Song: Ruff Nexx
Artist: Rationale aka James Crawford
Album: Life As An M.C.
Year: 2005

Yo, have you ever laid in bed, crushed in your room?/
All alone, pensive and just studied the moon?/
Starin at the night sky makes you feel insignificant/
Life might not be worth livin, but you'll consider it/
It was that time of the year when the leaves die/
And you begin to see your breath in the orange street light/
Still in high school, broke, pushin an 84 whip/
Others had nice rides, man, we couldn't afford shit/
Me and my mans, with nothin but our feet and our hands/
Eatin chicken, cocoa puffs, and beans in a can/
Dreams beat us up, and they kept us seethed as fuck/
Cause workin at Pizza Hut would never be enough/
And we knew, still, we kept on going through it/
Because, some loot is more than none, don't stupid/
Fuck it, if you're down man, I'm willin to go so far/
As to muggin ducks in Jack Town with a crowbar

(Chorus)
There's so much rain that falls but I never fear/
Just deal with it everyday and hope the weather clears/
When you try to change the unchangeable you make it worse/
That's when you have to step back and let nature take it's course/
There's so much rain that falls but I never fear/
Just deal with it everyday and hope the weather clears/
When you try to change the unchangeable you make it worse/
That's when you have to step back and let nature take it's course

Yo, it never came to felonies, but we still were crooked/
And any opportunity to make coin, we took it/
It was rough, havin nothin but shit for luck/
Sittin around pissed and stuck while others lived it up/
Disgruntled, feelin like my world was runnin down a funnel/
So the dreams that I held tight seemed to crumble/
No one understood what went on inside my brain/
So I held back and stayed busy just to hide the pain/
Choppin beats, to go along when I was droppin speech/
And my man was there to help me out with a lot of each/
Even we had our own ups and downs like yo-yos/
Like from stayin up late practicin what we learned at the dojo/
To goin at each other's throats and afterwards felt bad/
Mad at the world with just each other to yell at/
It makes sense now but was a total mess then/
So here's to understanding me, my best friend

(Chorus)

Two souls who sought to act right, and accordingly/
Dared to be different in a sea of conformity/
And most importantly used free throught and applied it/
So much that it's something we still actively reside with/
Cause even though these days it ain't so bad/
Experience doesn't let us forget the pain we had/
Each day in my room I rise and think who am I?/
Look deep into the mirror and I see it through my eyes/
It's being able to materialize exactly what I'm dreamin (dreamin)/
Standing tall to fight for everything that I believe it (believe in)/
Even if it means accepting facts that make wear a frown/
Cause ruff-neckin's bearin heart when the world tears you down (yeah)/
Takin what you got and makin the best of it/
Even though you know others'll hate on you and think less of it/
Tough isn't simply a mean mug and metal/
It's the difference Mista Chuck said between thug and rebel

(Chorus)