Uploaded April 2014 | Updated September 2026, 3 hours ago
Section.80 is the debut album by American hip hop recording artist Kendrick Lamar, released exclusively through the iTunes Store on July 2, 2011, under Top Dawg Entertainment. The production was mainly handled by Top Dawg in-house producers from production group Digi+Phonics, along with THC, Tommy Black, Wyldfyer, Terrace Martin and J. Cole. The concept album features lyrical themes delivered by Lamar such as racism and medication tolerance, and was well received by contemporary music critics.
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Lyrics:
(feat. Ab-Soul)
[Ab-Soul]
What's your life about? Enlighten me
Is you gon' live on your knees or die on your feet?
There's fire in the street, fire in the swisher
Fire in between the two legs of your lil' sister
Just get a sip of this elixir
before they crop us out the picture
I've never seen a crop circle
but I've cops circle the block, I puff squares
But I swear one day I'ma stop, my nerves itch
On the brink of my career while my peers struggle for employment
Can you hear these screams? (Uncle Sam ain't no killing me)
One, two, three, four grams and a fifth of Hennessy
A bad bitch, fuck the penitentiary
[sung by female]
Section 80's babies, blame Ronald Reagan
We raising hell
[Ab-Soul]
Lord forbid
The homie got wet, so we tryna soak it in
The president is black, but you can't vote for skin
You vote for the better man
Come to our show, you can see the diversity
Unify the people, they gon' peep it universally
We might not change the world, but we gon' manipulate it
I hope you participating
Aiyyo Dot, won't you let these cats know?
We knew we'd be here like back in '04
Started HiiiPoWeR because our generation needed a generator
and the system made to disintegrate us
And all we do is assist 'em
We're not victors, we're victims
The bigger picture isn't developed yet
Like, what if kids were celibate?
Or what is Tammy came across a real man
who didn't play games like chil-dren?
My nigga cheated on his girlfriend
with his girlfriend's girlfriend, let the world end
And everybody tripping off twenty-twelve
and the extraterrestrial presence as well
(Odd Future's aight) but our future's not
That martial law shit drop, we gon' all get got
So keep that question mark on your face
Eat your fast-food, use your fluoride toothpaste
Hide your feelings from the public, work your lil' nine-to-five
Don't forget to pay your tithes, and thank God you alive (HiiiPoWeR)
And on another note
we focussed like the Hubble Telescope, 'Soul
[Kendrick Lamar (female)]
Life is a traffic jam (life is a traffic jam)
Life is a traffic jam (x2)
Life is a traffic jam (ready to go) (x3)
Life is a traffic jam (x2)
[Kendrick Lamar]
I wrote this because I was ordered to
People say I speak for generation Y
Why lie? I do
Section 80, your son will play me if radio won't
Daughters that just turned one to twenty-one listen to Kendrick
For instance
[Ab-Soul]
What's your life about? Enlighten me
Is you gon' live on your knees or die on your feet?
Take out that student loan and pay off your college degree
and do exactly what you see on TV
[Kendrick Lamar]
True story
Hmm, can you repeat that for me 'Soul?
[Ab-Soul]
What's your life about? Enlighten me
Is you gon' live on your knees or die on your feet?
Is you gon' plead the fifth or sound the horn?
The time is now my child, come on
[Kendrick Lamar]
See a lot of y'all don't understand Kendrick Lamar
because you wonder how I could talk about money, hoes, clothes, God and history
all in the same sentence
You know what all them things have in common?
Only half of the truth if you tell it
See I spent twenty-three years on this earth searching for answers
till one day I realised I had to come up with my own
I'm not on the outside looking in, I'm not on inside looking out
I'm in the dead fucking centre looking around
You ever seen a newborn baby kill a grown man?
That's an analogy for the way the world make me react
My innocence been dead
So the next time I talk about money, hoes, clothes, God and history
all in the same sentence
just know I meant it, and you felt it
cause you too are searching for answers
I'm not the next pop star, I'm not the next socially aware rapper
I am a human motherfucking being over dope ass instrumentation
Kendrick Lamar
Now fuck 'em up Terrace
('Soul!)
[Outro]
I watch this fire that we're gathered around
and see that it burns similar to the fire that burns inside you
Section 80, Section 80 babies
A generation of bliss and disobedience
No they can't control us, no they can't control you
No they can't control us, but we control each other
We build our own world
If you don't leave with nothing else tonight, you will leave with knowing yourself
You will leave knowing you represent something that's bigger than all of us
or our family
Heart, honor and represent
This is you, this is me, and we are HiiiPoWeR
Section.80 is the debut album by American hip hop recording artist Kendrick Lamar, released exclusively through the iTunes Store on July 2, 2011, under Top Dawg Entertainment. The production was mainly handled by Top Dawg in-house producers from production group Digi+Phonics, along with THC, Tommy Black, Wyldfyer, Terrace Martin and J. Cole. The concept album features lyrical themes delivered by Lamar such as racism and medication tolerance, and was well received by contemporary music critics.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lyrics:
(feat. Ab-Soul)
[Ab-Soul]
What's your life about? Enlighten me
Is you gon' live on your knees or die on your feet?
There's fire in the street, fire in the swisher
Fire in between the two legs of your lil' sister
Just get a sip of this elixir
before they crop us out the picture
I've never seen a crop circle
but I've cops circle the block, I puff squares
But I swear one day I'ma stop, my nerves itch
On the brink of my career while my peers struggle for employment
Can you hear these screams? (Uncle Sam ain't no killing me)
One, two, three, four grams and a fifth of Hennessy
A bad bitch, fuck the penitentiary
[sung by female]
Section 80's babies, blame Ronald Reagan
We raising hell
[Ab-Soul]
Lord forbid
The homie got wet, so we tryna soak it in
The president is black, but you can't vote for skin
You vote for the better man
Come to our show, you can see the diversity
Unify the people, they gon' peep it universally
We might not change the world, but we gon' manipulate it
I hope you participating
Aiyyo Dot, won't you let these cats know?
We knew we'd be here like back in '04
Started HiiiPoWeR because our generation needed a generator
and the system made to disintegrate us
And all we do is assist 'em
We're not victors, we're victims
The bigger picture isn't developed yet
Like, what if kids were celibate?
Or what is Tammy came across a real man
who didn't play games like chil-dren?
My nigga cheated on his girlfriend
with his girlfriend's girlfriend, let the world end
And everybody tripping off twenty-twelve
and the extraterrestrial presence as well
(Odd Future's aight) but our future's not
That martial law shit drop, we gon' all get got
So keep that question mark on your face
Eat your fast-food, use your fluoride toothpaste
Hide your feelings from the public, work your lil' nine-to-five
Don't forget to pay your tithes, and thank God you alive (HiiiPoWeR)
And on another note
we focussed like the Hubble Telescope, 'Soul
[Kendrick Lamar (female)]
Life is a traffic jam (life is a traffic jam)
Life is a traffic jam (x2)
Life is a traffic jam (ready to go) (x3)
Life is a traffic jam (x2)
[Kendrick Lamar]
I wrote this because I was ordered to
People say I speak for generation Y
Why lie? I do
Section 80, your son will play me if radio won't
Daughters that just turned one to twenty-one listen to Kendrick
For instance
[Ab-Soul]
What's your life about? Enlighten me
Is you gon' live on your knees or die on your feet?
Take out that student loan and pay off your college degree
and do exactly what you see on TV
[Kendrick Lamar]
True story
Hmm, can you repeat that for me 'Soul?
[Ab-Soul]
What's your life about? Enlighten me
Is you gon' live on your knees or die on your feet?
Is you gon' plead the fifth or sound the horn?
The time is now my child, come on
[Kendrick Lamar]
See a lot of y'all don't understand Kendrick Lamar
because you wonder how I could talk about money, hoes, clothes, God and history
all in the same sentence
You know what all them things have in common?
Only half of the truth if you tell it
See I spent twenty-three years on this earth searching for answers
till one day I realised I had to come up with my own
I'm not on the outside looking in, I'm not on inside looking out
I'm in the dead fucking centre looking around
You ever seen a newborn baby kill a grown man?
That's an analogy for the way the world make me react
My innocence been dead
So the next time I talk about money, hoes, clothes, God and history
all in the same sentence
just know I meant it, and you felt it
cause you too are searching for answers
I'm not the next pop star, I'm not the next socially aware rapper
I am a human motherfucking being over dope ass instrumentation
Kendrick Lamar
Now fuck 'em up Terrace
('Soul!)
[Outro]
I watch this fire that we're gathered around
and see that it burns similar to the fire that burns inside you
Section 80, Section 80 babies
A generation of bliss and disobedience
No they can't control us, no they can't control you
No they can't control us, but we control each other
We build our own world
If you don't leave with nothing else tonight, you will leave with knowing yourself
You will leave knowing you represent something that's bigger than all of us
or our family
Heart, honor and represent
This is you, this is me, and we are HiiiPoWeR
