I work my fingers to the bone  My elbow grease heaps  Benefits get reaped, I keep talk to a minimum  Props are never rendered on my own  I’m my master, sellin' tapes for cash  Fuck the middle-man bastards, though  It've been faster to take that route  I'm observant, those who didn't  Thats unfortunate how it turned out  I learned early that beatin' fools is a worldly trade  Man how you gonna profit off the music that I make  C'mon now, I'll trade you for somthin' equal  But robbing artists blind isn't the way to be treatin' people  And, I can see that its gonna take some sweat  But perseverance plus the talent forms a weapon,  And, we steppin' in fresher this year  Objects in the rear view are closer than they appear    Chorus:  It's a give and take  What you're given's what they take  There's no leftovers  Only scraps on the plate (x2)    Give me a break, what do they have to pay for?  The energies from earth, what do they own that to?  A slew of bills fill my mailbox on the month  The numbers stump me like math  I gotta pay to take a bath, what?  Pay to see my ass  And pay for them to haul away the trash when it's full  Pay to heat my food  And pay to watch the tube,  And if I don't have cable there's no channels for me to flip  And that's more grip, and if you're poor, shit  They only give a few extensions  Dimensions of the plot run thick  Pretty soon we'll pay for air when they figure out how to sell it  Tell it like you know it and everybody wants to laugh  Probably never hear the truth ‘til they take away the cash    Chorus (x2)    So many ways to drain the lifespan  Sometimes I worry late at night and  Try to fight the urge to smoke that beady  But despite man's will  Still my lungs are smoke filled  And I hope to build with better tools  But I be playin' the fool still  Like let me get a sausage mcmuffin with eggs  A lil' liquor to get on a fade  I would really have it made  If she would spread her legs  Probably aid me to my death before I got the chance to age  Wagin' war all my life  But even if I didn't  Somebody else could do it  And wish me my good riddance  When I'm gone  Send me on my path my merry way  Time is but the test  We livin' in scary days    Chorus (x2)