featuring B.L.A.X.Smith on the hook and second verse… BETTER 2 BE is Track 4 on the upcoming SANCT EP
A seed originally planted in 2009 grew into this hook delivered by B.L.A.X.Smith. I’m pretty sure my wife was out of town when Sade dropped her first single in a decade or so, Soldier of Love.
When Soldier of Love dropped, I immediately started dreaming of lyrics and rushing to where I knew someone could record them. I wanted to remix that song Wes Sanders style by morning. [ And Tif had to have been out of town, because in my verse I blatantly mentioned the life-changing late night West Texas blizzard we’d recently driven through in a Celica. ]
When I got to the Treehouse, aka Burro Magic’s crib, he and Smith didn’t look at me crazy. They were up, and they asked if they could record on it too. I said yes. But I finished mine that night, and had a good enough version to show for it by morning. Burro went to town on the arrangement. On short notice, no less (dap).
I didn’t do much with it besides put it on a podcast I did at Matt’s house shortly after that, and randomly email it to FWMJ and V-Zilla. Because.
Smith never let go of that one line from the Soldier of Love Fleaux — that one bar, those four counts, 11 words “and if you know you’re blessed / then what’s better to be”.
So eventually I sent him a beat and challenged him to make a hook out of it. This challenge came about a year after that late night session, by the time I was settling into Long Beach life, running 10K’s for breakfast and putting together what would become the 2012 SANCT EP produced entirely by Reggie Coby. Which, by the way, is coming out in ohhh… 10 weeks!
[ the hook in this video did not exactly make it ]
BETTER 2 BE
[chorus] sometimes we open our eyes and can’t see / the feeling of our heart, inside, with no beat / open up a window outside, with no breeze / and if you know you’re blessed, then what’s better to be
open up a window outside, with no breeze / the feeling of a heart, inside, with no beat / sometimes we open our eyes and can’t see / and if you know you’re blessed, then what’s better to be, haaannh…
if you know you’ve got it then what’s better to give / get ahead on your biz, how’s better than if / gotta pass down what we put together to kids / we investing in them, they need better to live / and we got all we need, so all excuses aside it takes a man to provide / who’s ready to ride instead of playing pinnochio being nosy and wishing / sometimes we open our eyes with no vision / condeming ourselves, feeling depressed / even if you don’t feel it yourself, really you’re blessed / it’s like we say we’re alive but can’t breathe / believing lies between the lines but can’t read / sometimes we’re hearing the message but can’t do / complaining as if the solution ain’t you / think of eternity, spending it beautifully / and if you’re blessed then what’s better for you to be
[chorus]
[B.L.A.X.Smith] now, i’ve been traveling here for a few years / i can cut the tension with a few shears / had a couple rainy days forecast clear / potholes in the road, it’s over now, last year / they say I’m getting too old, they’re counting class years / not to mention what i’ve done these few past years / pay attention, listen, learn to what you have here / negative energy’s an enemy like a bad peer / so, why you knock it, judging me by what’s in my pocket / you tried to hock it, instead of sticking to the knowledge / this ain’t the kind of information that you get from college / this is the art of salvation from when you’re paying homage / i’m on the right road, i got a light load / getting heavy in the chevy, climbing heights though / i’m still in fight mode, until it’s time to go / control your own and be careful for what you’re fighting for.
Scholar Emcee 
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