CHALLENGER'S RAP

• pulled up in a Corolla with the door stuck closed and the floor half rusted, smoke from the engine smelling like burnt toast
• and a note that i wrote last week crumpled under the dome light, used to go solo with a notebook
• and a bowl of cold oats, i had no coat in a snowstorm outside of the lobby, recorded over low grade loops that exploded
• when i overdosed the low end with Mos Def, note that folded like a roadmap to no man’s land
• wrote with no plan, full chords in a mic that shocked me twice and a cord wrapped wrong from the thrift store
• backpack with demo cds with a smiley face next to a quote with the paper half torn and a red line cause i spelled it wrong in a rush at 4pm
• before the library closed down early from a power outage caused by a transformer on 44th
• and i know cause i passed it walking home in the dark with my phone low, rode buses with loose change
• wrote whole eps in a cold room with low heat and a nosebleed from no sleep, whole week fueled by toast and rotisserie
• posting things from overseas with an open plea, tracked vocals, mapped local routes from a bad mobile
• back folded over a crate with a pad on top, homie sold donuts, wait and trade for a bag of those
• a bag of clothes in the back of his hatchback while he passed me the Apple Joes
• grapplin traffic from hackers to management, adamant static attacks in the backend and apps i abandoned
• wrapped in the plastic from packages Amazon handed in, rationed in battle with mannequins
• half of them actin like advocates, stabbin and backin out passive then askin if paths can get patched again
• happens a fraction of rappers with actual stamina vanish, collapse when it’s amped again
• dashin through madness and havin to manage it, stackin my shit like i’m Jenga, savagin amateurs
• rappers been panickin, askin for answers, i mapped it exact like i’m NASA with satellites gatherin latitude data
• and i ain’t just passin through, half of these savages babblin catchin a bag or two, staggin like mannequins crackin on Adderall
• been in back of a cab with a pad in my lap and a flask in the jacket, past all the vanity, master of matter of fact and the anatomy
• can’t just be standin around with your hand out expectin the planet to hand you a strategy
• scratchin the wax like i’m back at the palladium, pacin through atriums, ask where i’m at and i answer with ambient samples from Amnesiac
• managed to tap into anguish and channel it back even faster than than panelists askin for amnesty
• drove through the snow with a GoPro taped to the dash, no gas, just a road note
• rode through the lows like a loan with a slow toll from the old roads like i stole from the dojo
• focused with a goal that i hold close, throw me the weight and i hold it like ocho, no clone could approach how i wrote those
• devoted my whole soul, i composed when the road broke and chose to reload when it slowed and the road closed
• constructed my growth when the budget was low, discussin my goals with a cousin who cut from a similar mold
• i fold clothes in a laundromat next to a cold floor, been told war’s when you’re underpaid
• functionin off dumplings and duct tape, grubhub orders with a budget on duct pay, still paced out like i’m rushing a gun case
• like a monk in a runway, but i function in one way, un-ate meals just to cover the fund breaks