Ab-Soul's Outro

## Song by Kendrick Lamar featuring Ab-Soul

"**Ab-Soul's Outro**" is a song by Kendrick Lamar featuring Ab-Soul, released as the 15th track from the former's album *Section.80* (2011). For *Rolling Stone*'s 2021 list, "The 50 Greatest Kendrick Lamar Songs," it was placed at 39. They stated:

> [C]ould be a Freestyle Fellowship song—a freewheeling, six-minute odyssey about imminent martial law and Sisyphean student loans. Ab-Soul is positioned as the star, but Kendrick steals his own song with a second verse that builds to the mission statement that defines his career.
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## Lyrics

**Lyrics**
[Verse 1: Ab-Soul, *Alori Joh*, **Kendrick Lamar**]

What's your life about? Enlighten me

Is you gon' live on your knees or die on your feet?

It's fire in the street, fire in my Swisher

Fire in between the two legs of your lil' sister

Just get a sip of this elixir

Before they crop us out the picture

I've never seen a crop circle

But I seen cops circle the block

I puff squares, but I swear, one day, I'ma stop

My nerves itch

On the brink of my career

While my peers struggle for employment

Can you hear these screams?

**(Uncle Sam ain't no kin to me)**

One, two, three, four grams and a fifth of Hennessy

A bad bitch, fuck the penitentiary

*Section 80s babies, blame Ronald Reagan*

*We raising hell, hell (Oh)*

Lord forbid, the homies got wet, so we trying to soak it in

The president is Black, but you can't vote for skin

You vote for the better man

Come to our show, you could see the diversity

Unify the people, they gon' peep it universally

We might not change the world

But we gon' manipulate it, I hope you participatin'

Ayo, Dot, won't you let these cats know?

We knew we'd be here, like, back in '04

Started HiiiPower because our generation needed a generator

In a system meant to disintegrate us (Ooh)

And all we do is assist them

We're not victors, we're victims

The bigger picture isn't developed yet

Like, what if Keisha was celibate?

Or what if Tammy came across a real man

Who didn't play games like children?

My n\*\*\*a cheated on his girlfriend

With his girlfriend's girlfriend, let the world end

And everybody tripping off 2012

And the extraterrestrial presence as well

(Odd Future's aight) But our future is not

That martial law shit drop, we gon' all get got

So keep that question mark on your face

Eat your fast food, use your fluoride toothpaste

Hide your feelings from the public, work your lil' nine to five

Don't forget to pay your tithes and thank God you're alive

**HiiiPower**

And on another note

We focused like the Hubble Telescope

Soul

[Chorus: Kendrick Lamar, *Alori Joh*]

Life is a traffic jam, life is a traffic jam

(*Life is a traffic jam*)

Life is a traffic jam, life is a traffic jam

Life is a traffic jam, life is a traffic jam

(*I'm ready to go, ready to go*)

Life is a traffic jam, life is a traffic jam

(*Ready to go, ready to go*)

Life is a traffic jam

Life...

[Verse 2: Kendrick Lamar, *Ab-Soul*]

I wrote this because I was ordered to

People say I speak for generation Y

Why lie? I do, Section.80

Your son'll play me if radio won't

Daughters that just turn one 'til twenty-one listen to Kendrick

For instance

*What's your life about? Enlighten me*

*Is you gon' live on your knees or die on your feet?*

*Take out that student loan, and pay off your college degree*

*And do exactly what you see on TV*

True story

Hmm

Can you repeat that for me, Soul?

*What's your life about? Enlighten me*

*Is you gon' live on your knees or die on your feet?*

*Is you gon' plead the fifth or sound the horn?*

*The time is now, my child, come on*

See, a lot of y'all don't understand Kendrick Lamar

Because you wonder how I could talk about money, hoes, clothes, God, and history all in the same sentence

You know what all them things have in common?

Only half of the truth, if you tell it

See I spent twenty-three years on this earth searching for answers

'Til one day I realized I had to come up with my own

I'm not on the outside looking in

I'm not on the inside looking out

I'm in the dead fucking center, looking around

You ever seen a newborn baby kill a grown man?

That's an analogy for the way the world make me react

My innocence been dead

So, the next time I talk about money, hoes, clothes, God, and history all in the same sentence

Just know I meant it, and you felt it

'Cause you too are searching for answers

I'm not the next pop star, I'm not the next socially-aware rapper

I am a human motherfuckin' being over dope-ass instrumentation

Kendrick Lamar

Now fuck 'em up, Terrace

(*Soul*)

[Instrumental Solo: Terrace Martin]

[Outro: Kendrick Lamar]

I watch this fire that we’re gathered around

And see that it burns similar to the fire that’s inside you

Section.80

Section.80 babies

A generation of bliss and disobedience

No, they can't control us

No, they can't control you

No, they can't control us

But we can control each other

We build our own world

If you don't leave with nothing else tonight

You will leave with knowing yourself

You will leave knowing that you represent something that's bigger than all of us

Our family

Heart, honor, and respect

This is you

This is me

And we are HiiiPower

## References

1. ↑ "The 50 Greatest Kendrick Lamar Songs". *Rolling Stone*. November 9, 2021.