CIRCLES

Woke up numb, feeling like it's been so long, gone
Same old song, starting to forget where I'm from
Looking at regret, wonder where it all went wrong
Though it's dark and the shine gets dim I know I can flick a switch and the light goes on
And we on
I'm just trying to better me, something ain't letting me
Feel my destiny curve like the letter C
Hearing here-say, that shit is heresy
Blocking out what the voices are telling me
Saw a future I know that they'll never see
Feel the pressure I can't let it get to me
Trying to sculpt every word like an effigy
I know somewhere inside is the remedy
Who'd have known it as kids, we'd all grow up like this and I'd have to go and book that flight
He had so much to give, hope he know what it is, lost a brother when he took that life
Ain't stop feeling him since, we all got fingerprints left on how the city looks at night
Try to stay on the path
'Bout time I go and hook that right

I got right of way
They can say the feeling ain't safe
I just write of way
Charge one up to the game

Woke up clear, I know why the fuck I'm here, yeah
Ain't no fear, hands on the wheel I steer, yeah
Take it all in, grateful to breathe that air, yeah
But I can't help feeling like there's something different in that mirror right there, yeah
Maybe this a time for reflection
Maybe I been caught up in the grind but I'm destined
Maybe I'm just lazy, and it's all on me to test it
But lately something's telling me it's all in my perception, right
I know what we see can be projections
You know what I'm saying like you're finishing my sentence
If I'm ever praying then I'm preying on my checklist
We ain't ever playing, trying to stack it like it's Tetris, right
Knew I was something from back in the day
Used to have visions of catching the train
Suit and a case, all packed in our place
Never content as just rats in the race
Doubt can teach us to practice restraint
Tell us its one way it actually ain't
Damage the vessel, can't damage the faith
We never knew it would happen this way

Circles

Write

I been going through it, I been all up in it
Going through the wringer, feel the room is spinning
Had to break the cycle, had to prove I'm different
Had to move the needle, had to make some impact
This bang like a car door, the world been waiting on me - throw
Drinks back like a pub crawl, you know they hating on D
I stay lit up like a head light, see red like a LED light
I let live and I let die, we suit up like a neck tie
'Cause I'm all about my business, all about my business
I been sharpening my blade and they been pouring out they feelings
Now that well dry, and the droughts here, they thirsty up in this bitch
Just know the gang here, then we straight like it's 12.30 up in this bitch
They ain't worthy up in this, looking dirty up in this bitch
Got my balance still it's wavy like a surfy up in this bitch, yeah
She bad, yeah she bad, Cersei up in this bitch
And when the time comes, it's wild fire, no mercy up in this bitch
And we all lit in here tonight
Bottles that we pop, we live like we got a lot
Can't help feeling that it's gonna be alright
I got the keys the keys, we still got this shit on lock - we go
Dumb as the idea we might be alone in our galaxy
They just all follow like I got a map on me
Minus the salary we got the battery
The DM like DV 'cause she got the battery
She sent me a pic it ain't go in the gallery
I stay with the drip yeah my shit got an allergy
They calling you brother but they are not family
I am the man, yeah I studied my anthropy - GO

And since back in the day we been mixing it up like a daquiri
That's my brother the area never been grey nah that ain't our anatomy
This shit easy as riding a bike, but they ain't got the bars, they can't handle me
Man they softer than walking in sandals on sand in the Sandalwood Factory
Now it's all coming back to me
I put the past to the back of me
Killed off the old me, it's nothing but part of my casualties
17 years I been killing these rappers and still there ain't none of them matching me
Still got plenty of brothers that's willing to jump out the dug out and come out and bat for me
Man it's easy to love but they stuck on this other shit that's the thing that really baffle me
Always love whatever's bad for me, seen the beauty in the breakdown
Try to keep this ride on the road but I see the beauty when it break down
Held her while she cried over me yeah I seen that beauty through her breakdown
Life is a fight in the octagon feel like they setting you up for the takedown
Calling out mission control, I got some shit on my soul
Feel like they wanting us dead they be hitting the 'Whoa' while they digging my hole
That's why I'm picking my role, setting my screen like a pick-n-a-roll
Fighting fire 'til it's time to fly, I be riding high like a Nissan Patrol
We are one but we are many things, bond eternal like a wedding ring
I ain't forcing out this content, I'm just trying to be content with things
That's a liberating concept, I don't care about the bread it brings
Making music with my road dogs, DS Fam over everything

And we all lit in here tonight
Bottles that we pop, we live like we got a lot
Can't help feeling that it's gonna be alright
I got the keys, the keys
And we been had this shit on lock, now let's go

Strickland St ft Cortext

I been in the yard for the long
They ain't gotta ask 'cause they know where we from
Living in the past ain't a go, that's a stop
If you're coming round here, don't be coming round wrong
Yeah yeah yeah
I been in the yard for the long
They ain't gotta ask 'cause they know where we from
Living in the past ain't a go, that's a stop
If you're coming round here, don't be coming round wrong

I been in the yard for the long, Paul Crewe
Even when we fall out, never fall through
Talking all dues paid, never small moves
Shouldn't be a call out if I could just call you - you
Got the ball mah-fucker, don't you wait until your back against the wall mah-fucker
Got some options for your name is getting called, mah-fucker
Slow your walk before you slip and then you fall, mah-fucker
Ay, this is all I do
All them guys that you listen to, that's all my crew
Studied My Hero Academia, I'm All Might, too
They watching but they wrong if they think they know all my moves
Ay, this Thierry with the shot
Like my people with the penne something heavy in the pot
Need my name across the country, they already on the block
Small reminder just incase you forgot (Yeah, yeah, yeah)

I been in the yard for the long
They ain't gotta ask 'cause they know where we from
Living in the past ain't a go, that's a stop
If you're coming round here, don't be coming round wrong
Yeah yeah yeah
I been in the yard for the long
They ain't gotta ask 'cause they know where we from
Living in the past ain't a go, that's a stop
If you're coming round here, don't be coming round wrong
Yeah yeah yeah

I been in this shit since a chrysalis, infinite
Started out small, but grew my wings in it, penmanship 
On another level, they get hype of some simple shit
Us we don't feel you, not even a little bit
I been in the mud like the bugs and the sewers
Always rep the gang, when you see me there the crew is
Want to paint the town red, and I'm feeling kind of blue-ish
We be getting to the money like we...

I been in the yard for the long
They ain't gotta ask 'cause they know where we from
Living in the past ain't a go, that's a stop
If you're coming round here, don't be coming round wrong
Yeah yeah yeah
I been in the yard for the long
They ain't gotta ask 'cause they know where we from
Living in the past ain't a go, that's a stop
If you're coming round here, don't be coming round wrong

Longest Yard

I don't know no one that want them
I mean with the steez, with the peace, with the pen
So many degrees to this, geez, it's a thing
Imma need a 1, and you're coming off 10
I don't know no one that want them
I mean with the steez, with the peace, with the pen
So many degrees to this, geez, it's a thing
Imma need a 1, and you're coming off 10

Scattered thoughts, I gotta catch 'em before they fly away
I know I'd make it if only my mind could find the space
Gemini, 2 sides, I switch like night and day
Ride the razor wire, write my lines up on a china plate
You thought your mans was done for, still we find a way
Tryna stay imperfect as we merge in with the cyberspace
Can't deny it, mind is shining like a light grenade
Rising even though they try confine us to a primal state
We gon' be outside, the box never barred us
Strong like it's Sparta, learnt from LOX and the Carters
That's – Jay and Wayne, the Magic way, this David Blaine
They act Major Paine, but Damon Wayans, lost when I started
Plus she's an easy impress, she got some bottles, she just needs the address
And I am not bothered
Came in a T, but she gon' leave in a dress, we banned from TV she want me to direct
I got a lot from it
This what we usually do
Stay in the cut but get as Groovy as Q
Fresh as anyone that you could newly recruit
We go Vesuvius, you knew we the truth
Watch me float and you would think I'm anti-gravity
Rest in peace to all the opps that haven't handled me
Had to give it to them, what would you do
Bitch I'm too smooth, baby blue suit

I don't know no one that want them
I mean with the steez, with the peace, with the pen
So many degrees to this, geez, it's a thing
Imma need a 1, and you're coming off 10
I don't know no one that want them
I mean with the steez, with the peace, with the pen
So many degrees to this, geez, it's a thing
Imma need a 1, and you're coming off 10

Spirits might keep my spirits high lately
Figure life in the hive isn't my nature
Vilified 'cuz inner quiet is the plight daily
With my tribe, where's the lie? A village might raise us
Hit acquired, it required all of my patience
Towards the light with no mind to where it might take me
I stay to the shadows and I don't feel myself
That's why I know that when I go there it just don't really help
I got that glow, ain't going nowhere, but the physical might
Given some time, keep my energy written into these lines
It's designed, Imma go there, pure is the form
Last thing that I could do is conform, knew it since Dawn
Ain't a prophet but I prophesize, verses are a homicide
Every time I hold the pen I sip my tea and cross their eyes
Dot the points and tick them off
Writtens never written off
Visit hell and visit God
Never switch the vision off
This is that shit, petrol to a match stick
Make 'em bring it back just so they can really catch it
Me encaptured, lit until we ash it
Never fade the family we fix it if it's fractured
Switch the axis, flow is pyroclastic
Looking brand new, but keep it every bit classic
Be the magnet, visualize the action
Actualize the vision, all the lights in the refraction
Try to show the nuance can't live life inside a caption
Don't disrespect your home then go and idolize the absent
Had to give it to 'em, what would you do?
Bitch I'm too smooth, baby blue suit

I don't know no one that want them
I mean with the steez, with the peace, with the pen
So many degrees to this, geez, it's a thing
Imma need a 1, and you're coming off 10
I don't know no one that want them
I mean with the steez, with the peace, with the pen
So many degrees to this, geez, it's a thing
Imma need a 1, and you're coming off 10

Baby Blue Suit

I ain't mean to go with you tonight
Fuck around and lead me somewhere
I got demons, I don't know what's on my mind
Take me with and leave me down there, I'm like
Good God
Good God
I'm like
Good God
Good God

See I ain't religious, I just want some help
Sometimes it's too heavy, can't lift it myself
Feeling too young to go sit on the shelf
When you got dependents, but you can't depend on yourself
Sometimes I just want to get away
I need a space somewhere I can breathe
My shoulders sore from that heavy weight
I just woke up and I want to sleep
Keep my head up for them better days
But far as the present, it's getting deep
I get swept under with every wave
Tread water, the bottom I barely reach, yeah
And that shore seem distant
I don't see my old friends now, and we don't talk much, and they all seem different
I just got to walk chest out, but I feel so weak, and my thoughts keep drifting
They can never call me victim
But demons done caught me slipping
Can't help but falling back
I see shadows every day
They got memories attached
I can't let them lead the way
Try not to ever be distracted
I ain't mean to take it here
But I can't blame myself for that

I ain't mean to go with you tonight
Fuck around and lead me somewhere
I got demons, I don't know what's on my mind
Take me with and leave me down there, I'm like
Good God
Good God
I'm like
Good God
Good God
I ain't mean to go with you tonight
Fuck around and lead me somewhere
I got demons, I don't know what's on my mind
Take me with and leave me down there, I'm like
Good God
Good God
I'm like
Good God
Good God

Good God

Let the fire cleanse, let it burn away
Until I rise again, let me hold this space
Will I find my strength? Or will it be misplaced
Just try to follow where I've been sent, I hope it don't lead astray
Everyday feeling like the same now, start to wonder if I've lost myself
Subtle pieces that I had to change out, but it's all adding up into a lot, my health 
Really ain't as important as getting payed now, how's that for the norm
How they keep us subservient, in a daze now, just fill your name on the form
Said "I ain't going out like that, I ain't going out like that", that was years ago
Now I stand on the train with a tag with my name
Swear this badge is a brand, boredom fanning the flames
'Til it catch those hoops
And we all dive through
Roll up, roll up
Can't let the circle become my noose

Til it's gone
It burns, it burns away

Wanna tell her that I love her, but she don't wanna hear that
That's a human connection, it's like lately we fear that
She don't wanna go deep, tepid water at the surface
Tryna walk across a tightrope, but ain't no order in the circus
I been trying to catch hold, I been trying to break free
I've been trying, man
All this grinding takes tolls, all these lies, it ain't me
I've been hiding, man
I been losing my soul, this survival aint cheap
I been fighting man
I been digging this hole, 'til the light ain't something I see
But I've been climbing, man
Yeah – gotta wonder why we play these games
Gotta wonder why we run this circuit
And it always seems to stay the same
I just wonder why I feel so numb, now
Feel the fire and embrace the pain
In a link, but I'll lose it somehow
I'm just struggling to break the chains – A

'Til it's gone
It burns, it burns away
'Til it's gone
It burns, it burns away
'Til it's gone
It burns, it burns away
'Til it's gone
It burns, it burns away

Circles

She treat me like I'm everything and nothing
No reply that's the end of the discussion
She make me feel like everything and nothing
Say I don't want it she like "boy, you bluffin'", bitch you buggin
She treat me like I'm everything and nothing
No reply that's the end of the discussion
She make me feel like everything and nothing
Say I don't want it she like "boy, you bluffin'", bitch you buggin

You say I'm clingy and I say you're distant
I walk away and then you say you miss it
I feel the pain and I need you to kiss it
I say it's mine and she like "no it isn't", no restriction
Invade my spirit gave you no permission
I need to hit it, I'm just so addicted
I shoot my shot and then you go ballistic
Can't help but feeling that it's so intrinsic
By all accounts, I got a few in the bank
See I been swimming with the sharks and they dropped you in the tank
Now there's blood all in the water and it's you with the shank
See I could be your Ashton Kutcher, but you knew it's a prank
We punk rock, Sid and Nancy, Sex Pistol the weapon
Got me giving all I had just to get your attention
In the street she all class, Imma teach you a lesson
Looking in each others eyes just to see our reflection

She treat me like I'm everything and nothing
No reply that's the end of the discussion
She make me feel like everything and nothing
Say I don't want it she like "boy, you bluffin'", bitch you buggin
She treat me like I'm everything and nothing
No reply that's the end of the discussion
She make me feel like everything and nothing
Say I don't want it she like "boy, you bluffin'", bitch you buggin

I say you're guarded, you say you're submissive
She make it harder talking so explicit
Uh, boss bitch but she toxic
How are you my shit but got me feeling like I'm not shit?
Uh, small waist but she toxic
She keep getting thicker and it's like it makes the plot thick
Got me fumbling, they all saying I should drop it
But they ain't seen it coming like a plot twist, I promise

She treat me like I'm everything and nothing
No reply that's the end of the discussion
She make me feel like everything and nothing
Say I don't want it she like "boy, you bluffin'", bitch you buggin
She treat me like I'm everything and nothing
No reply that's the end of the discussion
She make me feel like everything and nothing
Say I don't want it she like "boy, you bluffin'", bitch you buggin

And it don't mean nothing
Without you, I'm trying my best to be something
If I lose my way, then you are my compass
And I'd give it all, for you it ain't nothing
Nah, that don't mean nothing
And it don't mean nothing
Without you, my pusher and you give me substance
I do it for you, be someone you can trust in
And I'd give it all, for you it ain't nothing
Nah, that don't mean nothing

Nah that don't mean nothing, it's end of discussion
If I am the user then you are the plug then, like I need you to function
If we were to lose it and you were to jump then, that would be an injustice
This is all for your comfort, and we don't need to rush things
I don't do any cuffing, I just put on my cuff links (ya, ya, ya)

We just setting the vibe
I won't tell you no lie
If you let me inside
Done cutting my ties
Soul, body and mind
You can get what you like

And it don't mean nothing
Without you, I'm trying my best to be something
If I lose my way, then you are my compass
And I'd give it all, for you it ain't nothing
Nah, that don't mean nothing
And it don't mean nothing
Without you, my pusher and you give me substance
I do it for you, be someone you can trust in
And I'd give it all, for you it ain't nothing
Nah, that don't mean nothing

Everything & Nothing

I've been trying to do right, won't just run away from my gift
It's a still night, we on a wave with the shits
I been trying to reinvigorate, if I can't reciprocate
The energy it give me, put my V's up to a figure 8
Got it sideways, I got my vision straight
This the cool breeze that predate the winds of change
Keep my half a cup full for that prison break
We ain't lost no love here
On that up above tier you'll never be at
Bleed a little of my soul out on every track
Did it for D Town, and B now, you'll never be that, no
Bring your memory back
This for every free artist that could never be trapped
This for that that departed, know the world can seem heartless
'Bout to hold it down, get me the strap, where they at?
Got some bullets for my past, champagne future
Hope they don't compare us, what a damn shame you are
Kings amongst kings, not a camp stay truer
No-one hold a damn flame to us, we too up
Think about my legacy, and how they 'gon remember me
And if I gave it everything I had to be great
I don't want the memory of mistakes I didn't remedy
Tried to give me the crown, but I had to escape

When I was a kid, I took for granted like we all do that innocence
That beautiful naivety that people like me spend the rest of our lives trying to get back
Royalty
Spent a lot of time looking in the mirror, man
But that changed from being narcissistic to really trying to figure me out
What are we doing here, man? And how can we do it better?
Royalty

Had to face it on my own, feel that rain
This ink the wax on the letter that could seal my fate
I put talent over effort, guess some things done changed
I'm tryna win some and win some, raise income rate
I got perspective they would kill for, but felt that break
Been Tony Stark with the solder, time I left that cave
I got that spark, been a solder, now the links unchained
Plenty horses under the hood, it's time they felt my reign
Go and do it if you're gonna do it
Shoot that shot or you'll never know
Something shifted, I can feel it moving
Once I got my balance I ain't letting go
Get to cooking feeling like I never left the stove
Coming from nearly unknown now, but shit, you never know
We all searching for our purposes
I can turn a loss into a win if I can learn from it
I'm just tryna help, and shit my skills are in the surpluses
We should pull the rug and re-establish where the curtain is
We should change the order and retake what they deferred from us
We should burn it down and then rebuild it and refurnish it
Put the carpet down for me
Ain't no-one I need to ask for my esteem, I achieved
What I never thought was possible, question what it means now
Feel the strength of many 'cause it ain't about just me now
These words here are my portal, see normalcy got me awkward
The ordinary ain't affording me forward thinking, it's forcing me
Up inside of my own prison, back inside of the vault
In the ether tryna manifest and actualize me a thought
This is more than just recording it's reaching my hands to Gods
If you hear this when I'm gone, you can picture the man I was
Ready to accept my kingdom, know that knowledge is wealth
Only one that I was ever running from is myself

When you really separate yourself like, geographically, mentally and spiritually
That's when you realize how important it is that we're all together
Royalty
See I always believed in us
Life tries to beat that shit out of you man, but, I always knew that we were inherently positive
And I still believe that, that won't stop
Royalty

Royalty

Melbourne based/West-coast raised lyricist Aero.D has been putting pen to page since primary school. His songs are cathartic, forged from a desire to accurately represent himself, his perspective and his emotions through his words. Aeros sound is introspective, abstract and ethereal blended with both traditional and new-school HipHop sensibilities.
A member of seminal mid-2000s Perth HipHop duo Down South Crew with longtime collaborator Cortext, Aero has shared the stage with many of his childhood idols and inspirations including Atmosphere, KRS-One, Evidence and Drapht among many others. 
“CIRCLES” (Aeros first release since 2016s independent album “Shedding Skins”) is a collection of 8 songs representing the evolution of the artist from insecure 20-something to a man ready to claim his ‘young OG’ status.