What If

作词 : Beat Butcha/Jermaine Cole/Donte Perkins/Tyler Williams/Kelvin Wooten

作曲 : Beat Butcha/Jermaine Cole/Donte Perkins/Tyler Williams/Kelvin Wooten

[Intro: J. Cole]

This for everybody out there that ever fell out with somebody you love

Famous as a mother****er

Just to look back and, yeah

Damn, it didn't have to go like that

What if?

What if?

What if?

What if the bullshit never gotten away?

You'd still be my nigga to this day

Sayin' what if?

What if?

What if?

What if?

What if the bullshit never gotten away?

I'd still have my nigga to this day

[Verse: J. Cole]

What's up, Pac?

I heard that record that you did that just dropped, it's bubblin'

Got me wonderin' when the love stopped

Hit him up, I'm like maybe I should

Right you be 'fore shit go left

The streets is a bit upset

You claimin' that you ****ed my bitch

But, check, instead of escalatin'

At a time when niggas say "Big, let's decimate 'em"

I'm tellin' him chill 'cause although he violatin'

In my heart I could never hate 'em

I love you

I hope it ain't to late to tell you when you got shot

I came to visit you at Bellview, but you was sleepin'

They let me peek in, I said a prayer by yo bedside

Bandages covered the bleedin'

I'm thinkin', "Dawg, I told you

Watch the niggas you close to

I know dudes

And they won't hesistate to smoke you if shit go left"

While you was locked I shoulda wrote you

But life happened, promo, mad shows to do

Still no excuse, I didn't do what I was 'posed to

And maybe that's what provoked you

To use your vocals to speak my name with a negative tone

As you stared at the walls of that cell on your own

Wonder how long it'd be until they'd let you come home and get your money

You maybe started lookin' at me funny

Perhaps you maybe felt that I betrayed you or played you

Or thought that I knew about that setup and coulda saved you

Or maybe that made you come out on some war shit

East Coast, West Coast, now media's tryna force it

Of course it's entertainment, but the world is full of ignoramus

That view the rich and famous as either heroes or villains with no feelin's

Not knowin' most drama only leads to mo' killin's

Well **** that, nigga, I'm hurt

I miss my dawg, I ain't gotta hide

If I hurt you, I apologize

[Chorus: J. Cole & ]

What if?

If I can turn back the hands of time

What if?

Turn back the hands of time

What if the bullshit never gotten away? (Ooh, yeah-ah)

You'd still be my nigga to this day

I'm sayin, what if?

If I can turn back the hands of time

What if?

Turn back the hands of time

What if the bullshit never gotten away? (Ooh-ooh)

I'd still have my nigga to this day

[Verse 2: J. Cole]

Uh, today was goin' to Vegas until I opened yo letter

I cried through all these pages

Been tryin' to get it together

I'm comin out there and why?

I gotta find you in person to look you dead in yo eyes

And let you know I've been hurtin'

Been movin' off pure adrenaline never knowin' for certain who's on my side

And who's obliged for closin' my curtains

So in a mist with clinched fists I picked up this war

I know there's money in violence, I know there's profit in war

But shit I felt that you left me to hang

I gave you game

Rap for the bitches I said, saw you switched up yo lane

Your content resemblin' mine

I didn't complain, I cheered you on with no disdain

And at the same time, my destiny brought me pain

From kickin' it with some venomous niggas, I know the same

Ones that you warned me 'bout, I ain't listen

The trigger squeezed, my paranoia noticed you in the vacinity

So when they sentenced me

Lawyers milked for every penny, all I had inside that cell was my memory

And plus the fear that while I'm gone they forgettin' me

How niggas shoutin' me out, but never visit me? (Hah, nigga?)

And as the time crept, that mindset became a mission

You came to represent my opposition

So when I got out, I chose drama

Took the war out and went all out

And I care about the fall out

Suddenly now I got the mob out

Plus a whole side ready to ride

Now I gotta tell 'em stall out

'Cause tears fillin' my eyes

Yo letter helped me understand

The power in love, the choice to be the bigger man

Know shit got outta hand

I'll take the blame for it

For my mistakes, I couldn't take you gettin' slain for it

For fallin' victim to ego, vengence dollar signs

I wanna say from the heart, "I apologize"

[Chorus: J. Cole & ]

What if?

If I can turn back the hands of time

What if?

Turn back the hands of time

What if the bullshit never gotten away? (Ooh, yeah-ah)

You'd still be my nigga to this day

I'm sayin, what if?

If I can turn back the hands of time

What if?

Turn back the hands of time

What if the bullshit never gotten away? (Ooh-ooh)

I'd still have my nigga to this day