YELLOW METAL (Cathartic) lyrics - Zayn

[Part I]

Dark matter like paint splatters, they fit better

The old saying, the way it goes

"Better the devil you do than you don't know"

I hit pedals and switch levels, my heart: metal

I can't settle, I'm part trouble, and not subtle

I fuck good so fuck cuddles, burst bubbles

The dust levels at new highs

I downed doubles and got baked till I felt high

My face puzzled, felt muddled

They're far strung and your flow's wooden

The thought might but the fit wouldn't, a fortnight

And I thought right, it's all bark and there's no bite

I'm Tony Stark, still embarking on a dream

Took a bit of time to take darkness from the team

Seen what I've seen, heartless on the sleeve

Tried to burn my wings, so I put them in a piece on my chest

At peace, no rest

Flipped this on its head

Ripped the scripture up now, flip it don't intend

Slipping shit again

Fakers all around me, how they living in pretense

Fake friends, won't make amends

There's no need, these mean queens control the scenes

Attention seekers, their span is weak and it's spamming news

What the family need and the planet bleeds the damaged trees

It's never leaving till we ascend

So fuck the fence

And till they stop killing coloureds

It's fuck the feds

You must be off it, I mean it

You know you hate

Never get what you judging

I used to dread growing my beard too long

Never felt I belonged

But it's been long, like a minute

I ain't looking to no mans for lyrics

They're feeling timid

I'm telling them who they mimic

While healing them like a clinic

Confused why they get no women

Still, we're just fucking girls

Lost in the wrong world - Jurassic

Now to this vermin kicking the game, I'm serving

These losers are never learning

My fire's forever burning

Adding it to my fuel

Seems like I'm always focused on never becoming you

These locals that rob us, feeling

This slaughter is for a reason

I'm seeing my new beginnings, watch out this loser's winning

In waters too deep to swim in

Like combat I see me killing, I'm all that without a limit

Flawless and feeling lawless

They're prisoner to the gimmicks

My vision is set to summit

I'm watching you bitches plummet

No match enough for my cunning

You rappers are feeling done in

Switching your genre, running

Runnin' your jaw, stuntin'

Pulling at straws, something

I think you're a poor effort, definite

Tone-deaf and an attitude shitty separate

Living, I'm in my element, guarding it like a Sentinel

Never lose me to fentanyl, scared when I take a Benadryl

Keeping it green, in general

Think that you remain irrelevant

Look at yourself with reverence, hoping to always elevate

Celibate of these thoughts, killin' themselves with sedatives

In comparison to Eminem, you're feeling feminine

And politically correct, still dropping on my dick

And I never gave a fuck about what they say about my shit

I've been moving things in my mind like it's this mountain dew

Memories made me wonder if one day amounts you

What's the purpose that you do this

What you hopin' that they learn?

I'd like to say I'm done with this gettin' up on my nerve

I'm looking at my life, saying what do I deserve

It's hard to say I know when I'm walking through the dirt

Talking or do nothing, I can see for what it's worth

I'm tired of feeling hurt and I've tried it and nothing works

I'm racking up excuses while I'm slacking off of work

Shit chatting is the usual while talking with this clerk

I beg you don't include me, I might write it on my shirt

So that every time they see me

That they always know it's worth

Life is potent, did some fuck shit till they took notice

Weren't no hocus pocus - it was hard work that got me heard

So I put in the graft like Google Maps

Got the whole Earth

Writing rhymes into my doormat

Taking over like the Romans

Rolling dirt up on miles like the [?]

Rain exploding like [?]'s hematoma

Don't need to see a slammer to know I don't want to go

Man, I'm the showman

I'm just focused on the doorman

Leave the grill to George Foreman

What kills it [?] like I got my own insurance

Show myself up here while I boxed it in a frame

If we're about to talk greatness, I'm beyond great

You know you have to say my name like Beyonce

(Say my, say my name)

(Say my, say my, say my name)

[Part II]

Dumb, just a bum with a cigarette

Sun comin' up, all my thoughts on the Internet

Feeling deep, I'm just bored with the silhouette

Single sec, get fucked up for the thrill of it

Kill a streak playing Pac Man

Like I came from the Philippines

Vanilla beans, still a thing

For the thrill of seen

Facility, there's a beam

You may fall, leave it well alone

Ain't moving, stood still on a Peleton

Telephone, and it's always on the dial tone

It's been a while since I've smiled at a milestone

Seen a big pile in my mind, stone

Me against the world on my Jack Jones

Like I'm John Jones with the bitches in the condor

Far from John Doe

In the [?] like I'm Johnny Bravo

Got bravado with your small dick

Sittin' in [?]

Stealin' Five Gum 'cause that last hit

Was that good shit, was that stained lip

You can never take my shit

Come and get me if you bailiffs

On the top floor, cloud 9, fadin'

Never bailing, felt amazing

Inhaling, till my lungs two guns blazing

Overcome all the stunts that I pulled

A suit of just skin and then woah

This life it don't give you no armour

A lot of myself that can harm ya'

I swear on what's good, that I'm here 'til they take me

I pray that I'm wrinkled, at least over eighty

Started movin' like a ruler

Damn [?], gold bars from the jeweller

Bring the songs to the beach in the hope of findin' tuna

[?]

Fucking trap, I'm killin' rappers tumors

(I wish it was a rumor)

Grab a bat, lose my rag

Couple things got me mad

Couple people got me wrong and now I'm changing up the swag

Coming in and stealing it, I might take the whole bag

Feeling undefeated, I'ma beast with a reason

I'ma lead the whole pack

Fearless like I'm Caesar, I'm just waiting for a chance

To fill it up with diesel, and all I've been achieving

Clocking miles in this region

Moving like a legion

Promise that I made to myself, an allegiance

Do you still believe I'm a fool for ever leaving?

Staring at the ceiling, can never put a cap on achieving

I'm just here for the rap, then I'm leaving

I've had about enough of being my own enemy

It's time I grew up, a long way from seventeen

Always went against the grain, struggles in my life

Got some things to say when I stand up on a mic

I ain't dropping this for fame, I need this time like therapy

It's just to keep me sane

The truth is you're my medicine, can't put that on your plate

Speeding into everything, 'bout time I fixed the brakes

Don't say I can't communicate

You know I conversate with you in several different ways

And I know you know it's reverence, I'm looking at your face

Can't justify mistakes, like every man that made them, seems I ain't the one to blame

Lying to myself, only had so much to gain

So now I'm switching up the play

See if that affects the place I'm at and lost to this

I ain't going with the usual so they looking at me strange

Confused, and I can feel it all

I'm here to make the change

It's cold at 3 A.M. outside, I'm walking with the dog

Thanking god that you don't talk at all, my mind is switching off

Driving time to find myself, 'cause I've been getting lost

Lived a selfish life and said that I can't give a toss

Lessons that I've learned I've tried teachin' to myself

What I've learnt from certain people is that they're better than myself

So I surround myself with real ones, and you feel the plastic melt

Like burning toy soldiers that used to go up on the shelf

Recycled ideas, conveying on the belt

Mind stuck in the circus, always hurting how we felt

Embarrassed that we dreamt of bigger things, with this relent

And letting go with notions till we feel the means cement

Tired of only hoping, we feel like broken men

'Cause the gravity is weight, and it's kept us to the ground

See the only people speaking, ones with favours in their mouths

Gun killer, rhyme-zilla, no fillers like Godzilla

Eating clouds 'cause my smoke's thicker

Throat liqueur, my dope sicker

Bringing people they hope like I'm the pork slicker

I hope you getting the point because I won't bicker

I thought my city was shit because I want bigger

Like my zipper couldn't zip up

Fed up with the lip

[?], my love is fickle

Constitual age has a primitive face

I see demise for your limited ways

Left it to simmer, similar ways

A straight pillar with fake glimmer in their heads

Feeling trapped, this industry is a cage

[Part III]

Nobody's speaking the truth

I'm offended by the State

Look at the state of the news

Undecided the argument

Reciting my views while they're inciting the hate

I'm feeling pressured to choose

Standing here as one man

How can I do half when you're half the person I am

If it wasn't in your life, you didn't choose it

It's the funny thing about music

It's the pain and beauty of it

Don't give a fuck what my suit is, it looks good so I wear it

Better than the shit that people's wearing

Changing the whole narrative for these basics, it's scary

See, I've been facing the racists from back when I were a kiddie

Growin' up in 93', living in Bradford City

They kicked me out of the schools

Said I had a problem with hittin' the kids that would call me paki

Still sittin' in classroom chillin'

I'm angry now that I'm older 'cause I see they treat us different

Got me thinking I'm the problem 'cause they never dealt with these issues

Twenty years later, I'm still in the same boat

Tryna treat me like my grandpa, say I came up off the boat

Came to tell you what I stand for, man I think this shit's a joke

How can I be civil when they've got me by the throat

Pushing my feelings down, you ain't got it like them

"Boy your skin is so light"

Okay motherfucker, take my name up on a flight

And try to convince immigration that your bloodline's half white

I don't know how that's acceptable

When life is more susceptible to perception, be the death of them

I've been looking at the sky saying where's that day of reckoning?

You had your prophets right when they said that you would speak to them

I needed justice in this life, and I will trust that it's my fight

'Cause when I'm writing it feel right to have them focused on the facts again

Focused on the rap again, hoping for the change

Gonna put this on the map again

Writin' in all caps again

The pain, it goes through me so I write the letter

All the shit that could have broke me, but made me better

[?]

I'm at home with a pain in my soul

Yeah, 'cause that home ain't it

'Cause you know I been too real to contest it

My time was invested

Now I look upon the industry, I see it infested

Looking like kids who would grab up a Nesquik

My name ain't on the list unless they label it "ethnic"

I ain't never gave a fuck about these jokers and jesters

Ain't no answers for those things, so just save us the questions

Man all out of of violence, 'cause my silence is deafening

Your opinion stinks, somebody get 'em a breath mint

Start to understand why they think that I'm threatening

I move in certain ways, couldn't slow me with ketamine

Now they all wanna hear me, got a table at Letterman

Direction changed, like I changed up the lettering

Don't believe the age, because I move like a veteran

Raised on the benefit for whose benefit?

They'll never learn shit, man, if the shoe fits

[?]

No one's gunna know, before you open your mouth

And to be honest, it's insulting

Offensive to my wounds they're rubbin' salt in

Tryna ask me questions that they know I never answer

I'd rather sit online and reply to the fan art

Fuck a sports car, coming through in a raptor

Tell you what I like, farm life on the tractor

Fake life, 'sup online, suck a fat one

You don't wanna buy into that, none of that, son

Sitting in the garden, '98 in the Datsun

Seen some hot summers, but I still remember that sun

[Part IV]

I make millions off of my pain

'Cause I know a few millions still living that way

Dealing with the hurt, that they should know they don't deserve

It hit deep, 'cause I hit the nerve

Only way that the sheep learn with the street

Firm in my ways, I don't want to change

Everything should stay the same

Who you trying to convince, you understand?

Can't maintain, let the lights dim

Some' get the Chow Mein, flex, get the tape right

Up at night, while these men be mice to my face be nice

I ain't trying to be a gangster, it ruins my vibe

Rather stay lowkey and on my phone, B

Never need the trophy or the showpiece

Never show peace in the North Face fleece

Showcase this like a goat, might flip

'Cause the sign might fit to the start, I'm sick

Now you see where I come from

The raw dump

Only achievement in life is the Jordans

Committing petty crimes out of boredom

Can't afford em', so I stole it

See the Rolex on door, let go

It don't make sense just to get yourself a job

It's a poor man's game, trying to sit and pray to God

He ain't sorting all your problems, got to sort them out yourself

Used to tell us fables, now I'm writing them myself

'Cause we roar like animals, we all just need some help

Cathartic, I'm an artist, trying to put my heart in

Felt double crossed like Leo in Departed

For the knowledge, I'm not charging, see I've got it all free

But my hunger kept me starving like I'm fiending for the feed

I just need a reason, see me bleeding for my Creed

Tricky with the words like I keep them up my sleeve

Picking where I fit, I see me sitting with the queen

I ain't doing it unless you're used to saying please

Let me flow a bit, before I sting 'em with the bees

They're tryna kill us with disease

Why does it feel like they have the same notebook

And the same four looks

Like the rain won't touch on their face, so sus when they lie

Don't, trust not a minor

Plus, no fuss

I just move through the game like must

Something in my way, I adjust

'Til I take free form, like the shape

Freefall, 'til I bust

Remember '21, brother gave no fucks

Tryna project when they gave them looks

In the projects, and the object's us

In my own way, never gave me love

Should have never started this, broken-hearted kid

Jarred of the feelings, 'til I stole the lick

Don't want to relish in the pain, but I can't resist

I like the way we feel

I like the way, I like the way

[Part V]

[?]

Make no mistake I'm [?]

I ain't tryna be a leader, been selling out since Jesus

All my rhymes are for the readers, between the lines

Like Father time, I fuck with Mother Nature

That's what they get, the connotations

Tell 'em I lived a life

And then I lived a life adjacent like it's [?] and played it patient

Alone on my own spaceship, always tryna find greatness

Still defying lines, but I'm fighting in my prime

Shining light like Kylo while I'ma kill it all the time

Aging like I'm wine

Aging in my face, but still my race you can't define

Focused on defiance, I'ma fight it while it's life

Started something sick and on my mind is what's next

Just became a dad now so I'm taking all the cheques

Better know I'm staying and paying like it's debt

I'ma get it done, if it's taking all my breath

Swear down, I ain't messing around till I'm the best

Speaking in full sentences

Should'a thought about a strategy before you went in the stratosphere, better this

One of the rings around Saturn, this ain't about [?]

Casually doing magic [?]

I feel you could use some practice

Until that, you get the blacklist

Not built like a zealous actress

Foolin' them like a catfish, schoolin' them like a legend

Happy to be the reference

[?] like a iridescent, leavin' 'em all guessing

Leaking out of my brain like a pipe I ain't fixin'

Shining like a star, you can see it from a distance

Ain't many of me around, paki, I'm just different

Certain stages to this level and ain't here because of favors to the devil

Fuck a label, I'ma do this from the ghetto

Clean up like I'm Dettol

I'm romantic, put the bet on sight, smart like a weapon

This is my kind of setting

I write the world I'm sat in while these others live on hype

I see know fight in how they type

The fruit is ripe for the taking, I think I might

Let me take you away from here

Let me take you away from here

Let me take you away from here

[Part VI]

Eccentric things I mention, like a kid stuck in detention tryna escape

I'm just spittin' what is written on the next page

Spittin' image of my dad in his young days

Born sinner, when I'm livid I say, "fuck's sake"

Done runnin', I'm too cunning with no plumbing

The water works, I sung something that resonates

I thought it first, like giving birth to the parrot perch

They see me do it and they know it works

Don't know what's worse

The way that you live your life, or the way that you write a verse

Shouldn't be nervous, you don't deserve it

Won't scratch the surface, I leave a crater

And I lift the dirt up to find the find the hurtin'

Can't know for certain, nothin' is guaranteed

Tryin' to be a better person than the world deserves to see

'Cause I see a lot of sharks still swimming in the sea

Cease and arrest, what's the reason? It's theft

Are these the kind of kids that we're bringing up next?

Distorted reality, all they needed was family

Too out of their face to see what the damage is

I don't want to be, I want to be

A part of this, no

I don't want to be, I don't want to be

A part of this

Sometimes they ask the questions, too deep to form a sentence

To this form, is this the norm?

Is this the sentence?

I feel defenseless

I played the setlist so long my sweat, blood, and tears

Forgot to mention

Feelin' lost, goin' off into different sections

I feel like love wrecked it

If it's not a drug why am I waiting for the next fix, affected

Can't believe that you left this

I guess I leave with a best wish

Movin' on like next, I'm fine for the lectures

We see all full spectrum

'Cause if we're fallin' down, we can fall down together

Staircase to heaven, mirror down the middle like 11

Resentment on one side, it won't settle

Mind fried, but talking sense

They ain't got a sense of themself in them rich ends

Need to spell it out for the dickheads

I'm here for this, so witness

I know you feel afflicted, but you always love it Whitney

While I'm laughing at you, you think you're laughing with me

I try to pull up, but I've grown so they don't fit me

My body flown from this new to this old city

I'm sick of sitting on my own, feeling so shitty

I've been on roads where it's cold and the snow hittin'

It's okay to be yourself, sittin' talkin' to myself

I've been walkin' for longest, just need a little rest

Know I ain't the strongest, I can feel it in my chest

Talkin' 'bout my feelings and of me they get the best

They ain't leaving, see 'em breathin' in my breath

'Til death do us part, it's just seeded in my heart like a work of art

Never winning, I'm just scarred

Can't begin it from the start

Do I play a part in the rhythm of the night?

I guess I'm up to something, 'cause the dark's feelin' right

Every cloud got a lining, put my own miles in like Morales

Figured that they're jealous that they could just

Never tell us to change because the weather never made me

Question whether or not I'm at that level

Got rid of all the the bullshit sittin' in my way

Most of 'em are full of shit, I see it everyday

Are you hearing the same things that I do?

Maybe that shit's hitting like haiku

How much do you pay for them to hype you?

Recycle your flows, but they ain't like new

Leavin' them conceited and full of diesel like engines in need of cleaning

The ending will be revealing

Even though we ain't raising the facts

Now we've been facing the cactus with spikes

Needing spaces, different faces, the same story

A full body like straight voddy direct to your system

But never tell 'em we missed 'em

Not even with the thoughts we gift 'em

'Cause they just take advantage, guess we're caught in the system

My soul pouring out details of borrowed time

Had enough of a fill, this is for sorrow time

I'm seeing visions of heaven

I seen the severed line between the gospel we speak

And when they're telling lies

Remember tellin' a friend of mine, [?]

Identified like a third eye

Got a habit of knowing now where the dirt lies, so benign

I ain't sober after nine, gonna fuck their minds

Why you flippin' out, see another

Tryna rep it from the city?

Fuck a Chiller Crew, reppin' for the nittys

Tryna keep us down

Raised on the social, don't wanna let us out of the system

Me, I insist we assist them

Me alone puttin' shift 'til I lift 'em

I know it's hard, that's why I like it

I'm fit to fight it, I'm from the North

I'm backin' Tyson, it's been decided

Don't see no light, they're needing guidin'

Just be defining, realizing

I'm realigning in full finance

They say silence can be louder, I'm juiced up with no powder

I fix shit like slick spanner, I've gone green

Like Bruce Banner so "Free Gaza" on my banner

The real McCoy, I ain't nothing to toy with

Signified peace like a Japanese koi fish

How did this happen?

We're moving backwards in our timeline, killin' us with cyanide

Riot for the freedom till we transform like Ironhide

This one's 'bout my feelings

The way that I move affects the fate that I'm sealing

Can't say nothin' without somethin' being on the page

Kept inside the pen like the bars have been kept caged

See, I always had a plan since I was young, we had nothing man

Now it's been a few years since I ain't seen the fam on foreign lands

'Bout to climb Everest in the avalanche

Right into the riddles as soon as you were born

Never askin' a question, 'cause it's the norm

See, I'm on a questionin' session

Like the manner got a method to teaching a lesson

Listenin' to MF Doom, he taught me like Ra's al Ghul

Felt like livin' in Gotham, the people were rotten

Still we play cartoons so it's never forgotten

Chillin' at the top, but we came from the bottom

Writin' and jottin' for them life by spottin' the difference

[?]

They're hating on Palestine's ways

The [?] palace playing Prince on a Steinway

Sending out mind waves

Stop 'em like crime waves

Freedom fighter, Yellow Metal is my name

Like vipers I see the sly ones, the snake that's called Biden

None of 'em abiding by what they might put in writing

We should be used to it by now

Say whatever for the vote, and then just chose another route

Say they'd never kill another, unless that brother's skin is brown

I'm just tellin' you the facts, if you can't take it

The truth, naked

To bare bones, and my thoughts lately

Spittin' politics while done with it, shit just gets me vexed

And now I'm sayin' that I think of it

Feeling on the brink of it

Whatever it is

Figured out some shit, at least it feels that way

Talk about my feelings, and I don't feel so strange

Finding solace, that's a promise in Metropolis for bein' honest

Can't write a sonnet without some pain