
1. Jonathan
Lyrics: J. Rayfield
​
Doc Watts, Uh, Jon, uh, Jonathan...
My Name's Jonathan
​
When I get ready to put word to song
Got my head in check, ledger set
herb is strong
take a heavy hit, then draw upon my truth
Doc Watts on the signature my nom de plume
Write a fair simulation of the thoughts that pour
out my mind, stimulated by provocateurs
spent time chasing crumbs but I lost the source
Thumbs out tried hitching but I'm off my course...
Limped back, then I changed it up
Linked up with Daywalkerz and we made it STRUT
Creativity sparked, Ronesh stoked the coals
Flip flows got a brother turning hope to goals
I'm in the moment and the focus grows
Cut a track and I'm like "Oh this goes!"
Cut, print, we go promote
'What's your name kid? the tracks is dope!'
​
Doc Watts, Uh, Jon, Uh, Jonathan...
My Name's Jonathan
​
Sit back give the rhythm a go
give slack to the rigmarole
they too taught, they taught bull
scatalogical plots pulled
and spun it to the flock as gospel
(Ooh, soft wool)
I don't knock creeds I'm not rocky
I'm not Big Shaq yo I don't spit hot tings
We not steeds don't need no jockeys
I rock PT so I don't get locked knees
Watts beam bright raps that's not shocking
I show gratitude so I don't get cocky
One drawback, as you feed your ego
it's key to success but can keep your fees low
it's a tough stretch breaking from the have-nots
enough stress to twist your guts in bad knots
But I'll be dusty stitched up with my last fuck
I tucked it in my sock for fast luck
Catch up...
2. Henry
Lyrics: J. Rayfield
​
Streets of elgin was watching him, Him and his twin
Broke black same story told again and again
Grew up fast at only 16 losing his pops
Couldn’t think back to a time his father’s movement had stopped
Pop had hustled to provide and hit the road gigging
Mom had a dozen kids and all of ‘em had provisions
Kid grew up and tried to rock but he had no rhythm
Dropped out of high school had no job and no vision
Copped a job at KFC but it was no living
then he messed around and quick tore up the whole kitchen
Stepped to trade school, then he found his soul’s mission
Bringing happiness to all with his composed dishes
Blessed enough to find a passion that fulfilled his life
And yo this cat was lucky check this out one random night
New years eve he crashed a spot and he spied
A girl he’d one day ask to be his wife, and she’d be for life
Father to son taught him how it was done
Settled down and had a daughter he’s a father of one
When his little girl was four years old he fathered a son
Promised that he’d never do the things his father had done
Loved his kids above his life and didn’t bother to front
Moved to Evanston and made it home living the dream
Worked each day to bring the bacon home, literally
Hustled hard and kept the lights on
Slept thru most of the day, most of his nights gone
didn’t see the fam as often but he had to work
And he was faithful to his wife but he just had to flirt
Charming devil at the ready with a laugh or smirk
The brother only ever had a happy heart
Time slippin’ away, how many summers past?
Yea he Went thru some drama (that’s another track)
Then in 1999 his daughter had a son
And he smiled as an enduring legacy had sprung
Father to son showed him how it was done
you died six weeks before my wedding day
No forgetting you I think about you every day
Carry you in my middle name, check the legacy
think about you every time I cook up anything
I’m also just as dedicated to my inner circle
Pretty stubborn and i haven’t figured out how to work slow
I’m devoted to my wife but i’m a little flirt
Some people say they see you in me when they see me smirk
I know you were proud of the man that I am
I also know that You were my biggest fan
I’m grateful for that year we got to be a team
I’m proud I got to help a man support his dream
I miss casino trips and chillin’ up late
Shooting pool and stressin’ bout slingin’ lunch plates
Rest easy pops, I’ll see you on the other plain
Henry Rayfield, that was his name
Love you dad
​
3. Alienated (Interlude)
4. Grind
Lyrics: J. Rayfield, Defcee, G. Maximo-Gomez
​
WORK, EAT, SLEEP REPEAT (the grind)
​
Wattson:
What difference do days make
If they’re consistently the same shape?
Noses on grindstones which we condone to play safe
It sets a tone morale is low but that’s a play fake
Stuck in the matrix hit reset and watch the game break
It’s easier to say than do, but that’s the game stakes
Just gotta lean into it and live up to your namesake
Our ancestors left traces for us to be great
Their voices guide us affecting Choices that we make
Think of ourselves as polite but we’re confused
cuz violence is in our cells
So we fight everything that moves
including the ones we love, delighted as we abuse
Even when provided help...
We politely refuse to even admit we’re stuck,
keep lighting the fuse
Hoping that the drums explode, Before igniting the fuel
If it’s YOLO than I might be pining to make moves
man you ain't grinding you ain’t got them diamond-tippin’ tools
Bout that
WORK, EAT, SLEEP, REPEAT
​
Defcee:
Smiles on the devil face
your pension they collection plate
pound cake hella base, money off that chef 'n bake
wolves in tailored suits at confessions to keep the shepherds safe
and they gon stretch yo debt until the end of your measure tape
Cash rules for older gods in moneymaking hours
Oak-panelled offices with affidavits and catered flowers
whip up foreclosures and never needed no baking powder
pocket full of stones, politicians and banking power
Shark skin suits giving weekly loans
the differences between thieves and the CEOs
Are the resumes and the getaways
Tonights summer houses made of cellophane
where they be keeping rocks in the trebuchet
they pox spreading, the cure is invisible
the only assurance is spiritual, praying the hand of God slip
Juggling a surfeit of miracles, end of the line is predictable
clear as curtains while surgeons working to finish you
WORK, EAT, SLEEP, REPEAT
Iowa Rockwell:
Looking out the window,
5 in the morning lighting a slow burner
no word about new arrests for these old murders
Say her name I'm talking Brianna, or Tatiana,
I'm talking Sandra, Gotta formulate a plan bruh
We gotta protect our black women
We gotta protect our black men
Raise our black children to never hide from their black skin
The blacker the berry the sweeter the juice...
The longer the struggle the deeper the roots...
Can't no hoe strike me deep in my soil
take your leaves to other trees then watch this loving unfurl
Take your time as you navigate the evils that stand
I'll be damned if I ain't battling the evils within
Throwing hands shadow boxing with the best of myself
Giving everything I got until there ain't nothing left
You ever dance with the devil in the pale moonlight?
I ask that of all my prey, just like the sound of it...
WORK, EAT, SLEEP, REPEAT....
5. Overtime
Lyrics by R. Ghoshal, G. Maximo-Gomez, J. Rayfield
Ronesh:
The devil working overtime, angels took a day off
treachery promoted but integrity got laid off
justice won a few games, but couldn't make the playoffs
hope turns to spitefulness when righteousness don't pay off
the powerful and wealthy get forgiveness in abundance
but if the poor and desperate make mistakes they must be punished
no money for homes, got plenty for drones
bailouts for wall street, no relief for student loans
you on your own
it's been the American way,
where your bank account gets seen as a character trait
where FOX and CNN keep the dumb convinced
that one day they'll be part of the 1%
Billionaires
love using terms like self care
but when they vote they won't support universal healthcare
people thinking that the old chickens flown the coop
until the birds come home to roost, and drop a duece on your suit..
​
Iowa Rockwell:
x2
The devil working overtime
I seen him in the gym
He was putting shots up
Sweat was Dripping from his chin
Doing windmill sprints
getting ready for the last shot
people out here dying
he's the motherfucking mascot
Wattson:
I’m a say it plain and clear fuck the GOP
Goons Out Perpetrating crimes like casino chiefs
Giving Over Power to the few who think they kings
Global Over Population so we see no peace
Graft Overt Propaganda serve it up as news
Galvanize Our Paranoia we don’t trust what’s true
Gutting Our Programs now we got some fucked up youth
Got Older People deciding between drugs or food
G’d Out Predators as candidates with no damn shame
Gave out pardons in exchange for dough for more campaigns
Gerrymandering Our Precincts so they keep their seats
Thinking God Overrides Politics so they can cheat
Gripped Our Paper in the Senate then threw us some scraps
Grossly Overrepresented Pricks their deck is stacked
I Give Our President no credit for cleverness
He’s just another scab on the devil’s dick
​
Iowa Rockwell:
Chorus x 2
​
6. How I Feel
Lyrics J. Rayfield
​
x2
I want to feel the way everyone says they feel
Most of ‘em are either lying or been fed a pill
See their faces wanna go home where my shell can peel
Dip in the cut and see what of my self is real
​
Home base, get up out the work clothes post haste
Flannel on, flip on Amazon, hit the bowl and waste
The precious moments i’m awake
Most goals aren’t reached if you don’t give ‘em attention
But it goes both ways
Used to check ‘em off the list at a pretty bold pace
Then a second off the effort, and the city ghosts fakes
And then you let inertia hold weight
eight years the whole chrome on the manifold flakes
for a while i thought my voice had no place
Wrong upbringing wrong temperament, no bass
Then i stared into the glass and beheld a grown face
And i started making choices that suited my own taste
A Spark wake the engine from a cold state
Got the fuel flowing freely (seriously RO THANKS!)
A little rusty and don’t handle so great
And it don’t stop, with them squeaky old brakes
x2
(Just how he said i’d feel)
Thought he was prolly lying or i’ll be fed a pill
Get help and then go home to where my shell can peel
Dip in the cut and see what of my self can heal
​
knee high memories get mad blurred
I was Sensitive back when it was a bad word
saw how men did shit and in my heart i couldn’t be that
felt my feelings raw and knew that everyone could see that
push the stress down deep and I could calmy react
But then that one straw would hit the dromedary back
Snap the surface tension, WOH now the tears come
heart racing loud beating in my ear drums
Then the breath quickens feel my mind just start to spin
blood drain out of my head my vision darkening
Thoughts thickening not sure if this is how it end
Only took one attack for me to call it in
Same day i started reaching out to therapists
Thinking I could fix this on my own is arrogant
An intervention on the trauma is imperative
It’s intergenerational inherited
x2
You bet I feel
Anyone who says you shouldn’t has been fed a pill
Face your struggles and you might not need a shell to peel
Love yourself first and see what of yourself will heal
​
7. Never Disconnected (Interlude)
​
8. Bridge The Gap
Lyrics by: R. Ghoshal, J. Rayfield
​
Ronesh:
94-95 started playing the sax
96-97 started writing these raps
around the same time I first got the solo in band
improvising over whatever instrumental I had
Before I ever kicked an off-the-dome flow
or rip the microphone yo, I was getting my bag
but my interest, in my instrument
it would soon get switched
to a pen and pad
keyboard and Cool Edit trying to get my beats phat
made a couple slaps but it was something that they lacked
In order to go forward I had to look back
digging in the soul and the funk and the jazz
Now I'm both a student and a master of my craft
and I'm never disconnected cuz I'm bridging all the gaps
practice time travel on a two way path
and I'm standing right here between the future and the past...
​
Wattson:
Growing up all of my idols had been dead for decades
Feeling like I’m lost tryna chop thru a hedge maze
Peeps was reppin’ MJ and Scottie Pippin
I would fucks with’ Cannonball Adderlay and Johnny Griffin
Mingus, Ellington, Thelonious monk
Bebopping through the hallways exploding the funk
Dreamed of melodies that would drive the genre berserk
Dragging three horns around like Rahsaan Roland Kirk
studied music but I couldn’t commit, went to college
Hated practicing my scales, and perfecting my pitch
And then one day we was just messing round jamming with cats
Took my lips up off the sax and I slid in a rap
give big ups to the Sac
a band ahead of its time
I’m pretty good at sax but I know I’m better with rhyme
Overshare facts but I show I’m clever with lines
Build tracks from the root up your head in the pines
Keep dividing sub-genres, I’ll get in a slice
Or maybe fuck around with Ro and just develop a pie
Heavyweight kid camped near the edge of the ridge
The best way to cantilever the bridge
​
9. Stop Signs
Lyrics by: J. Rayfield
I’m always spitting stay focused...
now it feels bogus
Started life in passing lanes now it’s like I’m slow motion
Trying not to kick rocks wond’rin why I’m struggling
dapper rocking silk socks working while I’m juggling
Scrollin’ through todays news, Won’t ever chase away blues
Knowin’ black and brown brothers always gonna stay bruised
Few signs of Hay-zues, Or any god that you pray to
Just Hoping for change is like sleep-walking up K-2
it’s open range and propaganda’s gonna schill swill
Double Speak through forked tongues
they curse you with their ill will
Call me kiddo one more time and I’m about to Kill Bill
Got my Hanzo I’m bout to throw them chill pills
folks is in their corners waiting for a "what now?"
Used to be that taking knees was only after touchdowns
the act distorted to attack a perverse angle
While every black death is justified because they weren’t angels
Chorus x2:
And yo it’s not fine… And yo I’m not lyin’
The intersections only civilized with stop signs
And if we work to change, people may stop dying
Our generation's greatest sin is that we’re not trying
​
Our core belief system is we the best
lets just prep the whole semester so we beat the test
we get it done and brag about how we don’t even cheat
Then disproportionately fund the schools that need it least
Add a few different kinds of sugar like we feedin’ yeast
brew up concoctions of diabetes and heart disease
Pollute until intoxicated and its hard to breath
watch all the devastation wrought from a spark and breeze
Sprinkle in a gun per person and its to the races
Prepping for the end so dig down or go to space
the surface is irradiating yeah we gettin’ lit
Politicians behaving like they don’t give a shit
So then you have to stop and question how they benefit
They’re certain that they’ll meet salvation at the end of it
And if you just thought “nah wattson i’m not buying it”
Just read the news then google Christian Zionist
Chorus x2:
​
I’m out here hustlin’ for recognition, Call it likes
I got confined into an echoed prison, all was right
Had no respect for my own health condition, Call it spite
Hoarse in the throat from yellin’ yolo and, Ball is life
Expecting any day to pay for all my past mistakes
terrified wondering which breath will be the last i take
Why do I stress that truth is cast as fake
Forget the water level, We don’t even agree how the glass is shaped
Discouraged that our conversations have no grasp of faith
There’s no trusting opposing views and so we’re past debate
So obsessed with what we might lose that we arrive at hate
Never considering you cannot have and eat the cake
We look at things in terms of how we divide
But we can make a bigger pie and give an option to thrive
If we cooperate we ought to survive
As long as everybody Stop at the signs
​
10. Library of Babel
Lyrics by: J. Rayfield
​
(Slow Pitch)
I sit in silence resting tenuously in the clearing
fatigued conserving energy til enemies appearing
Silence interrupted by the ringing in my ears
set the goal of conquering my fears
​
Everyone want to be in the lights, Why shouldn’t i want it too?
Even just a teeny tiny bit? I promise to stay calm its cool
They say to truly test your character make power moves
Forge the gauntlet in the dying star and then go run the jewels
Then go in for daps, ya shoulder collapse,
ya whole metacarpals are cracked
But I hold in the snap, I know that I’m trapped,
it felt like I charred a synapse
What even happened there my memory is lapsing scared
Flipped through volumes only to discover missing chapters teared
...Torn... the pages disintegrate when they detach from the tome
…Warned… enraged by the din that it make in the back of my dome
...stormed… involuntarily i pressed record
All the words are missing but I never will forget the chords
(Slow pitch)
Step by step I must creep further in the murky depths
Eyes adjusting to the dark the shadows keep dispersing breath
These Melodies creeping from the corners of the distant past
Filling my heart with dread but I push forward on the twisted path
Always anxious did my best to fake it but it manifest
In ways I didn’t plan with panic stress and pressure head and chest
Pain accumulated now I say I’m anxious and depressed
Unaddressed it fester til I can’t ignore the damage left
focus on creative outlets got to keep my blessings fed
Piece together captions of some long forgotten lessons read
The shimmer of recognition gleams when things seem hopeless
I’m actually certain that I wrote this...
​
(slow pitch)
I’m on the trail… crawling like a snail
But you’ll still find me nipping at the tail
I’m on the trail… bracing for the hail
If I don’t catch me slipping i can’t fail
​
break:
​
Coulda woulda shoulda but you can’t or won’t or shouldn’t
I don’t know your cop out yet
I just know I couldn’t be the man I am
if I didn’t get the courage up to rock a set
Rather be a prophet than to turn one
Ampin’ up the wattage til it burns up
Slicing up the product like a surgeon
Gettin’ on the docket cuz it’s urgent
Wishin’ up to god it doesn’t hurt much...
Keepin’ vigil watching for diversions
Distractions ubiquitous now
And when your world becomes a fucking circus
You tend to get sick of the clowns...
And elephant shit,
It feels like a race to collect some irrelevant clicks
Watching as everything breaks to the point
That we’re all gonna be in a Hell of a fix
(slow pitch)
I shut my eyes Optics burning from excessive lumens
Steeled as I embark on the next chapter of this quest that’s looming
Sometimes the road less traveled leads people to nowhere
I guess i’ll never know until I go there
​
11. Destiny
Lyrics by: J. Rayfield
​
x2
Mon amor, je taime
my raison d'etre my reason to be
I ain't going nowhere
my girl you are my destiny
​
Man fuck Paris
We bout to fly to St Tropez
And take in the breeze
We'll laugh and have nowhere to be
Then slip over to Greece
I'll book a suite in Mykonos
Even get on one knee
So I have a chance to re-propose
​
x2
Chorus
​
We'll take the world...
I want you right there next to me
Love's just a word
We've realized our destiny
Mon amor je taime....
12. Out of My Mind
Lyrics by: J. Rayfield
It was one of the most peaceful times in a century
But then it all ended with a presidential tweet
(Appalling)
language degrades to distrust and memes
I get to the point I feel I must be dreaming
But i can’t sleep not for a second not today
They want to exhaust all my effort away
The most effective populace for blatant fascists
Is mollified by fear or just innately passive
Stoked the smoldered embers of our racist past
we smoked out the alt-right trying to ‘take it back’
The country that is, like it isn’t theirs
Like they shoveled a spot out and set out a chair
Never look to see their neighbor struggle never care
Take the the effort to point out that they have better hair
Go on Dig out all the coal that doesn’t need burning
you should be much more concerned about machine learning
Chorus:
I can’t seem to get you outta my mind
Everything I do, you just seem to keep staying on my mind
When i look at you, i just see the blind is leading the blind
It’s because of you, got me thinking that i’m out of my mind
The information age, it almost sounds sarcastic
Especially when you’ve get your stats gripped
And it’s your burden to fix
trading our datas a biz,
Monitoring charge is the rip
i’m out here reporting fraud like a snitch
I’m not just talking financials, it’s all intermixed
The articles you end up seeing, the products they pitch
They know that you’re discerning, but not in a pinch
And shit you’ve already given the inch
So now the hail mary pass, pressure on the defense
Something i really hope you will intercept
Think about it a sec. That’s really it, not even lecturing
Just think about it for a second, really question everything
outrage is so addictive, it releases dopamine
Take a second, use empathy, see what it’s supposed to mean
If it really still push you over the edge
Just Know that now they know how to tip you over the ledge
Chorus:
​
in 2043, theres no more majority,
Now you see why they be checking papers accordingly
Looking for any reason they can deport a g
I been native back to when they still imported peeps
Inevitable but they cling to authority
Acting like the systems can’t be led by minorities
So committed to regressing ignoring the script
How can you roll the ball backwards and score a hit
And why do all these “fine people” cry for more of it
And why is media repeatedly reporting it
They paint a world where the hatred is inordinate
Got me wanting to Rick and Morty through a portal quick
But yo I love this country, down to the core of me
The nations taken plenty hits to the torso we
Gotta see how we heal, whether we stand or kneel
Afterward Turn to our neighbor ask ‘em how he feel
​