History

Tryna make some history

Picture me up in the stands where they're waving hands

Little me'd look at me now like 'You've made it, man'

It's funny, in front of strangers I feel at home

This here is the only thing that I really own

Really though, NY bound, I'm on the red eye

Mind playin' tricks on the kid like Jedi

Will I reach these heights, be everything I said I would?

I touch down like the engine that could

I'm in the Mecca, the hood, this ain't my neck of the woods

But I'm a man with a dream that's as grand as the scheme

Cue the scene, gutter full of steam

And big brother be telling me where he was as a teen

And each word remains in my brain's hall of fame

See you and I we're kinda like the same

We'll probably always ride the back car of the first train

'Cause the heroes in our lives know us by our first names'

That's game, no... that's James

Best laid plans

I'ma be the man some day, one day

Best laid plans

I'ma be the man some day, one day

Best laid plans

I'ma be the man some day, one day

Best laid plans

I'ma be the man some day, one day

Tryna make some history

Consider these cornerstones of a legacy

Delivery of everything I said I'd be

On the benches, one day they gon' mention me

I spread fire like a westerly

See I never believed in destiny

Always put free will over what's meant to be

I say it like it was said to me

One day it'll make sense, well I guess we'll see (Best believe)

Fans want that-new shit, fam want a new Nick

Me, I want both, I stand here tryna prove it

Let me help you understand how I do this

I give the signal with my hand and they lose it

These days, everybody follow the blueprint

But if it was easy everybody would do it

See I burned all my books on the last day of school

But the ones at the top never stop being students

We keep it movin', homie

Best laid plans

I'ma be the man some day, one day

Best laid plans

I'ma be the man some day

Tryna make some history

But I got my father's sins in me

Forgive me though, it all happened so quickly

Looking in the mirror and I'm tipsy

And suddenly it's all clear to me

As a mixed race kid, mixed up kid

My face looking more like yours than it ever did

I catch myself doing things I swore I never would

Like I never treat my girl too good, well there it is

Oh, and I found your negatives

Looking at them in the sun, I think it's crazy

That you up and quit photography to raise me

Your only son, and you about to blow up, man those flicks are amazing

And I see it in myself sometimes

When I'm low and its all going to hell

But I know I owe it to you, so I'm never giving up

I don't know a lot, but I know this much

Best laid plans

I'ma be the man some day, one day

Best laid plans

I'ma be the man some day, one day

Best laid plans

I'ma be the man some day, one day

Best laid plans

I'ma be the man some day, one day

Tryna make some history

Picture me ringing tills, still in my teens

A lost kid till that hip-hop intervened

Seeing my idol recite on the mic

All up in the front row, best night of my life

Afterwards, I greet him with a pound of the fist

Probably said a thousand words that amounted to this:

'Thank you for the music, it gave me my blueprint'

And he just smiled and said, "Man, that's cool shit"

Now picture this, flip the switch, role reversal

I'm in his shoes now, it's come full circle

I got man, nah—I got fan

Saying he understand what I jotted in my journal

He said, 'Thanks for the sage advice'

That what I wrote in that rain song saved his life

I mean goddamn that's crazy right? But I've seen behind the scenes

And found out the price of dreams

See who's the man to you, ain't the same who's the man to me

Means there ain't no man to be

Except your own, so I plan to be

Ain't no plan achieved, it just is how had it to be

I'm singing

Best laid plans

I'ma be the man some day, one day

Best laid plans

I'ma be the man some day, one day

Best laid plans

I'ma be the man some day, one day

Best laid plans

I'ma be the man some day, one day

Best laid plans

I'ma be the man some day, one day

Best laid plans

I'ma be the man some day, one day

Best laid plans

I'ma be the man some day, one day

Best laid plans

I'ma be the man some day, one day