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about

Growing up in Compton in the ‘80’s and early 90’s was crazy. Gangs were at their height, and the police was just another gang. I’d seen, first hand, the effects of gang violence and police brutality. A kid growing up in an environment where I felt that I couldn’t trust anyone but those closest to me was a test in mental health. The song is about the effects that this environment had on me, even after I’d removed myself from it.

lyrics

Verse 1:
Compton in the ‘80’s was the place that I be,
Probably suffering from PTSD,
Gang shit crazy cop shit worse,
News fucking hates me feel like I’m cursed,
At an early age had to see the world real,
8 when I saw the first cat got killed,
10 watched popo smash a dude’s grill,
Really no reason just do what they feel,
Couple years later pops moved to the A,
Was I a reason that he was moving away,
Baby cousin killed in a driveby,
Everyday feeling like I might die,
Stopped doing homework grades fell too,
Family thought drugs was the change of mood,
Tried to talk to my mom always came out angry,
Thinking that I was going fuckin crazy.

Verse 2:
Man I hated who I was,
Couldn’t fucking face who I was,
Didn’t understand it held it all in,
This is really where my pain begins,
Lack self esteem and had self loathing,
Used arrogance hide like clothing,
Headphones on Public Enemy and Ice Cube,
empowerment they preaching couldn’t truly vibe too,
My pain was a lot more embedded,
Hid where race and religion couldn’t get in,
One eye angry one eye sad,
Couldn’t speak on it was a boy that’s Black,
Self-medicated wasn’t with drugs,
Sex was the way that I gained self love,
That was just a temporary fix,
Every day looking for more hits.

Verse 3:
Latasha had scared of the corner store,
Cops had me scared to ask questions,
Gangs had me scared to wear colors,
LA’s a powder keg and I’m stressin,
Looking in the mirror only saw flaws,
Tried to get better always had pause,
I was also happy when writing,
Things I’m going through I started reciting,
This was my first try at therapy,
Using my art to repair me,
Wasn’t going too deep though,
So after every song back down rabbit hole,
Same self image needed new latitude,
College in the A need a new attitude,
Clark Atlanta University that was 94,
Two years flunked out now lost even more..

credits

from Rebuilding Greenwood, released February 28, 2018

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Quanstar Atlanta, Georgia

Quanstar is an underground hip hop artist out of Atlanta. Originally from Compton, his major influences were artists like Ice Cube, Souls of Mischief, and Common.

Known as hip hop's da Vinci, Quanstar is also a filmmaker, author, and comic creator. In just around 15 years, he's released over 15 projects as an independent artis ... more

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