Caged Bird Lyrics - J. Cole

Yeah, caged bird 

Something like a caged bird 

Caged bird 

Yeah, look 

You ain't a man till you stop chasing your friends, my nigga 

Think for yourself, make your own plans, my nigga 

I'll be lying if I said I ain't understand, my nigga 

Cause who you gon' follow when the leaders all get swallowed 

By reefer clouds and bottles 

In and out of county jail 

This is hell, see the young black males in packed cells 

With they heads down 

And they fists clenched tight 

Thinking "I could bust a hole through this wall 

And bitch I just might" 

It's just like the caged bird I sing a song 

Hoping they open up these bars and send a nigga home 

I cry when I'm alone 

I'm wondering why would God send me here 

Knowing that they hate us 

Knowing that they make us feel like we evil so we kill our people 

Without a second thought, in every lesson taught by OGs 

We full of real nigga wisdom, so we proceed 

Like real niggas who been stripped of our humanity 

I see the judge's eyes, I know that he ain't understanding me 

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A caged bird (Yeah, a caged bird) 

(Let this little caged bird sing) Caged bird 

Yeah, caged bird 

Freedom's just an illusion, that's my conclusion 

And if it ain't, then how my niggas keep on losin' theirs? 

This goes out to childhood friends that's doin' years 

Prison tats on they backs like souvenirs 

We wish that you was here 

A mother's tear spilled on this page 

A brother's tear spilled on this page 

How many days left? 

And can you find peace when you released 

Still filled up wit' rage 

Back on the streets just to peep that you still in the cage 

Photos 

Well, it's the oratory vet 

Turned down king slash poet laureate 

Used to paint a picture with a story of neglect 

I could've been a shorty drinking 40s on the steps 

With a shorty on my lap 

With a shorty on the way coming shortly to protect 

I could've been a dealer in the party with the X 

But I'm hardly in the mix and I partially confess 

I definitely got a couple parts in me that I regret 

Is the cup half-empty or is it half-full? 

I fill mine up with Hennessy, then get back to him 

I'm just a jazz musician trapped in a rap form 

You think you standing for something you on a trap door 

Well it's the, Mr. spective 

I'm a dreamers dream, a sort of an inception 

I never fiend for the scene but I dreamed of the things 

That a Mercedes brings, like slow sex with fast women 

Drinking cognac I'm past grinning 

A sexy dress, fat ass in it 

But still hit it till I'm half-winded 

Cause niggas tell me I'm the shit 

Well I be hitting all these dimes 

See I'm caged by the visions of the blind 

I started as a king 

Turned to a slave 

Put us in our chains 

We was forced to entertain 

Thinking bout the present day I'm living off the stage 

Wonder if a nigga ever get up out this cage 

As I sing 

A caged bird (Yeah, a caged bird) 

(Let this little caged bird sing) Caged bird 

Yeah, caged bird 

Freedom's just an illusion, that's my conclusion 

And if it ain't, then how my niggas keep on losin' theirs? 

This goes out to childhood friends that's doin' years 

Prison tats on they backs like souvenirs 

We wish that you was here 

A mother's tear spilled on this page 

A brother's tear spilled on this page 

How many days left? 

And can you find peace when you released 

Still filled up wit' rage 

Back on the streets just to peep that you still in the cage