DUCKWORTH.

It was always me vs. the world

Until I found it's me vs. me

Why? Why? Why? Why?

Why? Why? Why? Why?

Just remember what happens on Earth stays on Earth

We gon' put it in reverse

Darling, I've told you many times

And now, I'm telling you once again

Just to remind you, sweetheart

That my–

Oh, Lamar

Hail Mary and marijuana, times is hard

Pray with the hooligans, shadows all in the dark

Fellowship with demons and relatives, I'm a star

Life is one funny motherfucker

A true comedian, you gotta love 'em

You gotta trust 'em, I might be bugging

Infomercials and no sleep

Introverted by my thoughts

Children, listen, it gets deep

See, once upon a time inside the Nickerson Garden Projects

The object was to process and digest poverty's dialect

Adaptation, inevitable

Gun violence, crack spot

Federal policies raid buildings and drug professionals

Anthony was the oldest of seven

Well respected, calm and collected

Laughing and joking made life easier

Hard times, mama on crack

A four-year-old telling his nanny he needed her

His family history: pimping and banging

He was meant to be dangerous

Clocked him a grip and start slanging

Fifteen, scraping up his jeans with quarter pieces

Even got some head from a smoker last weekend

Dodged a policeman working for his big homie

Small-time hustler, graduated to a brick on him

Ten thousand dollars out of a project housing

That's on the daily

Seen his first mil' twenty years old, had a couple of babies

Had a couple of shooters, caught a murder case

Fingerprints on the gun

They assuming, but witnesses couldn't prove it

That was back when he turned his back and they killed his cousin

He beat the case and went back to hustling

Bird-shuffling, Anthony rang

The first in the projects with the two-tone Mustang

That 5.0 thing

They say 5-0 came, circling parking lots and parking spots

And hopping out while harassing the corner blocks

Crooked cops told Anthony he should kick it

He brushed 'em off and walked back to the Kentucky Fried Chicken

See, at this chicken spot, there was a light-skinned ****

That talked a lot with a curly top and a gap in his teeth

He worked the window, his name was Ducky

He came from the streets, the Robert Taylor Homes

Southside Projects, Chiraq, the Terrordome

Drove to California with a woman on him and five hundred dollars

They had a son, hoping that he see college

Hustling on the side with a nine-to-five to freak it

Cadillac Seville, he'd ride his son around the weekends

Three-piece special with his name on his shirt pocket

Across the street from the projects

Anthony planned to rob it

Stuck up the place before back in '84

That's when affiliation was really at gears of war

So many relatives telling us, selling us devilish works

Killing us, crime, intelligent

Felonious prevalent propositions with nines

Ducky was well-aware

They robbed the manager and shot a customer last year

He figured he'd get on these ****' good sides

Free chicken every time Anthony posted in line

Two extra biscuits, Anthony liked him and then let him slide

They didn't kill him

In fact, it looked like they the last to survive

Pay attention, that one decision changed both of they lives

One curse at a time

Reverse the manifest and good karma, and I'll tell you why

You take two strangers and put 'em in random predicaments

Give 'em a soul, so they could make their own choices and live with it

Twenty years later, them same strangers, you make 'em meet again

Inside recording studios where they reaping they benefits

Then you start reminding them about that chicken incident

Whoever thought the greatest rapper would be from coincidence?

Because if Anthony killed Ducky, Top Dawg could be serving life

While I grew up without a father and die in a gunfight

So I was taking a walk the other day...