1. |
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Swallowing Fire featuring Dane Ferguson
Verse 1, Chuckie Campbell
Sometimes, it feels like
this is all I have left
My heart’s breaking,
rubber cords snapping back
in my chest
I lost everything
when I was finding myself
No longer seeking your approval
I ain’t holding my...breath
Yes, with nothing to believe in,
in prisons disguised as freedom,
I’m swimming deep in the meaning,
seeking more than simple reasons
that we wake up and push
instead of spend our whole adult lives
healing broken childhoods --
Look, I choose to live my life
on the other side of fear,
so long after I’m gone,
long after a song,
my spirit will live on,
and you can visit it --
here
Chorus 1, Dane Ferguson
Lost in smoke, swallowing fire
End of the rope, down to the wire
I’ll never give up
I’m a fighter
Soaring toward the sun,
I’ll overcome
Verse 2, Chuckie Campbell
Maybe it’s not real enough...
Let me back up, make some sense,
so that I’m clear enough
Let’s be honest, what is honest
just ain’t real...enough,
when the real ain’t realistic
and the truth ain’t what we...trust
Nothing’s what it seems
in a city so cold
that you have to carry heat,
where teens are eating tide pods
and sharing dank memes,
an addict’s sad eyes
become an empty, dark...street
Why? Why wouldn’t you dream...
that Harambe saves babies?
Eric Garner can breathe?
The flow is Doc Ellis
pitching on LSD,
an Instagram post
with tears from Tyreese
Rap is DJ Vlad without Lord Jamar,
an elevator ride with Ray Rice and Solange,
haters like a bunch Vince Staples on bath salts,
who sound better in their interviews
than in their own
songs
Chorus 2, Dane Ferguson
Lost in smoke, swallowing fire
End of the rope, down to the wire
I’ll never give up
I’m a fighter
Soaring toward the sun,
I’ll overcome
Verse 3, Chuckie Campbell
Our love is brilliant,
bending time in a prism of raw feeling,
the physics and endless space
without conditions or limits
I see it vivid,
visit moments meant for more
than to live them,
but to connect, interject –
give myself to the rhythms,
and if you’re smart enough listen,
let's be honest a minute
Some will think that this is dope
Some will think that it isn’t
Some will give up on their dreams
for somebody’s opinion
The best part about my art
is the fact that it’s different
I care more if you relate
than if you think that I’m spitting,
care less about the bars
than if you feel what you’re hearing
I put away the phony punchlines...
big words and the gimmicks
Why would I cover up my soul
if my goal was to reach you?
And, to grow, now I know,
I’m not above or beneath you
but more importantly,
I hope you see
the whole human being
Every scar and every flaw,
dark piece of my heart,
every song is just a shadow
resembling God
Chorus 3, Dane Ferguson
Lost in smoke, swallowing fire
End of the rope, down to the wire
I’ll never give up
I’m a fighter
Soaring toward the sun,
I’ll overcome
END.
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2. |
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More Than Just Art featuring Dave Stewy
Chorus 1, Dave Stewy
They want to bury me under,
deep in the dirt,
but they can’t keep me down
I keep on drowning
My life just needs saving
I’ll rise above,
shining bright like the sun
Verse 1, Chuckie Campbell
Yeah, I don’t know --
Am I writing this song
‘cause nothing’s left in me
but these habits and faults?
Seems like everything I’ve loved,
I’ve either hurt or I’ve lost
Am I unworthy of your love
unless you’re equally scarred?
Why should this be any different
because music’s involved?
For the fans? For the culture?
For some charitable cause?
What if I wrote this for myself?
Is it inherently flawed?
I’d like to think there’s more to it
but I’m apparently wrong
They say I’ve come along way
but maybe I’ve not
Part of me is still a teen,
staring up at the stars,
taking sips of Olde E
bumping Biggie and Pac
Lost --
Drinking to the trauma
that once shattered my heart
and rewriting my experience in every song,
I’m trying to reconcile the present
with the past that is gone
and tell myself this is
more than just art...
but it’s not
Chorus 2, Dave Stewy
They want to bury me under,
deep in the dirt,
but they can’t keep me down
I keep on drowning
My life just needs saving
I’ll rise above,
shining bright like the sun
Verse 2, Chuckie Campbell
Yeah, I don’t know --
Am I writing this song
for any deeper purpose
than to sell it to y’all?
Reciting every line
with my hand on my heart,
couldn’t tell if I was spitting
or I was talking to God...
Why should I compromise
my standards or the things that I like?
‘Cause some struggle rapper
thinks his music’s doper than mine?
Should it change how we determine
how great art is defined
when the content has a context
cemented in time?
Timeless –
the unwanted pregnancy,
the rapist who lied,
the absent father who abandoned
and walked out on his child,
pedophile who abused youth left in denial,
street hustler fighting for his life up in Rikers
I write this...
pursuing what is human
even when it gets hard
I’m trying to reconcile the present
with the past that is gone
and tell myself this is
more than just art...
but it’s not
Chorus 3, Dave Stewy
They want to bury me under,
deep in the dirt,
but they can’t keep me down
I keep on drowning
My life just needs saving
I’ll rise above,
shining bright like the sun
END.
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3. |
Grown Man Raps
02:57
|
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Grown Man Raps
Verse 1, Chuckie Campbell
I’m a grown man
What it look like?
Are you confused
by the way that I talk?
I’m unmoved by your jewelry and cars
or the dope that you move in your songs
I'm my own man
By my own hand
Can’t buy me
This came from my heart
Seen the broken repent
in the darkness
with nothing but
a handful of dollars...yeah
Far beyond the rhetoric you represent,
I reference a dealer who sold dope on the block
Paid to the detriment,
he dealt to the delicate,
addicted to the pain and the loss
It was irrelevant to criticize the regimen
until he saw the homie sold dope to his mom
Now, he’s reticent to recommend
the will to keep it real,
when at times to keep it real goes…wrong
Chorus 1, Chuckie Campbell
I can feel it when you sing it in a song
when the syllables are there
but the sentiment is off
I can feel it when you sing it in a song
Tell me everything you are
when it’s everything you’re not --
Verse 2, Chuckie Campbell
I’m a grown man
What it look like?
Are you confused
by the way that I talk?
I’m unmoved by your immature thoughts,
that struggle rap you call bars
You’re your own man
By your own hand,
you communicate nothing at all
So we’re clear and those from afar
don't mistake us, let’s take just a moment to --
Whether mumbling a melody in auto-tune
or rapping about rapping the affect is the same
There's a difference in a rapper,
who would hide behind a metaphor,
and another who has something to say
A good artist can communicate complexity
but does it a clear and a concise way
There’s a lot of fake depth
in a deep fake world
when what passes for substance is...fake
Chorus 2, Chuckie Campbell
I can feel it when you sing it in a song
when the syllables are there
but the sentiment is off
I can feel it when you sing it in a song
Tell me everything you are
when it’s everything you’re not
Verse 3, Chuckie Campbell
I’m a grown man
What it look like?
Are you confused
by the way that I talk?
Once I was you,
insecure in my art
and appeared to be something I’m not
I’m my own man
By my own hand,
I’ve chased dreams
that have broken my heart
and been on stages with legends
who told me I’m blessed
with the essence to carry this --
Once a time, I thought it cool to act hard
and rap about a life I never lived
but to pretend is to be privileged enough
and never pay for the pain others know too well,
and once I was that lyrical, that miracle,
that technical God emcee until,
I realized it was just another way to be pretentious
and avoid making art we...feel
Chorus 3, Chuckie Campbell
I can feel it when you sing it in a song
when the syllables are there
but the sentiment is off
I can feel it when you sing it in a song
Tell me everything you are
when it’s everything you’re not
END.
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4. |
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It All Falls Down featuring Maya By Name
Verse 1, Chuckie Campbell
Maybe I’m too numb
for my heart to let me feel this
I torture every instant
‘til time relinquishes secrets
Stood by me through
the lies and the drinking,
the interventions,
the open roads I traveled and toured
that ended friendships
Years of sacrifice where you carried me,
I was slipping
Even now, you would never give up
Our love is different,
and I’m thinking
through the cycles and seasons
left at a distance
‘cause I sense it,
all the anger, resentment,
the hidden feelings
You deserve more
I’m unsure of how to reach you
or how to show my support,
how to honor how you feel
through the years of divorce court,
how to be there for your children
when I know their feeling torn
They deserve more
There’s the family that they were
and the family we’re working toward,
and I wonder if the man that I am’s
the one they want
I question if I’m worthy of love,
if I’m enough.
I want to be there when you need me,
not hurt the one I love
Your love...it is my refuge
I refuse to turn and run --
This is us.
Chorus 1, Maya by Name
Nothing is ever good enough for you
Most days, I think I’ve had enough -- It’s true
Never seem to get it right
Still you’re my refuge
when it all falls down
when it all falls down
Verse 2, Chuckie Campbell
Remember...
The snow falling through the dark
and padding the city streets,
insulated in the silence
and trapping us both beneath
Still remember
winter nights in November
that set the scene,
the moment that I gave you my heart,
it skipped a beat.
Held me tight
as I would talk in my sleep,
sweat through the sheets
Post traumatic stress
that had haunted me in my dreams
admittedly, left me less of the man
I hoped to be,
but showed to be vulnerable
doesn’t mean that you’re weak
You deserve more
You’re so sure of how to love me
and how to show your support
I know your mother’s looking down
so proud of who you are –
a friend and a parent,
my lover, my moon and stars
We deserve more
For that happen, all the patterns
that make me more immature
should be re-examined
to make me less insecure,
to be the man I promised I am,
to see your worth
I want to be there when you need me,
not hurt the one I love
Your love it is my refuge
I refuse to turn and run --
You’re enough.
Chorus 2, Maya by Name
Nothing is ever good enough for you
Most days, I think I’ve had enough -- It’s true
Never seem to get it right
Still you’re my refuge
when it all falls down
when it all falls down
END.
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5. |
Magnetic Moon
02:36
|
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Magnetic Moon
Chorus 1, Chuckie Campbell
When you’re asking why
I’ll be right by your side
When your heart is closing chapters
and you’re trying to find your guide
The moon will be our magnetic,
as the tides will fall and rise
I’ll hold you through the madness
as moments become memories in time
Verse 1, Chuckie Campbell
If I’m honest,
I don’t know where to start
I’m searching for forgiveness
when the person to forgive is
staring back from the mirror on the wall
All the years I spent up on the road
performing at these shows,
and now I’m home,
but often feel I should be gone
I’ve left so many times,
all I know is how to leave,
especially if this is really what I want
What if what I’m running from
is truly right in front of me,
confronting me with inner dialogue?
It’s one thing if I’m suffering
for what I have envisioned
and another when others pay the cost
I’m grown, I have a family,
and people who depend on me
I’ll die before I see them ever starve,
but the truth is I’m an artist,
and to honor that is hardest,
when I see them sacrifice for my art.
Chorus 2, Chuckie Campbell
When you’re asking why
I’ll be right by your side
When your heart is closing chapters
and you’re trying to find your guide
The moon will be our magnetic,
as the tides will fall and rise
I’ll hold you through the madness
as moments become memories in time
Verse 2, Chuckie Campbell
If I’m honest,
I don’t know where to start
I’m searching for forgiveness
when the person to forgive is
staring back from the mirror on the wall
I’m a walking contradiction
when I’m speaking with conviction
to convince me to admit it that I’m wrong
I can be difficult and hard headed,
unapologetic, and unwilling
when it’s really my fault
All in all, this is a promise
I can be a better partner,
better friend and better father
when its hard
The kids are getting older,
can’t afford to not be focused,
my choices matter more in that regard
To put it in perspective,
I can see where I was selfish,
but to see I had to write it in song
The truth is I’m an artist,
and to honor that is hardest,
when I see you sacrifice for my art
Chorus 2, Chuckie Campbell
When you’re asking why
I’ll be right by your side
When your heart is closing chapters
and you’re trying to find your guide
The moon will be our magnetic,
as the tides will fall and rise
I’ll hold you through the madness
as moments become memories in time
END.
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Chuckie Campbell Buffalo, New York
Chuckie Campbell is an American hip hop artist who lives in Buffalo, NY. Campbell commonly performs with a live band (drums, keys, and a full horn section), to make for a dynamic, powerful, and eclectic approach to hip hop, filled with fluid instrumentation, lush musical arrangements, and heartfelt poetic nuance. ... more
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