Freedom

"Ali," up, put me on the wall, put me on the wall, I'm standin' there

He said, "Man, didn't you hear me say, 'Inside the yellow line'?"

I said, "Yeah, cap, I did hear you hollerin', 'Inside the yellow line'

And I looked and nobody was on the outside of the yellow line

Wasn't nobody outside the yellow line

So I decided I would give you somebody to be hollerin' at

So you wouldn't be lookin' crazy as hell in this hallway"

I said, "See, cap, you don't know when somebody tryna help you out"

So he get mad and put me on, and put me on the wall

He got me on the wall, which is a mistake

You can't put me on the wall and everybody goin' to eat

I'm on the wall, I'm talkin' 'bout everybody

What's up, boy? Yeah, boy, I see what you doin', yeah

You owe me two soup, just know that, you owe me two soup

I'm just in the hallway collectin' debt

Boy, where my envelope, Ralph?

Yeah, 'cause I, see, I was SSI, I was SSI

You know, when you SSI, that mean you got a broom

And when you get a broom, aw, shit

A broom is a pass around the whole prison

Boy, this how you roll that broom

Boy, you know how good you are with a broom

You roll up, you like, "Ayy, what's up, what's up? Ayy, ayy

Ayy, Gonzalez say you owe him two

Cigarettes, I'ma shoot him down there"

Boy, you damn near a hockey player with this broom

Somebody throw, somebody slide somethin'

At you, hop, you right on top of that

And you comin' down with that broom, I gotta give it over to him

Hit me when you come back, homeboy

Yeah, man, SSI, you Cadillac, you roll around the whole prison

You ain't lyin', man, boy, woo

And see, you gotta be free, 'cause I done got free like that now

I don't restrict myself in no form or fashion

I wear white after Labor Day, I wear suede in the motherfuckin' summer

I don't give a shit about none of they

Rules and regulations of that mental

That mental prison shit, I don't give a shit about that

You know what I'm sayin'? Let me tell you somethin'

I dress like I wanna dress, I wear whatever I wanna wear

I wear a tuxedo on Tuesday, I don't give a shit

On Tuesday, I walk out in a tuxedo and go to the gym

If you see me in the gym with a tuxedo on

You supposed to think I own the motherfucker

You ain't supposed to be like, "Why he got a tuxedo on?"

I own this, this is my gym

Shit, I do what I want to, you know why? 'Cause of little white kids

You ever seen little white kids in the grocery store?

They wear all they favorite shit at one time

They don't give a shit about you

Spider-Man pajamas, a Superman cape, some

Cowboy boots, a fireman helmet, and a backpack

And they'll tell you too, "Hey, sir, I'm havin' the time of my life"

I'm tellin' you, that, that come

You'll see little Travis walkin' through the grocery store

He'll say, "Hey, sir," hey

You be sittin' there, "Look at little cool-ass Travis"

Tellin' you, man, you gotta be free, man

I know my friends ain't free, I know they ain't free

'Cause they got label restrictions in they mind

I tested my boy, we goin' to the gym, I got on everything

I got some Nikes on, some Puma socks, some Adidas shorts, a New

Balance shirt, and, and, and, and a goddamn Under Armour headband

I come out, it's all black, though, everything all black

I come out, my homeboy like, "Man, what you got on, man?

You got on everything, man, how you gon' have on Pumas and this, man?

Damn," and they, and they can't even work

Out good 'cause they still lookin' at me

I'm workin' out, and they like walkin' up to me, I'm under the bench

"Boy, you got on everything"

And it's a white dude, freedom, he on the side, he got on boat shoes

Doc shoes, shit that you supposed to be on a yacht with

And some Dockers and a wife beater on, he run on the treadmill

"Huh, I like his outfit"

You got to have freedom, got to have freedom

And a lot of people don't have it, lot of people don't have it

'Cause it ain't about, it ain't about the physical prison

It's about the mental prison, let me tell you somethin'

And anybody can be in a mental prison

Man, I met this twenty-two year old white girl

Been arrested seven times for burglary

She told me that she ain't wanna come to jail for burglary no more

I said, "Well, um, why you stealin'? You

Gotta take care of yourself or somethin'?"

She said, "Nah, Xanax, Xanax make me steal"

I say, "Xanax make you steal?"

I say, "Who the hell prescribed you

Somethin' that's gon' make you steal?"

She said, "Oh, no, I ain't got no prescription for it"

I said, "Well, if you wanna stay out of

Jail, this shit, it's pretty simple to me

I ain't even known you that long, it's, I done figured this out

Why don't you just stop takin' Xanax?"

She said, "Why?" I said, "So you'll stop

Stealin', and then you won't come here"

She was like, "Oh"

She said she had never thought of it like that

I said, "You sh—, I don't think you ever thought of this shit, period"