High Expectations Songtext
von Common

Come on, let′s get started
Don't listen to that street talk
That street talk is dead
Don′t be talkin' 'bout no drugs and no pop oozies around here
If you ain′t got no basketball in your hand and wanna shoot it out
You got to go somewhere else

And I don′t expect you to be someone else but your own
All I expect you to give is all you got
And I don't expect you to be someone else but your own
All I expect you to give is all you got

Unattached and calm, Sundays in Palm
With intentions to make it to the league
Intrigued by two-letter cars, SEs and GS′s
On the court against, I leave like messages
Plagued by this ballplayer exorcist
It's sort of foul how the world be reppin′ us
Kenny is our Moses in this five-on-five exodus
For the game of life, full courts ain't preppin′ us


Schools want me, but the ghost of man go haunts me
Plus they wanna crib me way out in the country
I'm city like streetlights and some games and beef fights

Never worked on my left, so it's hard to be right
Either Rich Porter or Mike is who I wanna be like
The story of many black males that I refuse to rewrite

And I don′t expect you to be someone else but your own
All I expect you to give is all you got
And I don′t expect you to be someone else but your own
All I expect you to give is all you got

Brothers' opinions is biased
Like Glenn that I′ll end up like Ben Wilson

Still some pretend to be friends
Beneath the grin, I see the chin spoke of in the Torah
More so than my soul, my jumper is pure
People play juror, I witness the fall of legends


Once was a joint, now they resin
Got a God-given present
My gallant talent is like a magic
Trick turned by a chick with a bad habit
Opportunity to move, I grab it
Me and my moms had static
Now I rekindle, seein' havoc
Man-to-man talks with Kenny
Send me to a zone, been on my own for so long

My vocal tone′s grown
Competition gets blown like speakers
When I cross 'em like Jesus out of bleachers
Frogs and beepers, yo, Boogie, it′s all good

But it could be better, wanna stay eighteen forever
But nah, I stay on point like Rod in the Strickland
If Brooklyn courts was a canvas, then I would be the big man

And I don't expect you to be someone else but your own
All I expect you to give is all you got
And I don't expect you to be someone else but your own
All I expect you to give is all you got

From thoughts that pennies bring
Our assembled teams like the Kenny Kings
Think fast over breaks, dialect I′m dribbling
Remembering night posters of Moses in the Supreme Court

Realizing that rap and life are team sports
I follow lead thoughts, moves never precede thought
Lyrical Johnny Cochran ′cause of the way I pre-thought
The system make a nigga think to make it that he needs sports

Or either to the tip, he gotta resort
My seed a retard to start his own in a George Carter zone
Don't wanna be a dope fiend seed livin′ in his mama's home
Or speakin′ to my fans in a starvin' artist tone
Unknown zones I roam with mind architecture
Spark the lecture, emphasize and let God direct ya

And I don′t expect you to be someone else but your own
All I expect you to give is all you got
And I don't expect you to be someone else but your own
All I expect you to give is all you got
And I don't expect you to be someone else but your own
All I expect you to give is all you got
And I don′t expect you to be someone else but your own
All I expect you to give is all you got