Small Things (to a Giant) [Outro]
[Intro: Daveed Diggs & Chinaka Hodge]
Yeah
Alright
Small things to a giant
Yeah
[Verse 1: Daveed Diggs]
Sometimes you gotta stand on tip toe
For a little bit o' perspective on how the shit go
Down in a town full of genius schizo-
-phrenic tenants tending to a scale so tipped so
Dip toe in water
Test it even though you know it's hot
On the block where chalk stencils
Could talk of the good old days when the As could knock out parks
And the Raiders, knock out lights
And the knock in the parking lot was a sight to see
Here we here really 'cause there's nowhere else to be
Feelin' the weight of a city grown fat off hipster chic
Fusion food, organic beets
It's a wonder that we still tongue in cheek
When there's so much hand to mouth in the streets
Hands down the tooth of the town is the sweetest
Feedin' every bit of good I got into this piece
In the hopes that maybe I could keep this giant asleep
Long enough for me to do somethin' to get up on my feet
Swollen back broken can't hold up my history
Panthers snappin' at my ankle 'cause they struggle don't mean shit to me
You see on a day by day
Where's my gun mother may I spray
Lake Merritt monster is on the way
And his wayward wants and whims may make us a meal today
Feel me here alone a warrior with no spear to throw
Too many rappers and too many poems
For a beast that's illiterate to give a shit, and so
Though I wanna go there, there's no there there
Hear me drowned out by the sound of the town merely
A man like me can rarely be seen clearly
Under these lights I am disappearing
[Chorus: Daveed Diggs]
And whats the use in screamin' if you can't hear nothin', nothin'
Don't be fooled by the quiet, yeah
And what's the use of dreamin' if you can't touch nothin', nothin'
When the shit goes down and we riot
Remember it is small things to a giant
[Verse 2: Chinaka Hodge]
Too much to wrap my head around
And so I rap my head around
These brothers and they cousins when I'm passin' on they beats
We Africans in heat, accustomed to it
Rusted Buicks, tandem in these streets
Holla what you want cousin just the same old shlock
Can't afford to raise my babies and maintain on this block
I'm watching Dogtown plummet
To this Pixar, hipster art walk summit
So I'm comin', blunted, hunted, gun it, wanted
From the Hunnits to the Bottoms
I'm watching all my options
It's optical illusions and environmental toxins
Like this small pond and big fish
These black girls and french tips
The itsy bitsy peels and the wide body scrapers
The Chauncey Bailey types and their Black Muslim Bakers
Big secrets, no confidence, lies with no consequence
Strung out on these opposites and opulence and opiates
Guess that's that Golden Gate shit
That Oakland-takes-the-cake shit
The object of yo' hate shit, the subject of a rape kit
I'm obviously on, honestly gone
Outside my zone screaming big shit no time
My uncle got a cabin and it's not rent to own
Stop leasing what we mortgage; get the fuck out my home
[Chorus: Daveed Diggs]
And whats the use in screamin' if you can't hear nothin', nothin'
Don't be fooled by the quiet, yeah
And what's the use of dreamin' if you can't touch nothin', nothin'
When the shit goes down and we riot
Remember it is small things to a giant
[Verse 3: Daveed Diggs]
We all figured that we Bigger Thomas
Missed out on a bigger promise
Halfway to the trigger, a nigga by circumstance
But if I'm being honest, maybe I'm just lazy
Maybe I'm too staid to the ways of the Bay maybe
Maybe everything I thought of as home
Is really just a building erected to be standing in my way
Maybe I should break out
But how do you break out of home when home is your heart
And I know what heartaches about
And really I'm too grown to cry over spilled anything
So dispelling my doubt is something I'm very versed at
But something that I'll rarely write a verse about
'Cause that shit's too big to let it in
When you begin down that road I'm finding me in
Finally finding those hiding places a mind is within it
Within a minute or so I'm manipulating the soul
Surely a man [?] was gonna unfold
I'm holding onto my stature
'Cause I'm getting older, no more of a master
Slaving away everyday to Father Time like a bastard
Lookin' for footsteps to follow in and findin' no tracks
'Cause really it don't snow in the Bay
No ice for the wrists and no glitz and no glamour
Just hammers and hay (hey), what's the matter with that?
As a matter of fact, we like it that way
Born hard, bred hard, and hard we will stay
More scarred by hearts than necessary
More parts upstart than martyrs we pray (pray, pray, pray)
Truth unto the gods of gangsterdom
Prey on the weak, so thanks to them
We don't feel meek in danger
And I'll be a giant until everything will break again
Defiant and ignorant of the stakes
The waves are crashing down and we standing up in the breaks
Can't swim but willing to wade as far out as it takes
[Chorus: Daveed Diggs]
And whats the use in screamin' if you can't hear nothin', nothin'
Don't be fooled by the quiet, yeah
And what's the use of dreamin' if you can't touch nothin', nothin'
When the shit goes down and we riot
Remember it is small things to a giant