They say be a rapper, a rapper people like
An image to consume that’s appealin to the eyes
A tough guy, arrogant, cold heart, masculine
Gun talk rapping gotta grab em with a lie
I ain’t saying that its wrong to talk about the violence
As long as people understand what causes all this fightin
Context matters, a method to the science
We use to drop gems but they pressure us to minus
The narrative of life so that you fit into a type
Of manufactured hype, rapper purchasing they likes
Judgin what is ill free of substance on the mic
Its like buzz over everything insultin our minds
Measured by your followers and never for your rhymes
An image to project it’s the cleverest disguise
A so-called boss but your art is compromised
No wins just losses and toxins full of lies

They say image be everything image be ya life
Naw, image over everything like everything’s a lie
If image is bigger then what happens when you die
Does the picture that you paint kill the soul livin inside

Young girls watchin’ reality TV
Parents at work, they ain’t knowing what she sees
Buy this buy that in order to be she
Celebrity status follow and feed me
Thinkin all you gotta be is pregnant and 16
Put you on the screen and now you living your big dreams
Baby turned accessory 21st century
Poison for your mind understand the severity
Ads in excess, causing trauma to the head
Lack of self-esteem like its fallin to its death
Hope you watchin where you step cause this problem still extends
To young boys that get so insensitive with less
Compassion to express what they see as being weak
So they hyper-agress, be as hard as concrete
Trapped inside a box putting thoughts all to sleep
Just following the image, make em opposite of free

They say image be everything image be ya life
Naw, image over everything like everything’s a lie
If image is bigger then what happens when you die
Does the picture that you paint kill the soul livin inside

Mainstream images misconstrue cool
With cool being bad so bad they wanna do
Or at least emulate a certain image to a cue
In leui of their refusal to confront whats true
Confront whats you the real behind the oohs
The smoke and mirrors we needin a clearer view
Passed all the booze, the partying like a fool
Spendin your parents money but never will finish school
And its true we as people switch on fly
When you workin and you searchin within you to fake a smile
Cause cake is on the line, bills pay it on time
So we teeter on the line between the image that we try
To get people to see and what buried deep inside
It’s a climb we take in world so cold
An rotten apple pie that we all got sold
To conform to an image in exchange for your soul

They say image be everything image be ya life
Naw, image over everything like everything’s a lie
If image is bigger then what happens when you die
Does the picture that you paint kill the soul livin inside