Pictures On My Wall

[Intro: Sample]
I can’t breathe in this space that’s filled with your sound
Can’t call a spade a spade in this town
Dug a hole that I can’t get out
I can’t figure, I can’t figure it out, out, out

[Verse 1: XV]
It was a pin up, the magazines would print up
That made me pick that pen up, that kept a niggas chin up
That turned losers to winner, in that minute we would give up
Couldn’t die down the expectations they thought we’d live up
It was everything most parents hated
Niggas with dreams, wearin' bling, screamin' that they made it
New York rapper said ‘son’, West Coast niggas said ‘cuz’
Midwest dudes said ‘fam,' damn, no wonder I related
Relayed it to my grandmother that bought me comics
To be honest, it ain’t bother her as much as Momma
Drama expected, like the nomination of Obama
Kept me in my room, hiding out like Osama
Stepfather didn’t dig it, they were shovelin' dreams
To an underage teen whose real father couldn’t visit
So I put on those headphones and just listened
As the murals on my wall turned to kingdom from a prison
I hear them singing:

[Chorus]
Keep your head up high
Keep mine deep in the ground
Hide away the love that I found
It’s a world that I can’t get out
I can’t figure it, I can’t figure it out (Hangin' pictures on my wall)
Always on my mind (Hanging pictures on my wall)
I can’t figure it out (Hanging pictures on my wall)
Always on my mind (Hanging pictures on my wall)
I can’t figure it out (Hanging pictures on my wall)

[Verse 2: XV]
I know it’s crazy to think my pictures talked
And we created a rocket, I got in and lifted off
Well maybe the latter was kind of gone
And the former was kind of wrong
So all I have is these songs and posters up on my wall
Sometimes I took them to school to feel cool
Couldn’t bring the CD, the case was a jewel
And I refused to burn money, I’m saving green in my room
You walk in and think it was FernGully
And beef wasn’t allowed, Pac was next to Biggie
And Dre was next to Eazy; the idea was profound
I turned the music loud and put on my own recital
In a room full of my idols, made me less suicidal
Traded pencil sharpening for urban marketing
Lawyer, doctor, went from street scholaring
White collar from police collarin’, Mom and Pops hollerin’
But I just tune it out, the tune is loud as I begin and says

[Chorus]
Keep your head up high
Keep mine deep in the ground
Hide away the love that I found
It’s a world that I can’t get out
I can’t figure it, I can’t figure it out (Hangin' pictures on my wall)
Always on my mind (Hanging pictures on my wall)
I can’t figure it out (Hanging pictures on my wall)
Always on my mind (Hanging pictures on my wall)
I can’t figure it out (Hanging pictures on my wall)

[Verse 3: XV]
Knocks on my door came from the same fist
That just knocked me to the floor, punched me in the chest
And then clocked me in the jaw; what's wrong with Dad?
I haven’t done a thing in school that was this bad
His ass doesn’t care, tryna fight back but it doesn’t fair
Why my mom let this nigga come in here?
She begins to come to tears, I’m screamin', "It’s all your fault!"
He says, "What’s this bullshit up on your wall?"
As I look up at the ceiling, too weak to respond
With these poses of mere mortals that's seemin' like gods
Tryna stand up to my feet and just even the odds
But he just knocks me back down and screams at my mom
He starts seein' a bond between me and these pictures
He says, "Look at these niggas; what are they, father figures?"
Now it’s hard to ignore
That all I live for is now balled up on the floor and it's...

[Hook]
Always on my mind (Hanging pictures on my wall)
I can’t figure it out (Hanging pictures on my wall)
Always on my mind (Hanging pictures on my wall)
I can’t figure it out (Hanging pictures on my wall)

[Outro]
I can’t breathe in this space that’s filled with your sound
Can’t call a spade a spade in this town
Dug a hole that I can’t get out
I can’t figure, I can’t figure this out, out, out