Lyrics Castle Walls - T.I. , Christina Aguilera

Everyone thinks that I have it all
But it's so empty livin' behind these castle walls
These castle walls
If I should tumble, if I should fall
Would anyone hear me screamin' behind these castle walls
There's no one here at all, behind these castle walls

Observin' the estate through the gate from the outside lookin' in
Bet you would think I got it made, better look again
I gotta butler, gotta maid, and a mansion
The belief is that I'm livin' out a millionaires fantasy
With phantoms and Ferraris in the driveway
But you see the pain and the change of the sane man's sanity
Your vision jaded by the Grammys on the mantelpiece
Just switch your camera lenses, you would see the agony

Apparently it's damagin' the man you see before you
On the canvas, he may seem alright but all the disadvantages
His family encounters overshadows his extravagance
Walk in my Nike's while I dare you, I'll scare you
While it really seem like the king's life ain't glamorous
As seen through the eyes of untrained amateurs
Because the camera don't see beyond the walls of the smiles
Only counts until it falls in the pile

Everyone thinks that I have it all
But it's so empty livin' behind these castle walls
These castle walls
If I should tumble, if I should fall
Would anyone hear me screamin' behind these castle walls?
There's no one here at all, behind these castle walls

Honestly to me
I think I'd lose every benefit of all that I've accomplished
If my kids never win at shit
Me knowin' this, why should the verses I have laid
Be more important to me than the persons I have raised?
I guess I'm sayin' that to say that opportunity
But they just don't equate to all the time they take away
From the kids, all the fuck I did right is a mistake
If Deyjah end up a stripper and Major slingin', yay

How could I ever consider myself a great
If Messiah ain't paid and Nique Nique ain't straight
Would your favorite song about the whips, money and shit
Be relevant if you found out, the money wasn't real? Nope
So me being the goat shouldn't mean more to me
Than see it to a king though
From a badass kid to man with some dough
Otherwise, I may well have stayed poor

So, while they stay focused on me beefin' with Flip
And Shawty low, Gucci or Ludacris
Or if I'm fuckin' with a ho
Did I snitch when I got arrested? Or will I die over nonsense?
Internally, I'm dealin' with this conflict
So excuse me if I don't get the chance to kiss the hand
And slap me in the face, ay, I'm just a man
If they sayin' I ain't the best at makin' hit records
It's 'cause this my life, these ain't just rappin'

You think of that deep, did ya, dog?
See you can't see the castle through the walls 'til it falls
Bitch ain't thinkin' with the deep, did ya dog
'Cause see you can't see the castle through the walls 'til it falls

Everyone thinks that I have it all
But it's so empty livin' behind these castle walls
These castle walls (these castle walls)
If I should tumble, if I should fall
Would anyone hear me screamin' behind these castle walls?
There's no one here at all, behind these castle walls

Nobody knows I'm all alone
Livin' in this castle made of stone
They say that money is freedom, but I feel trapped inside it all
And while I sit so high up on a throne
I wonder how I can feel this low
On top of the world, it's beautiful
But there's no place to fall

For the record, ay, I give a damn if I never said shit again
My career was meant for me to come and tell this
Honest interpretation of how affected I'm faced with
Matters most rappers used to keep locked away in the basement
If the day that I walk away, that I ain't sayin' that I'm amazin'
Downplayin' the way I keep fellas from catchin' cases
Won't take into consideration how much it mean what I'm sayin'
And when I say what I mean even when I'm surrounded by the fakers

From one of the greatest centers, blessed with most of God's graces
Who made his way amongst the greatest from the grimiest places
So next time you ratin' royalty
I'm always being given to recordings than the level of your loyalty
Obvious you've been ignorin' me
Who else ya seen make it through the storm, unharmed disjointed
While all the critics was lookin' for Prince Charmin'
Disregarded the king of the south raised doubt

Even though he made a castle out of used to be a house
He did shit that all your favorites rappers only rap about
But most of y'all don't see the castle for the walls
And the smiles 'til it falls in piles so while -

Everyone thinks that I have it all
But it's so empty livin' behind these castle walls
These castle walls (yeah, yeah)
If I should tumble if I should fall (if I should tumble)
Would anyone hear me screamin' behind these castle walls
There's no one here at all, behind these castle walls