Seventeen

I was seventeen when the reaper tried to take me Never in my dreams did I ever think I'd make it Forever grateful for the second chance he gave me I think about it late at night when I'm praying Now let me take you back to 2009 Before I ever moved crowds with my rhymes Before I ever moved out of Brookline Before I ever thought I'd be a rapper and tour all the time Now I tour all the time Back when I was seventeen Back when this was all a dream Back when Ma was in the kitchen Cooking up the collard greens Back when she was the only woman I would ever call my queen Back when my biggest flaw was my honesty It was senior year And I was late for class again English on the fourth floor Couldn't be there last again The elevator was broken, I had to take the stairs Running up the steps as I'm running out of air Backpack full of books and I was booking it Shouldn't have Wasn't worth it Lungs start hurting God started to pull the curtain Was it asthma Wasn't certain I was out of breath Nearing death Felt like I was being stabbed in the chest Now this was something I couldn't fix if I just popped a pill So I hopped into the whip and drove to the hospital Nurse asked me if I smoked cigarettes or cannabis I care about my body man, I would never damage it I was seventeen when the reaper tried to take me Never in my dreams did I ever think I'd make it Forever grateful for the second chance he gave me I think about it late at night when I'm praying I wasn't sure if I could even do this anymore Stress seeped through my every pore Enveloped by the fear of what was in store The next day they tell me that one of my lungs collapsed Doctor was acting strange, was it Benedict Cumberbatch Friends at school asking me when am I coming back The way things are going I ain't sure if I'm coming back Thoughts racing through my mind like a USC running back Future uncertain, college wasn't a given Heart rate dropping, 30 beats per minute Now I'm popping, hurting beats for a living Put my heart in these lyrics in hopes that someone will feel it I ain't no gangster But I know that I'm the realest Epidural in my back but it still hurt when y'all would bite it Everybody sleeping on me, it was time to hit the light switch I was writing undercover Writing dope bars under the covers Working the night shift Pen Griffey the way I write hits Every line enticing with a mind as quick as lightening, son Your raps sound dope But I know that you ain't write it, son Imma step over you like '01 Iverson I was seventeen when the reaper tried to take me Never in my dreams did I ever think I'd make it Forever grateful for the second chance he gave me I think about it late at night when I'm praying I know this may sound a little bit crazy But I'm so grateful in retrospect It showed me life's preciousness Cherish every second left Every lesson in this life Is a blessing in disguise God gives his hardest battles to his toughest soldiers So best believe imma carry on with the weight of the world upon these shoulders It was through pain that my character was molded So best believe imma still be here when it's all over I will not fold up I never fall even in October I was seventeen