Someone Great Who Looked Like Me

Kicked back in my time machine Reminiscing everything was so promising Siblings let me win so I would feel like I was King Caught the pigskin ran it in then I was high as he Who's kneeled down when I've cried and brought the sky to me Like God, the gridiron brought my highest being Fell in love with the sport when I was high as knees Then I learned of Jim Thorpe and I knew I could beast Blow up and get the paper like them Shakopee's Go up to snag the ball on y'all like Moss and flee Show up or be shown up because I've got to peace That was the Jim Thorpe effect on my philosophy But somewhere down the line I must've lost the beat Started going in for my feast like I forgot my teeth Jim Thorpe isn't in the public conscious P All I'd ever see was black and white on colored screens All I hear about is chiefs but they're all long deceased Man I wish could've seen you play ball on TV I wish that you'd receive the same notoriety The mass media has given all these other athletes I just needed someone great who looked like me Jim Thorpe you could be my Muhammad Ali Afflicted with addiction alcoholic like P No submitting both spittin' up in college like G's My focus not there we probably both got B's You're the star RB, I'd skip to smoke trees When I finally got sober I became an MC Messing up on stage cause I care what people think I needed your influence I don't care what people think See for me to feel great man I needed that drink Graduated school and flushed the liq down the sink Now I gotta be you for kids who wanna be me I was young Jim went in one and out one Cause even though he's goat he was always outdone How I'm supposed to stay inspired by the top gun When they'd never say a word about him not one All I heard was Tyson, Jackson and Jordan It made me feel like other races were more than On top of that I had identity crisis I thought not even sports could save me from how serious my life is Young Native growing up without his culture No role models to show me it was out here Didn't have a dad and mom was gone for weeks You would think it's romance the way it swept us off our feet The foster home is the modern day boarding school Kill the Indian and save the man you know the rule Matter fact ol' Jim Thorpe knew it too It took the light from us and made it all dark and blue We were all athletically gifted But when we played them white kids somehow we just missed it In them big street football games I see now it's more mental than anything Became resentful of my one true Queen Started clouding everything with blunts and things Giving women fits instead of diamond rings When they deserved my heart and all the finer things Dang ol' Jim we got a lot in common I'm glad I finally came around to put the time in Cause you're the type of hero I know I could vibe with A legendary native athlete is what I missed At least I can share your legacy with my kid Them other athletes are dope but they ain't goat Sitting Bull was brave but ancient war ain't sport It's time I shared about your name what they ain't spoke All I hear about is chiefs but they're all long deceased Man I wish could've seen you play ball on TV I wish that you'd receive the same notoriety The mass media has given all these other athletes I just needed someone great who looked like me Jim Thorpe you could be my Muhammad Ali Afflicted with addiction alcoholic like P No submitting both spittin' up in college like G's My focus not there we probably both got B's You're the star RB, I'd skip to smoke trees When I finally got sober I became an MC Messing up on stage cause I care what people think I needed your influence I don't care what people think See for me to feel great man I needed that drink Graduated school and flushed the liq down the sink Now I gotta be you for kids who wanna be me First of all let's define what's the greatest It ain't about marketing and being famous So it can't exclude the nameless and faceless Just because they didn't have the frames then to trace it With that said let's get down to some basics I don't think a one sport athlete can claim it Unless all their measurables reach out to the spaces Haven't seen that it's just facts that I'm stating There's a lot of great names erased on that basis In baseball Jordan never made it to the majors Boxing was the only sport Ali made the papers But he used his platform to fade all the racists So next to Jim Thorpe he's my vote for the A-list Bo was the first two sport all star But Jim Thorpe epitomized durability A star in many sports with great versatility He won gold in the Olympic decathlon A ten event competition can you grasp on Played football with no face mask on A three time champ with the Bulldogs of Canton And to be clear he put his teams on his back As a place kicker, punter and a running back Put the ball in his hands and he'd run it back An All American college football champ He was decent playing Major League Baseball If you don't know about him you should probably face-palm Got inducted into three major hall of fames Track and field the NFL and the NCAA Somehow these sports fans still got none to say I guess they didn't have sports-center in his day Leather shoes no drugs no hope To accomplish all that bro he's gotta be goat All I hear about is chiefs but they're all long deceased Man I wish could've seen you play ball on TV I wish that you'd receive the same notoriety The mass media has given all these other athletes I just needed someone great who looked like me Jim Thorpe you could be my Muhammad Ali Afflicted with addiction alcoholic like P No submitting both spittin' up in college like G's My focus not there we probably both got B's You're the star RB, I'd skip to smoke trees When I finally got sober I became an MC Messing up on stage cause I care what people think I needed your influence I don't care what people think See for me to feel great man I needed that drink Graduated school and flushed the liq down the sink Now I gotta be you for kids who wanna be me