Vanity Slaves
Kendrick Lamar

[Verse 1]

Sometimes I want to leave, sometimes I want to cry

Sometimes I hate to bear the truth, sometimes I want to lie

Sometimes I want to school the youth, sometimes I want to ride

Sometimes I want to not think, sometimes I want to vibe

Sometimes I want to bump Tribe and zone out

This song's 'bout a young boy that's gone wild inside

When my world collide

With your world where your girl and your kids reside

We killed the facades, we feel free to fly

We're birds that reserve in the charismatic sky

I care about my pride too much

If my clothes is new, if my ride is plush

If my hair is cut, if my diamonds is crushed

I look in the mirror, I'm trendy enough? Wrong

Insecurity roams the black community

Homes where kids must have jewelry

The high school female need earrings and details

So she can be cool to be, amongst popularity

The various name brands that reached the price scan

It's not about the right price but more like the right scam

To rule us all, confuse us all

Hit the bank within five minutes and then withdraw

Now let's draw

The picture of a rapper with a chain and Range that is not paid for

My cousin from the South said he just bought him a house

That lives around his neck like a white collar

So why fast forward? then I'll rewind, a time machine can help me double back to slavery times

Picking cotton from a field that a white man own

The blacker you are, farther you're from the white man's home

Negro spiritual songs, gave us some type of sanity

Before your vanity, they parted our families

They put us in hundred degree shade and outside we bathed

The more we were afraid, the more they made rules

And trapped our minds in a cage, our freedom was so vague

Couldn't see it with the eyes of Tracee Ross (uh)

And school was exempt, see we couldn't have smarts

And a smirk could get you hurt, wounded first from a scar

400 years of nothing, 400 years of suffering

400 years of tears, and tribulations, miseducation


See what we facing is now coming back to the roots

Remember whips on our back and if we would run they would shoot

Called us niggers and figured that we never live in pursuit

Of happiness, we capture these feelings in things that we do

Thought of abstinence of slavery but we made it come to

About a perspective, my shoe selection gotta be Louie

Her hand bag gotta be Gucci, it's fake then she fool me

She still bad though, and her fake Gucci ain't that bad though

We filling up the gas for Rollies

Upgrade to 26's after riding Kobes

My cousin from the South, slavery start in the South and I bet ya

He overcompensates for the life of his ancestors

So blame it on the 400 years we never saw

The reason why the next 400 we gotta floss

Slaves


[Outro]

I said the 400 years we never had nothing

Barely had clothes on our back

Is the reason why when we get a little bit of change

We over exaggerate on our living expenses

So if you get your first big check and you cop a chain before you buy a house

You're a vanity slave

If you're a female and you got 4,5,6 rings on your finger

Four holes in your left ear and a nose piercing

You're a vanity slave

If you got an 02' Monte Carlo with 24's on it

And on the back of the window it says *get on my level ho*

You're a vanity slave


We're all vanity slaves, and with that being said

Can somebody please tell me where the mall at?

I'm not from around here, hey Ali, where we at? Idaho?

Yeah nigga, you know the first of the month, checks coming in

I'm tryna get some

What up?


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Lyrics by Kendrick Lamar

  \u200bi (Album Version)   \u200bu   1 Train (Feat. ASAP Rocky, Joey Bad Ass, Yelawolf,...   25   6'7 (Freestyle)   A Million Dollar Arm Soundtrack (Snip)   A Tale Of 2 Citiez Remix   A.D.H.D   A.D.H.D.   Ab-Soul's Outro   Ab-Souls Outro   Alien Girl (Today With Her)   All Day   Alright   Autumn Leaves   Average Joe   B*tch Don't Kill My Vibe   Backseat   Backseat Freestyle   Backwards   Bad Blood   Bad Blood (Remix)   Balance Fasho   Barbed Wire   BET BackRoom Freestyle   BET Cypher   Better Off (Feat. Quadron)   Beyonce   Big Boys Neighborhood (Freestyle)   Biggie (Freestyle)   Bitch Don't Kill My Vibe (Remix)   Bitch Don’t Kill My Vibe (remix)   Bitch Dont Kill My Vibe (Remix) (Feat. Jay-Z, Emel...   Bitch Dont Kill My Vibe (Remix) (Feat. Jay-Z, Emel...   Bitch Dont Kill My Vibe (Remix) (Feat. Jay-Z, Emel...   Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe   Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe (International Remix)   Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe (Remix)   Bitch, Don\u2019t Kill My Vibe   Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe Remix   Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe   Black Boy Fly   Black Friday   Black Friday (A Tale Of 2 Citiez Remix)   Black fridayf   Blessed   Blessed ft. Schoolboy Q   Blow My High (Members Only)   Blue Faces   Bridget Kelly – Street Dreamin   Buried Alive   Cartoon & Cereal   Cartoon & Cereal   Cartoon and Cereal   Cartoons & Cereal   Celebration   Chapter 6   Chapter Six   Chapter Ten   Cloud 10   Collard Greens   Collard Greens (Feat. Schoolboy Q)   Collard Greens ft. Schoolboy Q   Collect Calls   Complexion   Complexion (A Zulu Love)   Compton   Compton Feat. Dr. Dre   Compton ft. Dr. Dre (Prod. by Just Blaze)   Compton's Finest   Comptons Finest (Feat. H.O.P.E.)   Control   Control   County Building Blues   Cut You Off   Cut You Off (To Grow Closer)   Determined   Do Yo Gudda (Remix)   Don't Kill My Vibe   Don't Kill My Vibe (Remix)   Don't Understand   Don't Understand   Double XL   Dumb It Down   Dying Of Thirst   F*ck Your Ethnicity   Faith   Far from Here   Fight The Feeling   For Free?   For Free? (Interlude)   For Sale?   For Sale? (Interlude)   For The Girlfriends   For The Homies   Forbidden Fruit (Feat. J Cole)   Fragile   Fuck Your Ethnicity   Funkmasterflex (Freestyle)   Get Bizy   Get Bizy ft. Kurupt & Bad Lucc (Prod. by Terrace M...   Good Kid   Good Morning America   GQ Man of The Year 2013 Freestyle   Growing Apart (From Everything)   Growing Apart (To Get Closer)   H.O.C   H.O.C.   Heart Pt. 3   Heaven & Hell   Heaven & Hell   Heaven and Hell   Heaven Help Dem   Higher Ground (BBC Radio Freestyle)   Hii Power   Hiii Power   HiiiiPoWeR   HiiiPower   Hol' Up   Hol' Up   Holy Ghost (Remix)   Homage To DPG ft. LaToiya Williams (Prod. by Focus...   Hood Gone Love It   Hood Politics   How Many Drinks   How Many Drinks (Remix) (Feat. Miguel)   How Much A Dollar Cost   Hub City's Wild Side   I   I (from California Dreams, 2015)   I Am (Interlude)   I Do This   I Do This (Remix)   I Do This (Remix)   I Hate You   I Want It All   I Want It All (Feat. B. Martin, Juicy J)   I'm Da Man   I'm On 2.0   I'm Da Man   I'm On 2.0   Ignorance Is Bliss   Im Da Man   Institutionalized   Interlude   Is It Love   Jason Keaton & Uncle Bobby   Keisha's Song   Keisha's Song (Her Pain)   Keisha's Song Her Pain   Keisha's Song   Kendrick Lamar   Kendrick Lamar BET Cypher Cypher at the BET Hip Ho...   Kendrick Lamar Interlude Track No.9 on Ab-Soul's '...   Kendrick Lamar Partynauseous is a duet with Lady G...   Kendrick Lamar Sing About Me Produced by Pac Div. ...   Kendrick Lamar: Rapper of the Year - GQ   King Kunta   Kush & Corinthians   Kush & Corinthians   Kush and Corinthians (His Pain)   Lamar You Ain't Gotta Lie   Lamar You Ain't Gotta Lie   Last Real Nigga Alive   Let Me Be Me   Lets Us Move On (Feat. Dido)   Little Johnny   LMAO   Look Out For Detox   Looks Good With Trouble (Feat. Solange)   Lunch Table   Lunch Table (Freestyle)   Lunch Table (L.A. Leakers Freestyle)   M.A.A.d City   m.A.A.d city Feat. Mc Eiht   Members Only   Memories Back Then   Memories Back Then (Feat. T.I., B.o.B)   Michael Jordan   Michel Jordan   Momma   Money Trees   Monster   Monster Freestyle   Mortal Man   Murder   Murder (Feat. The Game, Scarface)   My Mind Drifts   My People   Never Catch Me   No Make-Up (Her Vice)   No Makeup   Not Coming Down   Now Or Never   Opposites Attract (Tomorrow W\/O Her)   Opposites Attract (Tomorrow Without Her   Outrageous   P&P 1.5   P&P   P&P 1.5   Party Nauseous   Partynauseous   Pay for It   Phone Home   Poe Man Dreams   Poe Mans Dreams (His Vice)   Poetic Justice   Poetic Justice feat. Drake   Poetic Justicee   Power Circle   PP 1.5   R.I.P. (Remix)   R.O.T.C. (Interlude)   Rare Breed   Real   Real 92.3 Freestyle   Real feat. Anna Wise of Sonnymoon   Rigamortis   Rigamortis Remix   Rigamortus   Rigamortus (Remix)   Rip (Remix)   Ronal Reagan Era   Ronald Reagan Era   Ronald Reagan Era (His Evils)   Rossi Wine (Prod. by Droop E)   Say Whassup (Black Hippy)   Sex With Society   Shake It Off (Freestyle)   She Needs Me   She Needs Me (Remix)   Sherane a.k.a Master Splinter's Daughter   Sherane A.k.a Master Splinter's Daughter   Sherane a.k.a. Master Splinter’s Daughter   Sherane aka Master Splinter's Daughter   Shock The World   Sing About Me   Sing About Me / I’m Dying of Thirst   Sing About Me I'm Dying Of Thirst   Sing About Me, I m Dying of Thirst   Sing About Me, I'm Dying of Thirst   Sing About Me, I'm Dying Of Thirst   Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst   Skill Still Appeal   Solo Dolo   Solo Dolo Part 2 (Feat. Kid Cudi)   Somebody That I Used To Know (Freestyle)   Street Dreamin (Feat. Bridget Kelly)   Swimming Pools   Swimming Pools (Black Hippy Remix)   Swimming Pools (Drank)   Swimming Pools (Drank) (Extended Version)   Swimming Pools (Drank) (Extended)   Swimming Pools (Drank) (Single)   Swimming Pools (Drank) [Extended Version]   Swimming Pools (Remix)   Swimming Pools (Replay Remix)   Taking Me Down   Talib Kweli Interlude   Tammy's Song   Tammy's Song (Her Evils)   Tammy's Song Her Evils   Tammy's Song   TDE Roll Call (Black Hippy)   Temptation   Textbook Stuff   Thanksgiving   The Art Of Peer Pressure   The Blacker The Berry   The Blacker The Berry (feat. Assassin)   The City   The City Is Mines   The Heart Pt 3   The Heart Pt. 2   The Heart Pt. 3   The Heart Pt. II   The Heart Pt. III   The Jig Is Up   The Jig Is Up (Dump'n)   The Recipe   The Recipe (Black Hippy Remix)   The Recipe (Single)   The Relevant   The Spiteful Chant   These Walls   They Say   Thirsty   Today   Track 1   Trip   Two Presidents   U   U \/ For Sale? (God Is Gangsta)   U.O.E.N.O. (Black Hippy)   U.O.E.N.O. (Remix)   Uncle Bobby & Jason Keaton   Untitled   Untitled 01 (08.19.2014)   untitled 01 | 08.19.2014.   untitled 02 (06.23.2014)   untitled 02 | 06.23.2014.   untitled 03 (05.28.2013)   untitled 03 | 05.28.2013.   Untitled 04 (08.14.2014)   untitled 04 | 08.14.2014.   untitled 05 (09.21.2014)   untitled 05 | 09.21.2014.   untitled 06 (06.30.2014)   untitled 06 | 06.30.2014.   Untitled 07 - 2014-2016   Untitled 07 - Levitate   untitled 07 (2014 - 2016)   Untitled 07 (Levitate)   untitled 07 | 2014 - 2016   untitled 08 (09.06.2014)   untitled 08 | 09.06.2014.   Untitled 2   Untitled 2 (Blue Faces)   Vanity Slaves Part 2   Wanna Be Heard   War Is My Love   Watts R.I.O.T. (Feat. Gee Watts)   We Up   We Up (Feat. 50 Cent)   Wesley's Theory   Wesley's Theory   Westside Right On   Westside, Right On Time   What The Deal   What The Deal (Freestyle) (Feat. Miguel)   Who Shot Ya   Who Shot Ya (Freestyle)   Writer At War: \u2019s XXL Cover Story   XXL Freshman   You Ain't Gotta Lie   You Ain't Gotta Lie (Momma Said)   Young & Black

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