"Bring Me Down"
(feat. Brandy)

[Chorus: Brandy]
I always knew that one day
They'd try to bring me down
WOoow, one day, they tried to bring me down
ALways knew that one day, they'd try to bring me down
Dooown, way down

[Kanye]
We gon' to mass today, we have to pray
Besides what the pastor say, I have to say
Since Pac passed away
Most you rappers don't even deserve a track from me
You see, if you evern wanted to ever be anything
There'd always be somebody that shoot down any dream
There'll always be haters, that's the way it is
Hater niggaz marry hater bitches and have hater kids
But they gon' have to take my life 'fore they take my drive
'Cause when I was barely livin, that's what kept me alive
Just the thought that maybe it could be better than what we at at this time
Make it out of this grind, 'fore I'm out of my mind
And get some lee way on the he say she say
You girl don't like me, how long has she been gay
Spanish girls say "No able ingle"
And everybody want to run to me for their SINGLE
It's funny how these wack niggaz need my help
Wasn't around when I couldn't feed myself
Dog, If I was you, I wouldn't feel myself
Dog, If I was you, I'd kill myself
Made a mill myself, and I'm still myself
And I'ma look in the mirror if I need some help
Ask me from the heart, y'all all frontin
Everybody feel a way about K but at least y'all feel somethin

[Brandy]
Why you come here, I bet it only it was forget to get ya
What kind of dream we found, see I'm often at your cross way
forgetting it was that heaven let ya. They tried to bring me down

[Chorus - 5X]

"Hey Mama"

[Chorus]
(Hey Mama), I wanna scream so loud for you, cuz I'm so proud of you
Let me tell you what I'm about to do, (Hey Mama)
I know I act a fool but, I promise you I'm goin back to school
I appreciate what you allowed for me
I just want you to be proud of me (Hey Mama)

I wanna tell the whole world about a friend of mine
This little light of mine and I'm finna let it shine
I'm finna take yall back to them better times
I'm finna talk about my mama if yall don't mind
I was three years old, when you and I moved to the Chi
Late December, harsh winter gave me a cold
You fixed me up something that was good for my soul
Famous homemade chicken soup, can I have another bowl?
You work late nights just to keep on the lights
Mommy got me training wheels so I could keep on my bike
And you would give anything in this world
Michael Jackson leather and a glove, but didn't give me a curl
And you never put no man over me
And I love you for that mommy cant you see?
Seven years old, caught you with tears in your eyes
Cuz a nigga cheatin, telling you lies, then I started to cry
As we knelt on the kitchen floor
I said mommy Imma love you till you don't hurt no more
And when I'm older, you aint gotta work no more
And Imma get you that mansion that we couldn't afford
See you're, unbreakable, unmistakable
Highly capable, lady that's makin loot
A livin legend too, just look at what heaven do
Send us an angel, and I thank you (Hey Mama)

[Chorus]

Forrest Gump mama said, life is like a box of chocolates
My mama told me go to school, get your doctorate
Somethin to fall back on, you could profit with
But still supported me when I did the opposite
Now I feel like it's things I gotta get
Things I gotta do, just to prove to you
You was getting through, can the choir please
Give me a verse of "You, Are So Beautiful To Me"
Can't you see, you're like a book of poetry
Maya Angelou, Nicky Giovanni, turn one page and there's my mommy
Come on mommy just dance wit me, let the whole world see your dancing feet
Now when I say Hey, yall say Mama, now everybody answer me (Hey Mama)

[Chorus]

I guess it also depends tho, if my ends low
Second they get up you gon get that Benzo
Tint the windows, ride around the city and let ya friends know (Hey Mama)

[Verse 3]
Tell your job you gotta fake em out
Since you brought me in this world, let me take you out
To a restaurant, upper echelon
Imma get you a jag, whatever else you want
Just tell me what kind of S-Type Donda West like?
Tell me the perfect color so I make it just right
It don't gotta be Mother's Day, or your birthday
For me to just call and say (Hey Mama)

[Chorus (with variations)]

"Intro"

Kanye, can I talk to you for a minute?
Me and the other faculty members was wonderin could you do a lil som...
Somethin beautiful
Somethin that the kids is gon love when they hear it
Thas gon make them start jumpin up and down and sharin candy an' stuff
Think you could probably do somethin for the kids for graduation to sing?

"Graduation Day"

What in the fuck was that Kanye
I told you to do some shit for the kids
You can give me your muthafucking graduation ticket right now
You will not walk across that stage, you won’t slide across that stage
A muthafucka can’t pull you across that stage Kanye
Who told you see, I told you to do something up lifting
I’m trynna get you out here with these white people and this how you gone do me
You know what us a nigga
And I don’t mean that in no nice way
Had little kids sing about the shit, the jokes on you
You throw your mutha hands in the air, and wave good-bye to everybody
Cause you getting the fuck out of this campus
Mutha what you gone do now

I'm no longer confused but don't tell anybody.
I'm about to break the rules but don't tell anybody.
I got something better than school but don't tell anybody.
My momma would kill me but don't anybody.
she wants me to get a good ass job just like everybody.
She ain'twalked in my shoes i'm just not everybody.

"I'll Fly Away"

Some glad morning when this life is over,
I'll fly away.
To a home on God's celestial shore,
I'll fly away.

I'll fly away, O Glory,
I'll fly away.
When I die, Hallelujah, bye and bye,
I'll fly away.

When the shadows of this life have flown,
I'll fly away.
Like a bird thrown, driven by the storm,
I'll fly away.

I'll fly away, O Glory,
I'll fly away.
When I die, Hallelujah, bye and bye,
I'll fly away.

Just a few more weary days and then,
I'll fly away.
To a land where joy shall never end,
I'll fly away.

I'll fly away, O Glory,
I'll fly away.
When I die, Hallelujah, bye and bye,
I'll fly away.

"Workout Plan"

[Girl #1]
Ay Wussup gurl

[Girl #2]
Heyy gurl

[Girl #3]
Hey How u doin'?

[Girl #1]
Ay you know i finally got my shit together been watchin that workout plan gurl!!

[Girl #2]
Well you lookin' all good and stuff you got you a-

[Girl #1]
Gurl i know it's that workout

[Girl #2]
Got you a six pack shakuar and stuff

[Girl #1]
Don't say it

[Girl #3]
my nigga my nigga i'm tired of puttin 1-8-7 in my niggas pager that shit aint workin' no more

[Girl #1]
Gurl you know i'ma video hofesional now (Gurl) since i copped this new workout plan my shit
is right rollin' in lexus, acruasss everything gurll

[Girl #3]
Gurl u need to let me know where i can cop that how much is it?

[Girl #1]
Gurl you know you ain't gotta pay nuttin' around me i'm tha bootleg queeen i'll give it to
you for free.99

[Both girl #2, and #3]
FREE.99!!

[Girl #3]
That's my dawg you always lookin out for us

[Girl #2]
My nigga now i can throw away my bus pass and shit oh my God

[Girl #3]
Oh shit

"School Spirit Skit 1"

Now beat that
And your mothers sayin “go to college”
So u finish college and its wonderful
U feel so good
And after all the partying and crazing
And don’t forget about that drug habit u picked up at school bein around your peers
Hey now you’ll get that 25 thou, job a year and
You’ll spend all your money on crack cocaine, but it’ll be you’re your money
No more borrowin money from mom for my high
So now you get ur degree tattooed on your back your so excited about it
If u continue to work at the GAP, after several interviews, Oh my god!
You’ll come in at an entry level position and when u do that
If u kiss enough ass, you’ll move up to the next level
Which is being a secretary’s secretary!
And boy is that great, you get to take messages for the secretary
Who never went to college
Shes actually the bosses niece, so now your apart of the family
You know what college does for you?
It makes you really smart man
All you kids want to talk in the back of the class not me, I listened, ok
I was a hall monitor, This was meant to be,
You know how many classes I took, extra classes extra classes
No I’ve never had sex but you know what, my degree keeps me satisfied
When a lady walks to me says “hey u know whats sexy?”
I say “no, I don’t know what it is, but I bet I can add up all the change in your purse very fast”.

"School Spirit Skit 2"

You keep it going man, you keep those books rolling,
You pick up those books your going to read
And not remember and you roll man.
You get that a sociate degree, okay,
Then you get your bachelors, then you get your masters
Then you get your master's masters,
Then you get your doctron,
You go man, then when everybody says quit
You show them those degree man, when
Everybody says hey, your not working,
Your not making in money,
You say look at my degrees and you look at my life,
Yeah i'm 52, so what, hate all you want,
But i'm smart, i'm so smart, and i'm in school,
And these guys are out here making
Money all these ways, and i'm spended mine to be smart.
You know why?
Because when i die, buddy, you know
What going to keep me warm, that right, those degrees

"Lil Jimmy Skit"

[Man]
Hey Jimmy where you going?

[Jimmy]
I dont know where I'm goin.
My Dad died, and he left me his degrees.
My mom would always say "Dad, why dont you work?",
But he just kept learning.
All the other kids parents were working and saving up money for school,
And I was actaully in school all when my dad was in school.
He was so gready with degrees, he took my degree.
And now I'm just glad he left me these.
Because all the regular homeless people have newspaper, and look what I have.
These are documented.
My father left them for me.
And Im going to leave them to my kids.
I'm going to learn too.
I'm going to get super smart, so I to can die without money.
But I'll be the smartest dead guy.
Who has that.

"Last Call"

[Intro: Jay-Z (Kanye)]
[laughing]
Yo fuck you, Kanye, first and foremost
For making me do this shit. Muh'fucker
Had to throw everybody out the motherfucking room
'Cause they don't fucking..

(I'd like to propose a toast)
(I said toast motherfucker)

[Chorus: Kanye]
And I am (here's to the roc)
And they ask me, they ask me, they ask me, I tell them (here's to Rocafella)
Raise your glasses, your glasses, your glasses to the sky (here's to the roc)
This is the last call for alcohol, for the... (here's to Rocafella)
So get your ass up off the wall

[Verse 1]
The all around the world Digital Underground, Pac
The Rudloph the red nosed reindeer of the Roc
I take my chain, my 15 seconds of fame
And come back next year with the whole fucking game
Ain't nobody expect Kanye to end up on top
They expected that College Dropout to drop and then flop
Then maybe he stop savin' all the good beats for himself
Rocafella's only niggaz that help
My money was thinner than Sean Paul's goatee hair
Now Jean Paul Gaultier cologne fill the air, here
They say he bourgie, he big-headed
Won't you please stop talking about how my dick head is
Flow infectious, give me 10 seconds
I'll have a buzz bigger than insects in Texas
It's funny how wasn't nobody interested
'Til the night I almost killed myself in Lexus

[Chorus]

[Verse 2]
Now was Kanye the most overlooked? Yes sir
Now is Kanye the most overbooked? Yes sir
Though the fans want the feeling of A Tribe Called Quest
But all they got left is this guy called West
Better take Freeway, throw him on tracks with Mos Def
Call him Kwa-lI or Kwe-li, I put him on songs with Jay-Z
I'm the Gap like Banana Republic and Old Navy, and oooh
It come out sweeter than old Sadie
Nice as Bun-B when I met him at the Source awards
Girl he had with him - ass coulda won the horse awards
And I was almost famous, now everybody loves Kanye
I'm almost Raymond'
Some say he arrogant. Can y'all blame him?
It was straight embarrassing how y'all played him
Last year shoppin my demo, I was tryin' to shine
Every motherfucker told me that I couldn't rhyme
Now I could let these dream killers kill my self-esteem
Or use my arrogance as the steam to power my dreams
I use it as my gas, so they say that I'm gassed
But without it I'd be last, so I ought to laugh
So I don't listen to the suits behind the desk no more
You niggaz wear suits 'cause you can't dress no more
You can't say shit to Kanye West no more
I rocked 20,000 people, I was just on tour, nigga
I'm Kan, the Louis Vuitton Don
Bought my mom a purse, now she Louis Vuitton Mom
I ain't play the hand I was dealt, I changed my cards
I prayed to the skies and I changed my stars
I went to the malls and I balled too hard
'Oh my god, is that a Black Card?'
I turned around and replied, why yes but I prefer the term
African American Express
Brains, power, and muscle, like Dame, Puffy, and Russell
Your boy back on his hustle, you know what I've been up to
Killin y'all niggaz on that lyrical shit
Mayonnaise colored Benz, I push Miracle Whips

[Chorus]
"... last call for alcohol, for my niggaz"

[Outro]
So this A&R over at Rocafella, named Hiphop
picked the Truth beat for Beanie. And I was in the session with him
I had my demo with me. You know, like I always do
I play the songs, he's like "Who that spittin?"
I'm like "It's me." He's like "Oh, well okay."
Uhh, he started talkin to me on the phone
going back and forth, just askin me to send him beats
And I'm thinking he's trying to get into managing producers
cause he had this other kid named Just Blaze he was messin with
And um, he was friends with my mentor, No ID
And No ID told him, "look man, you wanna mess with Kanye
you need to tell him that you like the way he rap"
[No ID:] "Yo, you wanna sign him, tell him you like how he rap"
I was all, I dunno if he was gassin' me or not
but he's like he wanna manage me as a rapper AND a producer
[Hiphop:] "I'll sign you as a producer and a rapper",
I'm like oh shit
I was messin with, uh, D-Dot also
People were like this, started talking about the Ghost production
But that's how I got in the game. If it wasn't for that, I wouldn't be here
So you know. After they picked that Truth beat
I was figuring I was gonna do some more work
But shit just went poppin off like that. I was stayin in Chicago
I had my own apartment. I be doin' like, just beats for local acts
just to try to keep the lights on, and then to go out and buy
get a Pelle Pelle off lay-away, get some Jordans or something
or get a TechnoMarine, that's what we wore back then
I made this one beat where I sped up this Hal Melville sample
I played it for Hip over the phone, he's like "oh, yo that shit is crazy
Jay might want it for this compilation album he doin, called The Dynasty."
And at that time, like the drums really weren't soundin' right to me
so I went and um, I was listening to Dre Chronic 2001 at that time
and really I just, like picked the drums off Xxplosive and put it like
with it sped up, sampled, and now it's kind of like my whole style
when it started, when he rapped on 'This Can't be Life.'
And that was like, really the first beat of that kind that was on the Dynasty album
I could say that was the, the resurgence of this whole sound
You know, I got to come in and track the beat, and at the time
I was still with my other management. I really wanted to roll with
Hiphop. 'Cause I, I just needed some fresh air, you know what I'm
sayin, 'cause I been there for a while, I appreciated what they did
for me, but, you know there's a time in every man's life where he
gotta make a change, try to move up to the next level. And that day I
came and I tracked the beat and I got to meet Jay-Z and he said, "oh
you a real soulful dude" [Jay-Z: "you a real soulful dude"]. And he
uh, played the song 'cause he already spit his verse by the time I got
to the studio, you know how he do it, one take. And he said
[Jay-Z:] "check this out, tell me what you think of this, right here"
"tell me what you think of this." And I heard it, and I was thinking
like, man, I really wanted more like of the simple type Jay-Z, I ain't
want like the, the more introspective, complicated rhy- or the, in my
personal opinion. So he asked me, "what you think of it?"
[Jay-Z:] "so what you thinkin?"
And I was like, "man that shit tite,"
you know what I'm sayin', man what I'ma tell him? I was on the train
man, you know. So after that I went back home. And man I'm, I'm just
in Chicago, I'm trying to do my thing. You know, I got groups. I got
acts I'm trying to get on, and like there wasn't nothin really like
poppin' off the way it should have been. One of my homeys that was one
of my artists, he got signed. But it was supposed to really go through
my production company, but he ended up going straight with the
company. So, like I'm just straight holdin' the phone, gettin' the bad
news that dude was tryin' to leave my company. And I got evicted at
the same time. So I went down and tracked the beats from him, I took
that money, came back, packed all my shit up in a U-Haul, maybe about
ten days before I had to actually get out. So I ain't have to deal
with the landlord 'cause he's a jerk. Me and my mother drove to
[Mother:] "Come on, let's just go"
Newark, New Jersey. I hadn't even seen my apartment.
I remember I pulled up
[Mother:] "Kanye, baby, we're here",
I unpacked all my shit. You know, we went to Ikea, I bought a
bed, I put the bed together myself. I loaded up all my equipment, and
the first beat I made was, uh, 'Heart of the City.'
And Beans was still working on his album at that time, so I came up
there to Baseline, it was Beans' birthday, matter of fact, and I
played like seven beats. And, you know I could see he's in the zone
he already had the beats that he wanted, I did nothing like already at
that time. But then Jay walked in. I remember he had a GuccI bucket
hat on. I remember it like, like it was yesterday. And Hiphop said
"yo play that one beat for him." And I played 'Heart of the City.' And
really I made 'Heart of the City,' I really wanted to give that beat to DMX.
[Hiphop:] "No I think Jay gon' like this one right here".
And I played another beat, and I played another beat. And I remember that
GuccI bucket, he took it and like put it over his face and made one of
them faces like 'OOOOOOOOOOH.' Two days later I'm in Baseline and I seen
Dame. Dame didn't know who I was and I was like "yo what's up I'm Kanye."
[Dame:] "Yo, you that kid, Kanye?"
"You that kid that gave all them beats to Jay?
Yo, this nigga got classics"
[Dame:] "Jay got classics, G."
You know I ain't talkin shit.
I'm like "oh shit." And all this time I'm starstruck, man. I'm
still thinking 'bout, you know I'm picturing these niggaz on the show
The Streets is Watching, I'm lookin, these were superstars in my
eyes. And they still are, you know. So, Jay came in and he spit all
these songs like in one day, and in two days... I gotta bring up one
thing, you know, come back to the story, the day I did the 'Can't be
Life' beat on track, I remember Lenny S, he had some Louis Vuitton
sneakers on, he think he fly. And Hiphop was there, I think Tata, John
Minnelli, a bunch of people. I didn't know all these people at the
time they was in the room, and I said, "yo Jay I could rap." And I
spit this rap that said, uh "I'm killin y'all niggaz on that lyrical
shit. Mayonnaise colored Benz, I push miracle whips." And I saw his
eyes light up when I said that line. But you know the West, the rap
was like real wack and shit, so that's all the response.
He said "man that was tite."
[Jay-Z:] "That, that was cool. That was hot."
That was it. You know, I ain't get no deal then, hehe.
Okay, fast forward.
So, Blueprint, H to the Izzo, my first hit single. And I just
took that proudly, built relationships with people. My relationship
with KwelI I think was one of the best ones to ever happen to my
career as a rapper. Because, you know, of course later he allowed me
to go on tour with him. Man, I appre-- I love him for that. And at
this time, you know I didn't have a deal, I had songs, and I had
relationships with all these A&R's, and they wanted beats from me, so
they'd call me up, I'd play them some beats. "Gimme a beat that sound
like Jay-Z." You know, they dick riders. Whatever. So I'll play them
these post-Blueprint beats or whatever and then I'll play my shit. I'll
be like, "yo but I rap too." Hey, I guess they was lookin' at me crazy
'cause you know, 'cause I ain't have a jersey on or whatever
Everybody out there listen here. I played them 'Jesus Walks' and they
didn't sign me. You know what happened, it was some A&R's that fucked
with me though, but then like the heads, it'd be somebody at the
company that'll say "naw." Like, Dave LottI fucked with me, my
nigga Mel brought me to a bunch of labels. Jessica Rivera, man
[Jessica:] "Man, you niggaz is stupid if y'all don't sign Kanye, for real."
I'm not gonna say nothin to mess my promotion up
"Y'all niggaz is stupid". Let's just say I didn't get my deal.
The nigga that was behind me, I mean,
he wasn't even a nigga, you know?
The person who actually kicked everything off was Joe 3H from Capitol
Records. He wanted to sign me really bad.
[Joe:] "We gonna change the game, buddy."
Dame was like, "yo you got a deal with Capitol,
okay man, just make sure it's not wack."
[Dame:] "you gotta make sure it's not wack."
Then one day I just went ahead and played it, I wanted to
play some songs, 'cause you know Cam was in the room, Young Guru, and
Dame was in the room. So I played... actually it's a song that you'll
never hear, but maybe I might use it. So, it's called 'Wow.'
"I go to Jacob with 25 thou, you go with 25 hundred, wow
I got eleven plaques on my walls right now
You got your first gold single, damn, nigga, wow."
Like the chorus went. Don't bite that chorus, I might still use it. So
I play that song for him, and he's like "oh shit"
[Dame:] "Oh shit it's not even wack."
"I ain't gonna front, it's kinda hot."
[Dame:] "it's actually kinda hot."
Like they still weren't looking at me
like a rapper. And I'm sure Dame figured, 'like man. If he do a whole
album, if his raps is wack at least we can throw Cam on every song and
save the album, you know. So uh Dame took me into the office, and he's
like "yo man, we, we on a brick, we on a brick"
[Dame:] "you don't wanna catch a brick"
You gotta be under an umbrella, you'll get rained on.
I told Hiphop and Hiphop was all, "oh, word?" Actually, even with
that I was still about to take the deal with Capitol 'cause it was
already on the table and 'cause of my relationship with 3H. That, you
know, 'cause I told him I was gonna do it, and I'm a man of my word, I
was gonna roll with what I said I was gonna do. Then, you know, I'm
not gonna name no names, but people told me, "oh he's just a producer
rapper" and told 3H that told the heads of the Capitol, and right--
the day I'm talking about, I planned out everything I was gonna do
man, I had picked out clothes, I already started booking studio
sessions, I started arranging my album, thinking of marketing schemes
man I was ready to go. And they had Mel call me, they said
"yo... Capitol pulled on the deal"
[Mel:] "Yo, Capitol pulled out on the deal."
And, you know I told them that Rocafella was interested
and I don't know if they thought that was just something I was saying
to gas them up to try to push the price up or whatever. I went up... I
called G, I said, "man, you think we could still get that deal with Rocafella?"