Caged Bird Chords by J. Cole  &  Dreamville

[Intro]
Abm7 Ab7  Ebm7      
■    Yeah caged bird
               Abm7        
Something like a caged bird
      Ebm7
Caged bird
Ebm7     
Yeah look


[Verse]
          Abm7                                             
You ain't a man till you stop chasing your friends my nigga
          Abm7                                 
Think for yourself make your own plans my nigga
     Ebm7                                          
I'll be lying if I said I ain't understand my nigga
Db                                                          
Cause who you gon' follow when the leaders all get swallowed
   Abm7                     
By reefer clouds and bottles
   Abm7                  
In and out of county jail
Abm7                                                  
This is hell see the young black males in packed cells
     Ebm            
With they heads down
Ebm7                         
And they fists clenched tight
                      Ebm7                    
Thinking I could bust a hole through this wall
          Db          
And bitch I just might
               Ebm7           Abm7         
It's just like the caged bird I sing a song
                    Abm7                            
Hoping they open up these bars and send a nigga home
Ab7                 
I cry when I'm alone
    Ebm7                                
I'm wondering why would God send me here
             Ebm7        
Knowing that they hate us
Ebsus4                              Ebm7                         
Knowing that they make us feel like we evil so we kill our people
Abm7                                                  
Without a second thought in every lesson taught by OGs
        Abm7                              
We full of real nigga wisdom so we proceed
Ebm7                                              
Like real niggas who been stripped of our humanity
Ebm7                                                        
I see the judge's eyes I know that he ain't understanding me
  Abm7      
A caged bird
Abm7      
Caged bird
           Ebm7     
Yeah caged ■    bird


[Chorus]
                                     Abm7      
Freedom's just an illusion that's my conclusion
                         Absus4                         
And if it ain't then how my niggas keep on losin' theirs
                 Ebm                                 
This goes out to childhood friends that's doin' years
               Ebm7       Ebm           
Prison tats on they backs like souvenirs
Ebm7                     
We wish that you was here
Abm7                                
A mother's tear spilled on this page
                         Absus4      
A brother's tear spilled on this page
Absus4            
How many days left
            Ebm7                        
And can you find peace when you released
Ebm7                     
Still filled up wit' rage


[Verse]
            Ebsus4                                         
Back on the streets just to peep that you still in the cage
          Abm7           
Well it's the oratory vet
                 Abm7               
Turned down king slash poet laureate
                               Ebm7            
Used to paint a picture with a story of neglect
                         Ebm7                        
I could've been a shorty drinking fortys on the steps
       Db              
With a shorty on my lap
       Abm7                                       
With a shorty on the way coming shortly to protect
Abm7                                            
I could've been a dealer in the party with the X
        Ebm7                                     
But I'm hardly in the mix and I partially confess
Ebm7                                               
I definitely got a couple parts in me that I regret
                           Abm7       
Is the cup halfempty or is it halffull
  Abm7                                           
I fill mine up with Hennessy then get back to him
         Ebm                                  
I'm just a jazz musician trapped in a rap form
          Ebm7                                         
You think you standing for something you on a trap door
          Abm7                
Well it's the Mr Introspective
               Abm7                        
I'm a dreamers dream a sort of an inception
                  Ebm7                                 
I never fiend for the scene but I dreamed of the things
                Ebm7                                
That a Mercedes brings like slow sex with fast women
Abm7                             
Drinking cognac I'm past grinning
             Abm7         
A sexy dress fat ass in it
                          Abm7      
But still hit it till I'm halfwinded
Ebm                              
Cause niggas tell me I'm the shit
                      Ebm7       
Well I be hitting all these dimes
    Ebm          Ebm7                    
See I'm caged by the visions of the blind
Abm7               
I started as a king
Abm7             
Turned to a slave
Abm7                
Put us in our chains
   Abm7                   
We was forced to entertain
Ebm7                                                  
Thinking bout the present day I'm living off the stage
Ebm7                                       
Wonder if a nigga ever get up out this cage
     Abm7
As I sing
        Abm7
A caged bird
Abm7      
Caged bird
                Bbm7
Yeah caged bird ■   


[Chorus]
                  Bbm7                         
Freedom's just an illusion that's my conclusion
                         Absus4                         
And if it ain't then how my niggas keep on losin' theirs
                 Ebm7                                
This goes out to childhood friends that's doin' years
               Ebsus4                   
Prison tats on they backs like souvenirs
        Ebsus4           
We wish that you was here
Ab7                             Abm7
A mother's tear spilled on this page
                         Abm7        
A brother's tear spilled on this page
Abm7              
How many days left
            Abm7                        
And can you find peace when you released
Abm7                     
Still filled up wit' rage
                                      Ebm7                 
Back on the streets just to peep that you still in the cage


[Outro]
Ebm Db Abm Ebm Db Ebm Abm7
■   ■  ■   ■   ■  ■   ■   


[End]