Goodman

## Song by Ab-Soul and Punch

"**Goodman**" (stylized in all caps) is a song by Ab-Soul and Punch, released as the 6th track from the former's fifth studio album, *Herbert* (2022). It samples the 1971 song "Am I a Good Man" by Them Two.

## Critical reception

*NPR* wrote of it being a "standout" track with its questions of morality.

## Personnel

* Andrew Boyd – producer, composer, mixing engineer, recording engineer
* Demetrius Lewis II – mastering second engineer
* Hari Bhatt – recording engineer
* Henry Was – bass
* Herbert "Ab-Soul" Stevens – main artist, lyricist
* Kelvin Anderson, Sdrek Mangum – background vocals
* Kevin "Python P" Pennington – producer
* Matthew Schaeffer – composer
* Nicholas de Porcel – mastering engineer
* Phillip Rodrian – composer, lyricist
* Rory Behr – producer, mixing engineer, recording engineer
* Willie J Clarke, Clarence Reid, Terrence Henderson – lyricist

## Lyrics

**Lyrics**
[Intro: Ab-Soul]

Yeah, mic check, mic check, one-two

Ugh

Yeah

Ayy

Man, look

[Verse 1: Ab-Soul]

Righteous man, wrong one to fuck with

Run quick, get a eye exam (Uh)

Couldn't see me if I just swam

Couldn't touch me with Midas hand—y'all don't feel me though

Literally, never had a bully thus far

But temptation my sparring partner

My guard's up like the air forced me (Yeah)

Your crew's a fiction story

Therefore (Therefore), never dare cross me

To speak the good word's what we here for (Listen)

But that, you knew

Don't even get me started with a sentence

'Less we talkin' bout capital (No cap)

Yeah, Ab-Soul after loot, that's true

Put it together, absolute, that's true, you know

Soul glow like a spray for your natural

I ain't as friendly, but I move like Casper move (Yeah)

You never seen me with a semi, I ain't have to shoot (Yeah)

To keep it El Capitan, theatrical (Huh)

Never wore a rosary or went to confession

But if I could clean this mess up with a message, it'll be a blessing (Ayy)

God willing

You may have heard of Jack and Jill, but we not healing (Man)

N\*\*\*as still packin' steel?

Man, we need to stop tripping (Yeah)

Why throw your block up if you're not buildin'? (Huh)

And the streets keep watching every step I take

They wanna chop it up with Soul like the old Kanye (Soul!)

The angel with an angle, the demon that means well

Rewrite history, then sell it for retail, yeah

[Interlude]

*"Positive or good forces clearly triumphant" isn't an interesting game*

*What we want is a game where it always seems that the good side is about to lose*

Yeah

[Verse 2: Punch]

Standing on the shoulder of giants, a good man turned tyrant

That's the aftereffects of my environment

I'm much more enlightened, my senses are more heightened

Me and A-B hyphen like the Clash of the Titans

Ducking the sirens, Gorgon on my garments

Heart of stone over the organs, flow like Poseidon

I'm like a Lycan, no silver lining, I don't like what you writing

You a little out of line, you believe the hype

Sooner or later, you feel the wrath of my bite

And I ain't even gotta slide, I might do it out of spite (Do it out of spite)

N\*\*\*as is testing my imperfections

'Til I run the misdirection and blitz your whole section

This might offend my political connections

J\*\*\*a told me "Why bother with peasants?" (Leave them bitches alone)

A good man, might I remind myself

But I'll chop you boys in half, you be beside yourself, haha

[Interlude]

When it comes to Herb, bruh, first off

He— know what I'm sayin', he wouldn't just snap off with the snap, you feel me?

And, like, just how he finessed a lane and really snapped into his own

I got respect to the— even limpin', you still kickin' it, you feel me?

So yeah, yeah, that's—

So I'ma— I'ma take it back to the on-the-phone mixtapes

Hotboxin' the whip where I'm just havin' an opportunity to make volumes

You know what I'm sayin'?

This was before the mixtapes, before any single dropped

## References

1. ↑ Xie, Teresa (December 20, 2022). "Ab-Soul (feat. Punch), 'GOODMAN'". *NPR*.