Album Name

4 Your Eyez Only

Artist

J. Cole

Genre

랩/힙합

Release Date

2016.12.09

Release Agency

Universal Music Group

4 Your Eyez Only - J. Cole
Yeah
For your eyes only
For your eyes
For your eyes only
for your eyes only
For your eyes
For your eyes only
Hey niggas be dying
on the daily
It seems my dreams faded
for far too long
The consequences deadly
Can't visualize myself
as nothing but a criminal
Control the block
serving up rocks
and stay subliminal
'Cause young niggas
is hardheaded
they letting off
Full of adrenaline
ignorant to what death can cause
Ain't no coming back
family dressed in black
Plus it's hot now
the cops outside
it's hard to flip a pack
And my daughter gotta eat
her mama be stressing me
Like I ain't the one
who put them Jays on her feet
Like I ain't out
in the field like that
I might be low for the moment
but I will bounce back
Despite the charges
back to the wall
I fight regardless
Screaming Fuck the law
my life is lawless
That's what you call it
ain't got to be no psychic
To see this is like
the farthest thing from heaven
This is hell and I don't mean
that hyperbolic
I try to find employment even
if it's wiping toilets
But these felonies
be making life the hardest
Resisting the temptation to run up
and swipe a wallet
Or run up on your yard
snatch your daughter bike
and pawn it
That's why I write this sonnet
If the pressure get too much
for me to take and I break
Play this tape for my daughter
and let her know my life is on it
For your eyes
Let her know my life is on it
For your eyes
For your eyes only
For your eyes
do you understand
For your eyes
do you understand me
For your eyes
do you understand
For your eyes
do you understand me
For your eyes
do you understand
For your eyes
do you understand me
For your eyes
do you understand
For your eyes only
You probably grown now
so this song'll hit you
If you're hearing this
unfortunately
Means that I'm no longer
with you in the physical
Not even sure
if I believe in God
but because you still alive
He got me praying
that the spiritual is real
So I can be a part of you still
my pops was killed too
So I know how part of you feels
Maybe you hate me
maybe you miss me
maybe you spite me
Life goes in cycles
maybe you'll date a nigga
just like me
I hope not
I'm tired of dope spots
And fiends that smoke rocks
I've seen far too many
niggas' hopes rot
I'm writing this because me
and the devil had a dance
Now I see death around the corner
'pologizing in advance
Don't know
if I ever had a chance
at a glance I'm a failure
Addicted to pushing paraphernalia
But Daddy had dreams once
my eyes had a gleam once
Innocence disappeared
by the age of eight years
My Pops shot up
drug related mama addicted
So Granny raised me in projects
where thugs was hanging
Blood was staining the concrete
Older niggas I loved talked
like they was above
Maintaining a time sheet
that slow money
Picked up the family business
by the age of thirteen
Six years later was handed
sentence
'Round the same time is
when you came in this world
Me and your mama thinking
What the fuck we naming this girl
I told her Nina
the prettiest name
that I could think of
For the prettiest thing
my eyes had ever seen
I was nineteen
Took me two felonies
to see the trap
This crooked ass
system set for me
And now I fear it's too late
for me to ever be
The one that set examples
that was never set for me
I'm living fast
but not fast enough
Cause karma keeps
on catching up to me
And if my past becomes
the death of me
I hope you understand
For your eyes
do you understand
For your eyes
do you understand me
For your eyes
do you understand
For your eyes
do you understand me
For your eyes
do you understand
For your eyes
do you understand me
For your eyes
do you understand
For your eyes only
It's several ways
I could've went out
too many to count
Was it the trigger happy crackers
that the badges give clout
Was it the young niggas
blasting frustrated
Cause the cash running out
Niggas don't know
how to act in a drought
See baby girl
I realized
My definition of
a real nigga was skewed
My views misshaped
by new mixtapes
That confirmed the shit
I learned in the streets was true
That real niggas don't speak
when they beef with you
They just pull up
on your street
let the heat achoo
And if a real nigga hungry
he gon' eat your food
I was a fool
spent all my time ducking school
ducking cops
Ducking rules
hugging blocks
that don't love you
I pray you find a nigga
with goals and point of views
Much broader than the corner
if not it's gon' corner you
Into a box
where your son don't even
know his pops
And the cyclical nature
of doing time continues
My worst fear is one day
that you come home
from school
And see your father face
while hearing
'bout tragedy on news
I got the strangest
feeling your daddy
gonna lose his life soon
And sadly
if you're listening now
it must mean it's true
But maybe there's
a chance that it's not
And this album remains locked
In a hard drive
like valuable jewels
And I can teach you
this in person
Like I'm teaching you
to tie your own shoes
I love you and I hope
to God I don't lose you
For your eyes only
For your eyes
for your eyes only
For your eyes
for your eyes only
For your eyes
do you understand
For your eyes only

One day your daddy called me
told me he had a funny feeling
What he'd been dealing
with lately
he wasn't telling
I tried to pick his brains
still he wasn't revealing
But I could feel the sense
of panic in his voice
And it was chilling he said
Jermaine I knew you
since we was children
I never asked for nothing
when times was hard
I never had discussions
with you begging you to help me
I dealt with the repercussions
of my actions
I know you tried to steer me
'way from that shit
But that shit was in my blood
you know my life
I know your Momma
nigga send my love
In case I never get a chance
to speak again
I won't forget the weekends
spent sleeping at your crib
That's the way
I wished my family lived
But my granny crib
was in the 'jects
I had to interject like
Nigga what you talking 'bout
Fuck is you getting at
He said Listen
I got no time to dive
into descriptions
But I've been having premonitions
Just call it visions
from the other side
I got a feeling
I won't see tomorrow
Like the time
I'm living on is borrowed
With that said
the only thing I'm proud to say
I was a father
Write my story down
and if I pass
Go play it for my daughter
when she ready
And so I'm leaving you this record
for your eyes only
Don't you ever scratch
or disrespect it
This perspective is a real one
another lost 'Ville son
I dedicate these words to you
and all the other children
Affected by the mass incarceration
in this nation
That sent your pops to prison
when he needed education
Sometimes I think
that segregation
would've done us better
Although I know that means
that I would never
Be brought into this world
cause my daddy was so thrilled
When he found him a white girl
to take back to Jonesboro
With 'lil Zach and Cole World
barely one years old
Now it's thirty years later
making sure this story's told
Girl your daddy was a real nigga
not cause he was cold
Not because he was the first
To get some pussy twelve years old
Not because he used to come through
In the Caddy on some vogues
Not because he went from bagging up
Them grams to serving O's
Nah your daddy was a real nigga
not 'cause he was hard
Not because he lived a life of crime
and sat behind some bars
Not because he screamed
Fuck the law
Although that was true
Your daddy was a real nigga
cause he loved you
For your eyes only