Now Or Never - The Roots, Phonte, Dice Raw

Everything’s changing around me

And I want to change too

It’s one thing I know

It ain’t cool being no fool

I feel different today

I don’t know what else to say

But I’ma get my shit together

It’s now or never

(Now or never, now or never)

(Now or never, now or never)

Uhh, I’m sick, sick of waiting in vain, tired of playing the game

Thinking of making a change, finally breaking the chains

Every phase, every happening craze

When it’s said and done, my head is right back in a haze

I’m ready for the next chapter and page to start acting my age

And part ways with Black Thought from back in the days

I’m stargazing from the back of the stage

Questioning if who y’all praise is worthy of praise

What’s the phrase «bygones is bygones?»

Niggas who used to be the underdogs is icons

People say the light shines once in a lifetime

Is this midlife kind a crisis a little bit like mine?

I’m thinking not now but right now

I need some kinda sign that the future is bright now

I fuck around, do the right thing like Spike now

The quick and the dead, which one is my lookalike now?

I’m moving ahead

Everything’s changing around me

And I want to change too

It’s one thing I know

It ain’t cool being no fool

I feel different today

I don’t know what else to say

But I’ma get my shit together

It’s now or never

(Now or never, now or never)

(Now or never, now or never)

Yo, opportunities lost because I blew them

On the sunniest days of my life, I cried through them

Mom was out the picture, and pops, I barely knew him

And I would pray to God but I’m tired of lying to him

Tired of tryna run from the things inside of us

Got a lot of fam and a lot of admirers

Who tell me that I should aspire to be changed

But when I think of changing, it’s like, 'Why even try this shit?'

My mind hazy and my thoughts, they get distorted

I know my good and bad deeds both get recorded

You do right so your soul can last

But my role is cast before I even audition for it

So I don’t really see an end to my vice

It’s just false reformation, no end of my strife

Feel the evil overpowering, you can go ahead, throw the towel in

Cause nigga, that’s the end of the fight

When you can only see the tunnel at the end of the light

Lights out, party over, it’s the end of your life

And I’m out

Everything’s changing around me

And I want to change too

It’s one thing I know

It ain’t cool being no fool

I feel different today

I don’t know what else to say

But I’ma get my shit together

It’s now or never

(Now or never, now or never)

(Now or never, now or never)

When I look into the mirror and see my own image

It feel like there’s something else far in the distance

Something I wanna see, but something that’s resistant

And every day, the haunting is growing more persistent

I never noticed it before, but now I can’t miss it

And the constant pounding’s driving me ballistic

I ran from it for years, but it’s still next to me

And it’s growing stronger, taking even less of me

I can’t fight it now, I know it’s just destiny

And I just wonder what’s gon' happen when it catches me

Will it leave me face down in the Chesapeake?

Or will it just start bringing out the best in me?

But is the best in me really just the worst in me?

And if so, yesterday could be my anniversary

In sinner’s court, sip port and have church with me

I’m trying to get rid of these ghosts that’s cursing me

I’m feeling change is an absolute certainty

Cause what’s going on is a state of emergency

Everything’s changing around me

And I want to change too

It’s one thing I know

It ain’t cool being no fool

I feel different today

I don’t know what else to say

But I’ma get my shit together

It’s now or never

It’s now or never