Giventake - The Grouch

I work my fingers to the bone

My elbow grease seeps

Benefits get reaped

I keep talk to a minimum

Props, I never rented 'em

I own all my masters

Selling tapes for cash, fuck the middlemen bastards

Though, it’d have been faster to take that route

I’m observing those who didn’t

That’s unfortunate how it turned out

I learned early that beatin' fools is a worldly trade

Man, how you gonna profit off the music that I made?

C’mon now, I’ll trade you for something equal

But robbing artists blind isn’t the way to be treating people

And I can see that it’s gonna take some sweat

But perseverance plus a talent forms a weapon, and

We steppin' in fresher this year

Objects in the rear view are closer than they appear

It’s a give and take

What you’re given’s what they take

There’s no leftovers

Only scraps on the plate

It’s a give and take

What you’re given’s what they take

There’s no leftovers

Only scraps on the plate

Give me a break

What do they have to pay for?

The energies from Earth?

What, do they own that too?

(Nah)

A slew of bills fill my mailbox month to month (Fuck that)

The numbers stump me like math

I got to pay to take a bath, what?

Pay to see my ass, and

Pay for them to haul away the trash when it’s full

Pay to heat my food, and

Pay to watch the tube, and

If I don’t have cable there’s no channels for me to flip

And that’s more grip

And if you’re poor, shit

They only give a few extensions (Not to me…)

Dimensions of the plot run thick (Thick)

Pretty soon we’ll pay for air when they figure out how to sell it

Tell it like you know it, and everybody wants to laugh

Probably never hear the truth, 'til they take away the cash

It’s a give and take

What you’re given’s what they take

There’s no leftovers

Only scraps on the plate

It’s a give and take

What you’re given’s what they take

There’s no leftovers

Only scraps on the plate

So many ways to drain a lifespan

Sometimes I worry late at night and

Try to fight the urge to smoke that bidi

But despite man’s will

Still my lungs are smoke-filled

And I hope to build with better tools

But I be playin' the fool still

Like, let me get a Sausage McMuffin with egg

A little liquor to get on a fade

And I would really have it made

If she would spread her legs

Probably aid me to my death

Before I got the chance to age

Wagin' war all my life

But even if I didn’t

Somebody else could do it, and

Wish me my good riddance

When I’m gone

Send me on my path, my merry way

Time is but the test

We livin' in scary days

It’s a give and take

What you’re given’s what they take

There’s no leftovers

Only scraps on the plate

It’s a give and take

What you’re given’s what they take

There’s no leftovers

Only scraps on the plate

It’s a give and take

What you’re given’s what they take

There’s no leftovers

Only scraps

Only scraps

No leftovers, only scraps

Give and take

(Nothing's ever left for me

Nothing’s ever left for me)