Song notes · AI-assisted
TIMES MYSELF
a rap built on the times table
About the song
A kid who started out as a number on a grid, reading the room across while he read himself down the slant. The times table as a way of counting your own growth.
Times myself, no shortcut in the math
About these notes
AI-assisted song notes, based on the sources shown here. Not yet human-reviewed.
Words from the artist’s archive
TIMES MYSELF lyrics
Artist-supplied lyric sheet, matched by title. The sheet may differ from this released performance. Production notes and alternate promotional cuts are omitted.
Read the lyric sheet
Verse 1
One times one is one, I started in a seat Had a number for a name, had a grid beneath my feet Teacher chalked it on the slate, said the pattern is the key First row only got one answer, and that answer was me Two put me at four, I doubled what I had Three ran me to nine, kept the product on the shelf They was reading it across, I was reading down the slant Where the row become the column, that's the spot I learned to stand
Chorus
Times myself, no shortcut in the math Row by row I grow, just as far as my path One, four, nine, sixteen, I collect my squares Half the chart sit empty 'cause the answer's there
Verse 2
Five got me twenty-five, a corner on the slant Six by six is thirty-six, I bought the row I rent Seen the column catch the row like a mirror in the glass On that seam is where I stood and multiplied my past Seven, forty-nine, they said a ceiling would arrive I just took what I was holding, ran it times itself, survived Eight, sixty-four, the chart is heavy on my side Nothing in the upper corner, all my answers on the incline
Chorus
Times myself, no shortcut in the math Row by row I grow, just as far as my path One, four, nine, sixteen, I collect my squares Half the chart sit empty 'cause the answer's there
Verse 3
They asked me why the top half of my table stayed blank Thought I quit before the finish, never made it up in rank But three times seven, seven times three, either road is twenty-one Flip the factors how you want it, it's identical when done So I don't run it twice if I already know the sum What look like missing work is just a mirror of where I'm from Nine rows deep, eighty-one, that far corner is in view Only number on that edge is what I did times what I do
Bridge
One, four, nine, sixteen Twenty-five, thirty-six Forty-nine, sixty-four Eighty-one, coded times myself
Chorus
Times myself, no shortcut in the math Row by row I grow, just as far as my path One, four, nine, sixteen, I collect my squares Half the chart sit empty 'cause the answer's there
Inside the recording
One times one is one, I started in a seat Had a number for a name, had a grid beneath my feet
Times myself, no shortcut in the math Row by row I grow, just as far as my path
Times myself, no shortcut in the math Row by row I grow, just as far as my path
Excerpts from artist-supplied lyric files matched by title. Lyric sheets may differ from the released performance.