Released: July 17, 2014

Featuring: B.o.B Mally Stakz

Songwriter: Joell Ortiz B.o.B Mally Stakz

Producer: The Heatmakerz

[Produced by The Heatmakerz]

[Intro]
Yeah

[Verse 1: Joell Ortiz]
Early on I knew I was a fan
Hummed the ice cream truck beat holdin' mommas hand
Told ‘em to turn it up in the dollar van
Nobody moonwalked better in they pajama pants
I used to try to tap like Gregory Hines
"Lean On Me" word for word, I knew every line
My moms blasting Anita Baker
No wonder I can bake it with a piece of paper...
Yea
Looking back, daddy left bad
It was cool though, music was my step-dad
I was raised by Stevie Wonder
Lionel Richie, Luther and all the Jackson brothers
I used to close my eyes and see far away
On harder days I would chop it up with Marvin Gaye
It was just a matter of time
I took a crack at the rhyme and worked this magic of mine

[Hook: Mally Stakz]
So when I felt like doing wrong, you helped me get it right
And when I felt like giving up, you gave me one more try
And when I felt like it was over, you didn’t let me die...
No, you didn’t let me die, music saved my life

[Bridge: Joell Ortiz]
So many different artists I get soul from
Still I move to the beat of my own drum
I’m an avenue and street away from where Hov from
Rest in piece, Biggie Smalls, (baby baby)

[Verse 2: B.o.B.]
Rock away, cats bumping gangster rap
I grew up in an era when it was a thing to trap
It was the world that I was always angry at, a maniac
Full of rage with nowhere to aim it at
We came up in the hood, but everybody ain’t adapt
My parents did the best they could, I knew my best to pay them back
I pay ‘em back, but just let me take it back
With no fashion, just airbrushed shirts and faded slacks
If you could do it no better you’d rock a Coogie sweater
All we knew was the hustle, we never knew no better
Getting crumbles the phrase, everybody could relate
We thought it’d last forever, who’d knew it’d be just a phase?
They labeled me a delinquent
Wasn’t nothing a teacher could ever teach me
It’s a miracle I ain’t get caught in this street shit
If it wasn’t for hip hop I wouldn’t be breathing...
Bands

[Hook: Mally Stakz]
So when I felt like doing wrong, you helped me get it right
And when I felt like giving up, you gave me one more try
And when I felt like it was over, you didn’t let me die...
No, you didn’t let me die, music saved my life

[Bridge: Joell Ortiz]
So many different artists I get soul from
Still I move to the beat of my own drum
I’m an avenue and street away from where Hov from
Rest in piece, Biggie Smalls, (baby baby)

[Verse 3: Joell Ortiz]
Somebody pinch me, this can’t be life
All these big cameras and fancy lights
Man... this must be a mistake
Just yesterday my mother cutting the cake
On my 10th birthday she told me to make a wish
Here I am right now surrounded by all of this
All of this, man, what a crazy life
Music, you really save my life, you really saved my life

[Hook: Mally Stakz]
So when I felt like doing wrong, you helped me get it right
And when I felt like giving up, you gave me one more try
And when I felt like it was over, you didn’t let me die...
No, you didn’t let me die, music saved my life

[Bridge: Joell Ortiz]
So many different artists I get soul from
Still I move to the beat of my own drum
I’m an avenue and street away from where Hov from
Rest in piece, Biggie Smalls, (baby baby)

Joell Ortiz

Joell Ortiz is a Brooklyn-based rapper of Puerto Rican descent, who was born on July 6, 1980.

His first big break came in March 2004, as a feature in The Source’s “unsigned hype column”; the second was winning the 2004 EA Sports Battle, which scored him a deal with Jermaine Dupri’s So So Def Records. This success was short-lived, as Dupri voided the contract to sign rapper Sonny, which produced beef between Joell and Jermaine.

Joell’s first major studio release was the 2007 The Bodega Chronicles