Paradox - JohnnieB

Lyrics

( Johnnie B On The Beat ) They want me black or white, I came gray with the tint, Half prayer in my chest, half rage in the print. One side says forgive, one side says don’t flinch, Whole damn mind walking tightropes over cliffs. They want me good or bad, I’m both in the frame, Love in my heart with some hate in my veins. Smile on my face with a storm in my brain, Still made peace shake hands with pain. I can be accepted and still feel denied, Rejected by the crowd but approved deep inside. One minute I’m humble, next minute I’m pride, Try to box JohnnieB, watch the box split wide. I’m the yes and the no, the stop and the go, The hot and the cold with the fire in the snow. The loud-ass truth that the quiet won’t show, The clean little dream with a dirty-ass flow. Big John got grace when the world gets heavy, Little Johnnie got venom when the pressure gets deadly. JohnnieB holds both with the pen still steady, A split-brain man but the message stays ready. I’m not fake ’cause I change with the weather, I’m real ’cause I hold every piece together. I can fall apart and still build better, Turn a torn-up thought into a whole damn letter. They say, “Pick a side,” I say, “Bitch, I’m the line,” The border, the bridge, the middle, the sign. The wrong and the right both live in my mind, And somehow both voices still rhyme on time. Hook I’m a paradox, yeah, I’m both at once, I can be the blessing and the loaded gun. I can be the wound and the healing touch, Too damn human to be summed up. I’m a paradox, yeah, love me or not, I’m the cold in the flame, the calm in the shot. You can call me crazy, but you can’t call me false, JohnnieB is the glitch that connects every thought. Verse 2 I’m the laugh in the room with the tears backstage, The joke in the wound, the smile in the rage. The kid with the dream and the man with the page, The old version dying while the new one’s raised. I’m the church bell ringing in a dark-ass song, The sinner still knowing where his soul belongs. The curse word sitting where a prayer went wrong, Still God heard me when the night got long. I’m not all holy, I’m not all sin, I’m the war outside and the war within. I’m the locked door and the key to get in, The loss that came back with a brand-new win. I’m the underdog barking from a higher seat, The regular guy with a multiverse reach. The quiet one thinking with a loud-ass beat, The man who made balance out of broken pieces. I got suburban roots with an urbanized mood, Backroad heart with a city-light view. I can talk real foul and still speak truth, I can be grown now and still carry youth. They want simple, but I’m layers on layers, Faith in the middle with a mouth full of razors. I’m both the question and the answer on paper, The danger and the savior in the same damn flavor. I don’t fit perfect, I was never designed, To be one little label in one little line. I’m the whole contradiction walking outside, A paradox breathing with a pen and a spine. Hook I’m a paradox, yeah, I’m both at once, I can be the blessing and the loaded gun. I can be the wound and the healing touch, Too damn human to be summed up. I’m a paradox, yeah, love me or not, I’m the cold in the flame, the calm in the shot. You can call me crazy, but you can’t call me false, JohnnieB is the glitch that connects every thought. Verse 3 I’m accepted by God, rejected by men, Loved by the real, misunderstood by them. Hated by some, respected again, Still I don’t need permission from a trend. I can be soft with the ones I protect, Hard as a brick when I feel disrespect. I can forgive but never forget, That’s not confusion, that’s cause and effect. I’m peace with a temper, fire with rain, A clean white shirt with a blood-red stain. A bright-ass mind with a shadowy lane, Still every damn side answers to my name. Little Johnnie is the bite when I feel attacked, Big John is the light trying to pull me back. JohnnieB is the center where the two overlap, The whole damn truth with a bassline snap. So don’t ask me to be what your mind can hold, I’m too hot, too cold, too young, too old. Too right, too wrong, too loud, too bold, Too human, too broken, too hard to fold. I’m the reason the mirror don’t lie anymore, The reason the pain don’t hide anymore. The reason the dark got a job in the core, The reason the light kicked open the door. I’m not the reject, I’m not just accepted, I’m the whole damn lesson when both get connected. A beautiful mess that the world misread, A paradox living where the opposites bled. Hook I’m a paradox, yeah, I’m both at once, I can be the blessing and the loaded gun. I can be the wound and the healing touch, Too damn human to be summed up. I’m a paradox, yeah, love me or not, I’m the cold in the flame, the calm in the shot. You can call me crazy, but you can’t call me false, JohnnieB is the glitch that connects every thought.