Empty Hands | Rap 12AM Official - J. Cole

Empty Hands | Rap 12AM Official - J. Cole Lyrics: (Intro) "I spent my whole life trying to be somebody else. And I'm tired. I'm just... tired." (Hook) I've been runnin' so long, I forgot what I'm runnin' from, Holdin' onto nothin', With empty hands, I come. I've been lookin' so hard, I forgot what I'm lookin' for, Standin' at my own door, With empty hands, I'm home. (Verse 1) Yeah— I used to think that if I made enough money, I'd finally feel like I was somebody. Turns out the bank account grew, but the emptiness stayed, Just in a bigger house, with a bigger shade— Of doubt. I used to think if I got enough love, From the right person, I'd finally be enough. But I kept lookin' for a mirror in their eyes, Hopin' they'd see someone that I couldn't recognize. I built a version of myself for every room I walked in, A chameleon with a heart that was locked in— A prison of my own design. I gave pieces of me away, thinkin' I'd find The whole in the pieces, the truth in the lies, But I just got smaller, the more I tried to be wise. (Hook) I've been runnin' so long, I forgot what I'm runnin' from, Holdin' onto nothin', With empty hands, I come. I've been lookin' so hard, I forgot what I'm lookin' for, Standin' at my own door, With empty hands, I'm home. (Verse 2 ) Uh— I remember the nights I couldn't sleep, Runnin' through every mistake, every word I couldn't keep. I'd replay the conversations, rewrite the lines, Like if I said it different, I could change the times. But the past is a ghost that don't negotiate, It just sits in the corner and waits— For you to stop fightin', stop tryin' to rewrite, And just let it be a scar instead of a fight. I was so busy chasin' who I thought I should be, That I lost the person starin' back at me. And one day, I just stopped. In the middle of the race, I just dropped— The weight, the fear, the need to impress, The desperate attempt to be more or be less. I just stood there, breathin', for the first time in years, And let myself feel all the unshed tears. (Bridge) I used to think I had to be someone great. Someone important. Someone unforgettable. But what if I'm just... me? What if that's enough? What if the goal isn't to be remembered, But to be present? What if I stop runnin'... and just... stay? (Verse 3) Yeah— So I'm learnin' how to sit with the silence, How to find peace in the absence of violence— Not the kind with fists, but the kind in my head, The war that I fought every night in my bed. I'm learnin' how to let go of the should-haves and could-haves, The dreams that I buried, the paths that I overlooked. 'Cause every road I didn't take, every door I closed, Led me right here, to the person I chose— Not chose to be, but chose to accept, The flawed, the tired, the one who's kept Goin' even when they wanted to quit, Even when the voice inside said "This is it— You're not enough, you'll never be." But I'm still here. And that's enough for me. So I hold out my hands, and they're empty, it's true, But I'm finally holdin' the one thing I never knew— Myself. (Outro) Empty hands... But I'm home.