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Track cover Man Up Above

Man Up Above

4:58rap Album The Fall-Off 2026-02-06

More songs by J. Cole

  1. Power Trip
    r&b, rap 4:01
  2. Bunce Road Blues (with Future & Tems)
  3. SAFETY
    rap 5:18
  4. Poor Thang
    rap 4:50
  5. Bombs in the Ville/Hit the Gas
    rap 4:06
  6. The Let Out
    rap 4:14
All songs

Description

Additionalproducer, Vocalist: J. Cole

Producer: T-Minus

Recording Engineer: Kuldeep Chudasama

Recording Second Engineer: Lucas Gallo

Mixing Engineer: Juro "Mez" Davis

Mastering Engineer: Joe LaPorta

Additionalproducer: Ibrahim Hamad

Composer Lyricist: Jermaine Cole

Composer Lyricist: Tyler Williams

Composer Lyricist: Matthew Richard Brownie

Composer Lyricist: Marvin Louis Sapp

Composer Lyricist: William Robinson, Jr.

Composer Lyricist: Andre Deyo

Composer Lyricist: Samuel Barnes

Composer Lyricist: Troy A Oliver

Composer Lyricist: Jean Oliver

Composer Lyricist: Michael Ian Oliviere

Composer Lyricist: Jennifer Lopez

Composer Lyricist: José Fernando Arbex Miró

Composer Lyricist: Lawrence Krsone Parker

Composer Lyricist: Scott Monroe Sterling

Composer Lyricist: Jason Phillips

Composer Lyricist: David Styles

Lyrics and translation

Original

Never would've made it

Never could've made it without You

Without You

Uh

Whole lotta O's gettin' sold on the block

Don't go outside a lot, ain't tryna get popped

12 bustin' in while we scrapin' out the pot

We runnin' out the spot, we runnin' out the spot

Singin', "Don't be fooled by the rocks that I got"

Somebody's gettin' knocked while the bodies gettin' dropped

I used to have a little, now a nigga got a lot

I pray the Lord watch, I pray the Lord watch

Another year goes by, another nigga slayed

At the West Indian Day Parade when perpetrators sprayed

You got the nerve to ask why I stay in the house more

Get paid for goin' in, the fuck I'm goin' out for?

When niggas stretchin' shit like a new school power forward

Naz Reid range, but when these boys are shootin', niggas start breathin' strange

Heartbeat is faint, now it's auf wiedersehen

I'm not German, but the wheels currently turnin' on my mama's automobiles

Certain of y'all while y'all prefer to be hard

Memories of my dawg's wake, it's hurtin' me, y'all

The windows to his soul closed, saw its curtains be drawn

Innocent as a child, but weren't we all?

Before the hos and the smoke that arose from the Black and Mild cigarellos

Triggers lift the biggest fellows, put seven on his torso and turned him into Melo, uh

But no midrange iso, back to the basket

The streets raised him a bastard, wrapped in a casket

Best beware, don't you dare go laugh at the tragic passin' of somebody's son by somebody's gun

Give a fuck if you opps, when dissin' the dead, the karma tends to come at you hot

I promise you pray for forgiveness, the Lord's wrath can astonish you

I'd rather admonish you on this record than impress with perceptions of a designer shoe

Fuck Gucci, fuck Louis, fuck Chanel, fuck Balenciaga, how we gon' excel?

Soon as niggas make it out, they turnin' Hollywood as hell

I knew buddy caught that body, but hell, I prolly shouldn't tell, or else I

Never would've made it

I mean, I, never could've made it without You (yeah)

Got a soft spot for the man up above

Eastside, Westside, show me love (without You)

Niggas duck shots and some niggas catch slugs

Northside, Southside, show me love, huh

Whole lotta O's gettin' sold on the block

Don't go outside a lot, ain't tryna get popped

12 bustin' in while we scrapin' out the pot

We runnin' out the spot, we runnin' out the spot

Singin', "Don't be fooled by the rocks that I got"

Somebody's gettin' knocked while the bodies gettin' dropped

I used to have a little, now a nigga got a lot

I pray the Lord watch, I pray the Lord watch, uh

Someone that's close to me is facin' time

My mind's racin' for some way to find, hope that he may be fine

He got a son the same age as mine

I can't imagine spendin' days in a cage not raisin' mine

These are the years with our kids where we strengthen bonds

I paid his bond, but the trial's comin'

The rain or shine, I know his child love him

But he's too young to understand it if the outcome is incarceration and charges facin'

Bring the possibility of long vacations and complications with his baby mom

She daily cryin', sayin' her heart is vacant

He tryna make it work, he wanna fake it for the sake of family

But she keep throwin' old shit right in his face apparently

Remindin' him 'bout how he tried to make her take a plan B and abort the seed

Threatenin' him with child support so that the court can seize and garnish wages

And all this was before he caught this case that's brought the latest

Pile of stress to add to all this mess, it's hard to face it

His thoughts deflated, somewhere 'long the way, he lost his faith

But now he reads the Bible hopin' God'll see him contemplative

Never would've made it

He prayin' now, he even threw some gospel on his playlist

Never could've made it without You

Tears fallin', Marvin Sapp, "Never Would Have Made It"

Man up above

Eastside, Westside, show me love (without You)

Niggas duck shots and some niggas catch slugs

Northside, Southside, show me love, uh, huh

Whole lotta O's gettin' sold on the block

Don't go outside a lot, ain't tryna get popped

12 bustin' in while we scrapin' out the pot

We runnin' out the spot, we runnin' out the spot

Singin', "Don't be fooled by the rocks that I got"

Somebody's gettin' knocked while the bodies gettin' dropped

I used to have a little, now a nigga got a lot

I pray the Lord watch, I pray the Lord watch

For me (never would've made it)

Oh, I never could've made it (never could've made it without You)

Without You

English translation

Never would've made it

Never could've made it without You

Without You

Uh

Whole lotta O's gettin' sold on the block

Don't go outside a lot, ain't tryna get popped

12 bustin' in while we scrapin' out the pot

We runnin' out the spot, we runnin' out the spot

Singin', "Don't be fooled by the rocks that I got"

Somebody's gettin' knocked while the bodies gettin' dropped

I used to have a little, now a nigga got a lot

I pray the Lord watch, I pray the Lord watch

Another year goes by, another nigga slayed

At the West Indian Day Parade when perpetrators sprayed

You got the nerve to ask why I stay in the house more

Get paid for goin' in, the fuck I'm goin' out for?

When niggas stretchin' shit like a new school power forward

Naz Reid range, but when these boys are shootin', niggas start breathin' strange

Heartbeat is faint, now it's auf wiedersehen

I'm not German, but the wheels currently turnin' on my mama's automobiles

Certain of y'all while y'all prefer to be hard

Memories of my dawg's wake, it's hurtin' me, y'all

The windows to his soul closed, saw its curtains be drawn

Innocent as a child, but weren't we all?

Before the hos and the smoke that arose from the Black and Mild cigarellos

Triggers lift the biggest fellows, put seven on his torso and turned him into Melo, uh

But no midrange iso, back to the basket

The streets raised him a bastard, wrapped in a casket

Best beware, don't you dare go laugh at the tragic passin' of somebody's son by somebody's gun

Give a fuck if you opps, when dissin' the dead, the karma tends to come at you hot

I promise you pray for forgiveness, the Lord's wrath can astonish you

I'd rather admonish you on this record than impress with perceptions of a designer shoe

Fuck Gucci, fuck Louis, fuck Chanel, fuck Balenciaga, how we gon' excel?

Soon as niggas make it out, they turnin' Hollywood as hell

I knew buddy caught that body, but hell, I prolly shouldn't tell, or else I

Never would've made it

I mean, I, never could've made it without You (yeah)

Got a soft spot for the man up above

Eastside, Westside, show me love (without You)

Niggas duck shots and some niggas catch slugs

Northside, Southside, show me love, huh

Whole lotta O's gettin' sold on the block

Don't go outside a lot, ain't tryna get popped

12 bustin' in while we scrapin' out the pot

We runnin' out the spot, we runnin' out the spot

Singin', "Don't be fooled by the rocks that I got"

Somebody's gettin' knocked while the bodies gettin' dropped

I used to have a little, now a nigga got a lot

I pray the Lord watch, I pray the Lord watch, uh

Someone that's close to me is facin' time

My mind's racin' for some way to find, hope that he may be fine

He got a son the same age as mine

I can't imagine spendin' days in a cage not raisin' mine

These are the years with our kids where we strengthen bonds

I paid his bond, but the trial's comin'

The rain or shine, I know his child love him

But he's too young to understand it if the outcome is incarceration and charges facin'

Bring the possibility of long vacations and complications with his baby mom

She daily cryin', sayin' her heart is vacant

He tryna make it work, he wanna fake it for the sake of family

But she keep throwin' old shit right in his face apparently

Remindin' him 'bout how he tried to make her take a plan B and abort the seed

Threatenin' him with child support so that the court can seize and garnish wages

And all this was before he caught this case that's brought the latest

Pile of stress to add to all this mess, it's hard to face it

His thoughts deflated, somewhere 'long the way, he lost his faith

But now he reads the Bible hopin' God'll see him contemplative

Never would've made it

He prayin' now, he even threw some gospel on his playlist

Never could've made it without You

Tears fallin', Marvin Sapp, "Never Would Have Made It"

Man up above

Eastside, Westside, show me love (without You)

Niggas duck shots and some niggas catch slugs

Northside, Southside, show me love, uh, huh

Whole lotta O's gettin' sold on the block

Don't go outside a lot, ain't tryna get popped

12 bustin' in while we scrapin' out the pot

We runnin' out the spot, we runnin' out the spot

Singin', "Don't be fooled by the rocks that I got"

Somebody's gettin' knocked while the bodies gettin' dropped

I used to have a little, now a nigga got a lot

I pray the Lord watch, I pray the Lord watch

For me (never would've made it)

Oh, I never could've made it (never could've made it without You)

Without You

Watch video J. Cole - Man Up Above

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