Rise Above - J. Cole

Rise above, rise above

And you’ve got to

Rise above, rise above

She had a little daughter with her, it was cold out

She said «ah, I hate this motherfucker,» then she rolled out

He ain’t answering his phone, she yells «what the fuck?!»

Then told her daughter «buckle up, yeah, that’s for safety»

See she been stressin' lately

‘Cause this nigga she done been with for the past two years

Is now the current reason for her last few tears

She text, he don’t text back

When she see him she be tryna sex, he don’t sex back

His heart be on jet black

She call, he don’t call back, all he say is «fall back»

A nigga just need his space, so she headed to his place

Cause she just got a call from her homegirl Rhonda

Who said he been creepin', he been fuckin' with Yolanda

«Yolanda?

Yeah girl, Yolanda»

«Told you he ain’t shit but you ain’t listen, I was tryna» —

«Click» — hmmm, hung up that phone and hopped right up in that Honda

Headed to his crib, she said she fed up with this shit

«Thought this time this was the one, thought I got better at this shit»

«Pickin' out Mr. Right, stick it out through the fights»

«And long nights, for what?

These niggas is all alike»

She gon' set it off, her daughter gon' witness it all tonight, damn

Rise above, rise above

And you’ve got to

Rise above, rise above

She said she just finished school, could barely pay tuition

Now she teaches 7th grade, tryna make a difference

Aye, but the kids frustrate her, say that they don’t listen

A ass like that, how the fuck they supposed to pay attention?

I’m fuckin' with you, but for real, she say they hopeless

A class full of jokesters, creating all the obstacles, impossible to focus

Little niggas barely read, tryna give them what they need

And they don’t even try, one little boy, he caught her eye

‘Cause he look just like her brother, she be havin' to call his mother

But she act like she don’t care — what father?

He ain’t here

Now she frustrated, thinkin' that she just made the mistake of her life

Underpaid, be havin' to waitress at night

Six years of college down the drain, drinkin', tryna drown her pain

Party with her girls, feeling sorry for the world

‘Cause ain’t no hope for the youth, well ain’t that the truth

When all your role models either rappin' or they hoop, damn

Rise above, rise above

And you’ve got to

Rise above, rise above