[Intro]
Yeah
They'll never lock me up
They'll never lock me up, yeah

[Chorus]
Got the new job but it ain't my speed
Run me down when my walk is free
They'll never lock me up, no
They'll never lock me up, yeah

[Verse 1]
I guess it started with my father working at his pizza parlor
Washing dishes, folding boxes, and taking people's orders
Back when all the phones were chorded, you know, when Desert Storm hit?
Begging parents for some Jordans, unaware it'd short the mortgage
Before sixth grade, I had a job, though it paid
Waking up at six on the weekdays was a bitch
They had me in the stix, throwing paper on the steps of the rich
Every step I was taking felt like less than an inch, so I quit
And stayed with Pops mowing lawns since the parlor had gone out of business
And this was just the way he moved on, though everyday he would wake
With a yawn that I knew was way different

[Chorus]
Got the new job but it ain't my speed
Run me down when my walk is free
They'll never lock me up, no
They'll never lock me up, yeah
Got a new job but it ain't my speed
Run me down when my walk is free
They'll never lock me up, no
They'll never lock me up, yeah
[Verse 2]
I guess you gotta work just as work permits
At fourteen, sure thing, you could work with a work permit
All clean over the table get paid under if you're able
What I mean is watch your claims if you work for tips
That advice came from a waiter I was busing, but in training
I was too nice then to take it, but grew wiser as I waited
Watched the president comment how they use it for schools
Instead they build another bomber for the clueless to use
Now I'm out here tryna see the buck as deer
As these country club members who mount them for us to fear
I fill their cups and then I park their cars
And sit and wonder why their luck ain't as sparse as ours

[Chorus]
Got the new job but it ain't my speed
Run me down when my walk is free
They'll never lock me up, no
They'll never lock me up, yeah
Got the new job but it ain't my speed
Run me down when my walk is free
They'll never lock me up, no
They'll never lock me up, yeah

[Verse 3]
Before I learned to have a way with words and live off it
I cooked, bused, served, valeted, and dish-washed
I watched and observed kids play in a maze
Then later walked through the maze to wash the piss off it
I built homes and nature trails, man, I pulled weeds
Worked retail and detailed schedules for special needs
I wore animal noses and steel-toed boots
I held hammers and roses and filled those scoops
With ice cream 'til my team killed those loops
Called ourselves The Procussions 'til we lost two
Came back with empty buckets, gotta fill those too
Always ignoring the hole that the fill goes through
[Chorus]
Got the new job but it ain't my speed
Run me down when my walk is free
They'll never lock me up, no
They'll never lock me up, yeah
Got the new job but it ain't my speed
Run me down when my walk is free
They'll never lock me up
They'll never lock me up, yeah