Lyrics The Start of Something - Oddisee

Started off for the love of things
But to remain my heart charged by other means
I abstained from the lure of fame, a weak hit
The secret is love is the drug of dreams
When you're both the fire and the fuel that you heat with

The higher the flame, the more you'll tire enduring pain
That's when you burn out, or learn of another source
But of course, external motivation's a cheap trick
What doеs it all matter if it's less or more thе same
Tally up a tour 'round the sun like a score to gain
The idea of more within itself is sort of strange

Maybe there is a final summary of what we've come to be
Where sinners become winners, absolved of blame
War is the price of peace
I fight to sleep, I could take a life with ease
Conscious rap, I might just be polite, desensitized
Traumatic childhood incentivized
Had to get around the gate hordes, improvised
Gifted how I learned to break doors, enterprise

A shepherd can't stand in the shadow of goats
Your favorite rapper is just cattle, I will snap at the throat
At the end of Ramadan, I slaughtered lamb for my kin
That's not a threat, just understand, I'm not as western as hoped
You from the end, I'm from the edge that's why I'm balanced within
I learned that challenge is a test I write my answers with pen

Smeared pages in the book of my life span
Weaponized emotion, pisces with a trident
Took a stab at making life better with mic stands
Collection of my father's old records, some nice jams
A groove theory experimented at night and
The truth came clearly, only fact is I am

Attributes are given by observers
How I'm seen and how I'm heard is not the reason why I'm working
Why perceive what I am worth by what you need is trying first
To be accepted, putting second my belief's a lie that hurts

I've done more than I thought about
Tasted five star fruits of labor and ordered out
Gained confidence in an industry swarmed in doubt
Accomplishments made of experiences void of clout
Only thing left is me living, I'm calling out
I'm going off, how to make a million without going soft
Can't appreciate the winnings never knowing loss

To what end?
To what end?

I don't have enemies, just misunderstandings
If you were ever a friend to me, you would understand it
Those dishonest pretending to be were harmless
Enraged by my empathy when discovered I wasn't damaged
The truth is seldom cemented, opinions loose, what happens
The story traction, the proof is slipping and people crashing
That type of traffic I circumvented
Never let attraction to a muse deter the mission

I don't even flirt with ideas, my words are action
I'm not the one to listen to for a worthless caption
Quote me when your backs against the wall and the worst could happen
You might not beat the odds but you got to meet the odd
It took time to accept that I'm worthy of admiration
Was brought up in a family not caught up in celebration
No clock within the house to remind me that time was racing
The table staying vacant if baba late than we waiting

Associated patience with bread in need of a breaking
With people that I love, when money came didn't change it
My children came, I placed it
The knowledge of ancestors to plan better
Never in need of saving, to what end?