TORQUE. Lyrics

It's time for some real talk

Yeah

I always had stratospheric visions

Gassin' myself to fly out the atmosphere that I lived in

Nigerian home, so the cabin pressure was hittin'

At times it was a mission to navigate those conditions

And like

My attitude started dippin

Aight, enough with all of that aviation word-ism

I figure you get the image

I needed to spread my wings

And travel at Mach 10 directly into the winds of change

Fast forward up to this distant age

A lot of life is different

But much of it's the same

The plan for glitz and fame is a bit delayed

I'm beginnin' to think wait, have I missed the train?

The ticket's paid

It's not like on my platform I sit and wait

I slide on these tracks raw every frickin day

Still my dream's losin' steam as it drifts away

That'll drive anyone a bit cray

It's a loco motive of sorts, comprende?

Social media promo's made me a sensei

Now the music goes slow like Ken's Hadouken wave

Hadouken!

Maybe its a skill issue

But you can win a Pulitzer

And niggas will still diss you

Look I'll be real with you, I'll nil diff you

Even my ink spills reveal I am not in a guild with you

I'm six mil kilometres over hills from you

And that's when I'm only being chill with you

You know the drill

I just got some ritalin pills issued

Now I'm tranquil

Grieving the life I could have had

Damn

Wait a minute

You neurotypicals never told me how badly it slaps

To not have to procrastinate or lapse to distractions

Scrollin' screens to overdose on dopamine just to manage thoughts

Dawg, I could have been an astronaut

Discovered mathematics laws as an afterthought

Taught quantum gravity courses like Planck or Hawkins or Schrodinger

I know this for fact, I'm sure

Nah lemme give perspective to this babble

There's lines of identity I perpetually straddle

As Drizzy and Dot went at it I reflected on the angle

That perhaps I'm not the Kendrick in this battle

Cos if I'm tangential to every culture

Who gon' cosine me?

There's an irony to Hip hop being the home I seek

Cos even with three different passports

It feels like a club that I pulled up to with no ID

And I can hear em from the doors singin' "He not like we!"

Story of my life, and here's the plot I read

In Igboland, I'm onye ocha

In Yoruba, oyibo

New Zealand, I'm tauiwi

In Mexico I'm gringo

In London I fit in until they listen to my lingo

When it comes to Asia, them folks just call me insults

Aussie, they say "who's guess?"

US say Australian

Could migrate to another world

I'd still just be an alien

When I'm rappin', they say I'm fakin' it

But if I use my accent, huh

"Now we don't relate to it!"

So I'll stick to my habit

And really I'm okay with it

Cos no matter yo action

Somebody will defecate on it

Oh my god, that was cynical

Nah it's actually what I'm feelin' though

I just needed one song where I could let it all out

Anyway, let me sing this chorus

You can go on and on lookin' for fun

But nothin' at all will ever be

Like home

Cos right from the origin

You have been a part of it

And nothin' at all will ever be

Like home

Yeah, that's real talk

Torque

Real torque

Haha

Nwanne, nnọọ

So when you go an ụmụnna meeting

And you give a speech

Especially if it's heart felt

Um, when you're done

The response is usually "Nnọọ"

"You're welcome"

Yeah

It's to say, it was a journey for you to go through all of those emotions

And arrive at the destination of the thing you were saying

So nwanne, nnọọ