affiliation for
Points to prove
And now my purpose for livin'
Makes no difference to you
My total existence was for
Makin' a smiling move
They said that I'll live forever
But the moment he died
More accusations arrived i had to die too

I remember takin' my first
Breath August 28th, 1963
The whole nation had saved the day
I made it on TV
My come out was a standing ova'
The crowd in disbelief
How could a group of words be so great?
Designed to make you think
Races and faces embracin' my
Conscience in letter form
How gracious was I speakin' on
Changes once outside the norm?
The person responsible, my creator
He never conformed or used hatred
To form mass retaliation
Watch him perform with conviction
Two hundred and fifty thousand souls
Left they homes to listen
I gather his thoughts in abundance
Made to complete the mission
His life became heroic, then tables turned
My creator stripped from being a
Poet because he yearned
Other women, infidelity stricken
I can't say he was perfect
It made me nervous
They tear him down and forget me
I prayed that I survived in
The midst of the controversy
How many lives'll fall on deaf
Ears if I'm not worthy?
I won't justify his personal problems
That's not my job
I was only born to make sure
Your children can play outside
And I imagine the other demons
He hid before he died
If they came to surface
This dream probably won't be alive
Because of you

I was born in paranoia, it's poison for us
We can't create with joyous ambition
We're out of luck the critics formed a new
Coalition and huddled up
The non-creators are now elated
And out of touch
Why can't you gladly appreciate
The influence we give?
Stop starin' at me disgusted
My substance made sure you'd lived
You want the head of the messenger
And the history from him
Which eventually takes away from
The good you accustom
Think of a life without the
Likes of imagination that's prosperin'
The bodies that you consider genius
You like to box 'em in
The great debaters and thinkers
They gave you a voice
Why can't you prosecute the crimes and
Not the thoughts I employ?
Because your better judgement will always
Look down on me
But if I recollect how we connect
You'll account on me
I got a theory that most of
Y'all won't allow to see it goes like this
Talent doesn't choose morality
See, if Daniel Hale was a killer
Would you not want a heart?
If Carl Benz was a racist
Would you stop driving cars?
I can't help we jump in these bodies
And you called them a God
Just know the Earth is just a
Rock without the voices of art
Sincerely yours