The Set Up - Sage Francis

I set it up, you knocked it down, lay the foundation, I built this house

I feel cracks underneath my feet, I feel cracks underneath my feet

The walls are breathing heavy, sucking up the oxygen with no plans of leaving

any

For as long as I’ve been hoarding, it’s taking me forever to gather up all my

belongings

I get attached, and they’re attached to people who I’ve loved and lost

Even though I’ve got to admit, there are few who’ve run me off

But I’m under no illusion how relationships get ruined

How I’m ain’t shit to this movement when I’m just stuck to a cross

Tossed into the underworld and given specific info

Forced to find another girl sick of living in limbo

But I have my songs to play so I got lost along the way

And now I’ll never see the light of day thanks to the tinted limo

I was hopelessly romantic, emphasis on antic

Now I roam hopeless along the open coast of the Atlantic

Bought an overcoat that says «Francis, Showboat Captain»

Did my best to scrub it off because it’s utterly embarrassing

Every night I’d re-write my will on a sandbar napkin

I’d crash after sticking it to the window of my cabin

Once I awoke I’d notice it, read it, then remove it

Just stunned I left nothing to my loved ones but music

Muses abandon me while choosing family over continued support

For my intuitive thought, who would’ve thought?

I couldn’t have thunk it

The worst thing I ever did to another person in this world is nothing

Only a few can claim that’s what I did when I could have done otherwise

Every single last one of them something-for-nothing types

Made me pay the price at any cost, I’ve got buyer’s remorse

How many toxins will the doctors find inside this corpse?

Suicidal watch -- it’s diamond studded

It tells me when my time’s up, I try to keep my eyes from it

It’s so swag, I flash it at the fashion shows

It walks with a limp it’s so pimp, and it smacks the hoes

Rappers used to brag about intelligence, it made me want to be smarter and I

harbor no regrets.

Whether it sells or not is irrelevant

I would have sold coke if making dough was the sole motive

It wasn’t, but fuck being a broke poet

With unpaid debts, begging friends for loose ends

If your so-called talent only results in loan extensions

There’s no defenses, or buyouts, you don’t get a per diem for good intentions

Do you on the side now

I promise that a job doesn’t define you as a person

If your words don’t carry weight, it’s not the world’s burden

And in no certain terms am I suggesting that you shouldn’t set fire to the

stage and let the curtains burn

Just be aware of the exits

Keep in mind that the closest one might be behind you, the entrance

I’ve been eyeing it myself in the event that I can’t live better as an honest

rapper

Without my past self being my benefactor

I set it up, you knocked it down

I set it up, you knocked it down

I set it up, you knocked it down

I set it up, you knocked it down

You laid the foundation, I built this house

Gambled away my better half in hopes of doubling up

The dealer said, «double or nothing.»

I laughed.

I was shit out of luck

But what have I got to lose?

At least I’m whole now

Half man, half clone, the bad composite sketch of a one-hundred percent asshole

But it wasn’t without help, many people did their part

To make me take the time to Frankenstein was ripped apart

And put it together again, all the king’s horses and all the king’s men

Couldn’t admit that this was a predicament they put me in

You want a piece of this?

Welcome to the eggshells

Come barefoot and pregnant to my kitchen, y’all can help yourselves

To the feast and tippy-toe away if you can’t take the heat, or over-used clichés

Back in the days I’d leave you heartbroken

These days I simply reach into your chest and tear those scars open

Evaluate appreciation, write you off for tax purposes

I’d rather be homeless than settle in that worthless nest