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11, I AM

by Read & Return

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1.
Bleed Out 01:50
(Content & Jordan Bink) Read and return here [Read and return here] We say what we see and talk sick daily [Maybe it's time we take you back to the basics] (Content) We used to bleed out.. Nosebleeds on the playground Teacher teacher, high school shakedown Eager senior, trapper keeper, reefer breathin' sleeping lay down, slow. Bask in dreams and flux and flow Looking back with a touch of growth, yo Now I'm grown with nowhere to go, no (Jordan Bink) We used to bleed out Nosebleeds in the back yard Play soldier lost in the war ground Acorn bullets got tossed at my best friend. A neighborhood divided, trapped in the west end. Street lights pop on, hop on my bike rush. We use to love more, now all we love lust. We used to bleed, slow. Now when we bleed, gush.
2.
She's So 03:02
Why is it so hard to write about the one I'm caring for the most I'm at a loss of words, oh she's so.. She is so much, she's so significant, I'm falling back to earth I'm falling back to earth, Oh she's Affectionate Adventurous An emotional mind The gregarious type Oh she's Intelligent She's something else With a beautiful smile And those radiant eyes, oh she's so Oh she's so Oh she's so She's something else Why is it so hard to speak my mind and, And tell her how I feel To soon to be revealed, oh she's so She's so not the girl I thought she was She's so much more She's so much more Oh she's Affectionate Adventurous An emotional mind The gregarious type Oh she's Intelligent She's something else With a beautiful smile And those radiant eyes, oh she's so.. Oh she's so Oh she's so She's something else..
3.
(Jordan Bink) I guess I’ve been a little frigid, not myself, I’m feeling hollow, looking for my filling at the bottom of all these bottles. Stress is boiling over, I feel the pressure everyday. A fire burning inside thats starting to fade away. Then I realized, “You gotta gas it up!” You gotta back it up with faith and make it last a month! You gotta look yourself in the mirror see pride and see power, Be the bad mother fucker standing taller than an ivory tower, Scaring fear away.. (Content & Jordan Bink) Touch the fire when you feel a little upset my best guess is to be who you want Touch the fire if you feel a little unrest my best guess is to do what you are You gotta touch the fire (You're becoming the man, you're becoming the man that you'd hoped for) (Content) I had been looking for another ounce of courage through the tipping of a shot glass. Yeah, fuck that, I wasn't doing so well. Down a rabbit hole with little self control. Until I realized, you gotta be alright with being your self. Myself, my, my, my heart, my hands.. My mind, my, my, my life, my chance. You've gotta live you up to your own expectations. It might take a little happenstance or higher education. Either way.. (Content & Jordan Bink) Touch the fire when you feel a little upset my best guess is to be who you want Touch the fire if you feel a little unrest my best guess is to do what you are You gotta touch the fire (You're becoming the man, you're becoming the man that you'd hoped for) (Content & Jordan Bink) Feel like you're falling apart falling, falling apart Feel like you're falling apart You gotta follow your heart You're becoming the man, You're becoming the man, You're becoming the man that you hoped for Touch the fire when you feel a little upset my best guess is to be who you want Touch the fire if you feel a little unrest my best guess is to do what you are You gotta touch the fire (You're becoming the man, you're becoming the man that you'd hoped for)
4.
(Content) Damn, I don't know what it is Out of all the women in my daily life She get's me every time (Content) It's a Sunday mourning morning sun is forming on the cusp of today like it's clockwork orange In this brainstorm, it rains and pours The pain is coming in waves, let it wane and score Rain ride away on that mounted force with reins, saddle, and all like an engine horse Power be in the mind and downer be in decline And never be in remorse and seek the outer of lines Sunsets on her blue eyes She's a Bella in the night time moonrise My god, I'm a deer in her headlights though She must be thinking I'm someone from the twilight zone. (Fuck it.) Got no time left to walk you off Got me spinning out in circles round your icy lot, She's an icy hot with a mind to back it, got me shaking in my boots with this winter jacket on. (Content & Jordan Bink) I peel apart in the clockwork orange That feeling you get when it rains and pours, never again When I catch my breath bet I'm moving forward (Got me feeling like) Will I get like this Will I get like this? Oh, never again (Content) My heart is skipping a beat due to infatuation Here's a bright white rose and a palpitation Slip on my words, I salivate, recalibrate the mind and de-complicate them. I wish I had the brawn to say this, Saw it coming from a mile I'd be saving face and At least I got a smile and praise but I was bracing myself for some actuation, now (Content & Jordan Bink) I peel apart in the clockwork orange That feeling you get when it rains and pours, never again When I catch my breath bet I'm moving forward (Got me feeling like) Will I get like this Will I get like this? Oh, never again (Jordan Bink) It’s a 2 late night, with a beer stroked ego and AM eyes. Heavy breathing fogging up his vision. Like Rose and Jack in the back of that car, If you look you'll see every scar. Let her down the whiskey. He’s looking in the mirror with too much esteem. A New Breed, New Year, New Me. ahem. But he missed his chance. Let’s go back for a second, Let’s recap where we’re at for a second. Back outside of her car. Stands a man with his heart on his arm. Concerned face but his smile is warm. He walks up kindly taps on the glass. He's not the man in the mirror but his vision is class. Sorry miss but you’re making me ask, Are you safe to drive? I see you’re hurt, can I hop inside? Wanna talk? Can we take a ride? She said yes but her voice was course He drove her home His little clock work orange. (Content & Jordan Bink) I peel apart in the clockwork orange That feeling you get when it rains and pours, never again When I catch my breath bet I'm moving forward (Got me feeling like) Will I get like this Will I get like this? Oh, never again Got me peeling apart, yeah Got me peeling apart Oh, that clockwork orange Got me peeling apart, yeah Got me peeling apart Oh, that clockwork orange
5.
Hit Restart 04:31
6.
Night Terror 04:07
7.
(Jordan Bink) Burning down in this city I’m done, Screaming out I don’t wanna live here no more! Tearing down these castles I’ve built, Like a wrecking ball crashing right through our door. I don’t be known in a town like this, motionless in this house of cards. I don’t wanna be know for a Life, Lifeless Motionless in this house of cards (Content) I can't wait to find a paper house And crawl inside, crawl inside, crawl inside, gotta crawl.. I can't wait to find a paper house And crawl inside, crawl inside, Crawl inside a house of cards.. If you deal in love and your luck runs out, well you gotta say fold. (Jordan Bink) Runnin round a city that's burnt now Screaming loud ashes ashes till we all fall down Without you I'd be better off locked in a house on a hill of this paper town. I don't wanna be known for a mind mindless; motionless in this Standing alone on my own paralyzed like this Motionless in this house of cards (Jordan Bink & Content) We're burning down with these houses We're falling down with these ashes (Content) I can't wait to find a paper house And crawl inside, crawl inside, crawl inside, gotta crawl.. I can't wait to find a paper house And crawl inside, crawl inside, Crawl inside a house of cards.. If you deal in love and your luck runs out, well you gotta say fold. (Jordan Bink & Content) Runnin round a city that's burnt now Screaming loud ashes ashes till we all fall down Runnin round a city that's burnt now Screaming loud ashes ashes till we all fall down
8.
Understood 04:00
(Content) I've got a problem and I cannot solve it. Why is life like mathematics, my xy is crossing. I'm crossing over my chest and yet I keep it fallen. I've fallen harder than I have in a while and yet I fight regardless. Everything in life is fickle to be simply put. Fickleness is wickedness when it slips underfoot. Yeah, I wander and I wonder would I still be the man that I am if I was understood. Yeah, I've got this problem, I'll keep on talking I guess this music is a forum where we column gossip Over 31, different flavors like we at Baskin Robbins We look to one another, window shopping Everyone in life is fickle to be simply put. Fickleness is wickedest when it's a livelihood Yet we ponder and we wonder when we saunter woods Thinking life could be so different if we understood. I hope you understand this, I'm sycophantic I try to manage control A hopeful romantic who tried to bandage his soul With heart on his sleeves He fell to his knees The weight of the world often causes fatigue He's begging you please, please Won't you hear the sound, hear it now Hear the ground breathe as he's bowing out The body believes, that the mind will relieve The pressure from bad posture due to defeat. (Jordan Bink & Content) Oh, We’re lost in this world of woe is me Lost in the place so lonely Lost in our mind Lost in our mind Woe, woe, woe (Jordan Bink) A lost soul inside these lonely woods. I float the stream until I’m gone for good or hit the ocean. I watch the trees float by with my back to this river. It’s December, so it’s cold but not frozen. Down I go. I’ll take on water till it over flows and sinks me whole. A rock that made it’s ripples in a spot that no one knows The river flows, I call it home. I call it home. I dream to venture from one ocean to another See the coasts of other countries with my honorary brothers. Build a house and start a family, make a life that no one hands me Become the man that understands me. But I don’t think y’all understand me. I don’t think y’all could and yeah I wonder, oh I wonder would. I still be the man that I am if I wa s understood. Yeah I wonder, oh I wonder could, I still be the man that I am if I was understood. If I was understood. (Jordan Bink & Content) Oh, We’re lost in this world of woe is me Lost in the place so lonely (Lost in this place) Lost in our mind Lost in our mind Woe Woe Woe Oh, We’re lost in this world of woe is me (Lost in our minds) Lost in the place so lonely Lost in our mind Lost in our mind Woe Woe Woe
9.
Bad Business 03:33
(Content) This braggadocio track, So supercalifragilisticexpeaili-that We marry pop in our music with flack that we rap It's not the stacks that we lack or the crap we never had That made us rap in the first place, I'm just an addict for the rhythm of a wordplay Call it a symptom or a birth trait I'm at my work place, writing in the back as the verse plays Hoping I can finish up this track by my birthday (hah) I've come far to far, it's far to hard for me to run far from the sound of this music It's like I'm trapped in a musical illusion Playing at my heart of hearts for your amusement I've got nothing in this world to lose It's a beautiful ability to share it for this world to view Ain't got nothing in this world to prove To you, or you, or you. It's just bad business (Jordan Bink & Content) We all got a little verse in the back of our mind that we rap all the time when we're feeling hurt We all got a little verse in the back of our mind that we rap all the time when we're feeling worse We all got a little verse in the back of our mind that we rap all the time when we're feeling hurt We all got a little verse in the back of our mind, in the back of our mind (Jordan Bink) I’ve never finished in the first place. I’ll never finish thats what hurts me. I needed rap in the worst way like a drunk when I'm thirsty on a Thursday. On My first date. Palms are sweaty. Walking through a mall she wants me to buy her toms already? My knees weak, all spaghetti. The stress is heavy I’m shook. I always feel like I feel beaten I had a dream, wish I was still sleepin Cause the close I wear are still cheap and The shoes I walk are still squeaking. And the bills I have are still needing. To be paid I know I’m late by like a month But I’m still breathing. That’s what this music has instilled in me. I'm just praying people still feel me. I'll say nothin but the truth even if it will kill me. Kid Cudi still illy With the passion and pain. But Chance killin the game when he says Money saved me, so I’ma do the same thang (Jordan Bink & Content) We all got a little verse in the back of our mind that we rap all the time when we're feeling hurt We all got a little verse in the back of our mind that we rap all the time when we're feeling worse We all got a little verse in the back of our mind that we rap all the time when we're feeling hurt We all got a little verse in the back of our mind, in the back of our mind (Content) And I can feel it in my soul (Yo but that's just my business) And I can feel it taking hold (Yo but that's just my business) And I can feel it in my soul (Yo but that's just my business) And I can feel it taking hold And I can feel it in my soul Feel it in my, feel it in my soul Feel it in my, feel it in my soul
10.
(Content) Ayo, I'm living my life on my own dime, no cosign Whack attack at that rap, packing punch rhymes after punch line Oh, It's crunch time, why can't I feel it in my chest Been playing fisticuffs with the upper guts yet I never would've guessed I'm stress intolerant, autonomous, and I never live to live Confusing commonsense with a consciousness that I never seem to get and I've been losing it all, I've loosened the rock (I seemed to be dwelling in) I will not fall and nor will I fail (cause I won't be giving in) This common place is full of clichés Cause what I paraphrase and contemplate is more than mundane I feel like every thought is a vein Bleeding out in it's nonsense Taken out of it's context Living a life for the Content in vain. (Content) We won't take care of ourselves Ain't it obvious that we ain't giving a damn Yeah it's obvious to see That we're living life on the run We won't take care of ourselves Ain't it obvious that we ain't giving a hell Yeah it's obvious to me That we're living life on the run (Jordan Bink) Say my name again, Take a deep breath steady aim again Bang bangarang Known to never not ever stay the same And I’ll never grow up, I’m a lost boy Lost dreams, to awake so I dream of sleep, Swimming in my thoughts full of lost noise I’m the lost choice for the kid to send these pirates sailing singing (Bonvoyage!) By George, I think he’s got it, and I know you heard us kill that hook. Wishing on the second star to the left to the left everything you want in a box of regrets On top of a check you can cash for respect. For your social status, I’m a social cactus, Keep away from this prick or he’ll put you on your backless axis. I remember when I ain’t even had a dream Before all of these lights and all these flashy things Between these shots and these icy drinks I’m running, running out of breath Floating past the moon I’m never coming back (Jordan Bink & Content) We're gonna do what we wanna do What you gonna do (hey, hey, hey) We're gonna do what we wanna do What you trying to prove living life on the run
11.
Fragile Line 05:44
(Jordan Bink) I’ve come so far from back with my rattle, tattle tale somedays. Get back from our battle, oh. I got that ass grounded I got that ass grounded Older brother pushed me more than just down to the ground I stay grounded more now that I’m older. You’re pushing me forward. I had to man up at the age of 16. Swiftly I lost my mind in 2009 The world it grew colder as my heart beats slower. The world it grew colder as my heart beats slower. 25 is a life time some don’t see Through your eyes when you're blind like me close your eyes and be blind don't see Until I rest with Father Time. (Jordan Bink & Content) Life is such a fragile line (Life is such a fragile line) Days can turn to years ago if you never watch the time (Pull those hands back Move counter clockwise) (Content) And oh, I'm all that I needed, ohh It's all I believe in And I'm just needing to shine With all that I'm feeling Can I buy me some time? (Jordan Bink) Do you remember that time in woods way back near the trains tracks playing in that creak bed? We got our ass hounded. Probably got our ass grounded Mom & Dad were so pissed we didn’t come back clean in your nice jeans and holes in my new shorts. I miss playing in our tree forts I miss playing in our tree forts I had to learn at the age of 19 rightly the world is bigger than I might think, Might think, oh. It makes you feel sober, till you get pulled over It makes you feel sober, till you get pulled over 25 is a life time some don’t see Through your eyes when you're blind like me 25 is a flash don’t blink Until you rest with Father Time. (Jordan Bink & Content) Life is such a fragile line (Life is such a fragile line) Days can turn to years ago if you never watch the time (Pull those hands back Move counter clockwise) (Content) And oh, I'm all that I needed, ohh It's all I believe in And I'm just needing to shine With all that I'm feeling Oh can I buy me some time? Oh can I buy me some time? And I'm just needing to.. (Jordan Bink & Content) We're all lost here We're all lost in this place We're all lost here (Talk about walking out) We're all lost in this place (Yo check this out I know the you feel when you talk about walking out) (We used to bleed out, we use to) Oh god will you wake me up Will you wake me up From this night terror From this night terror Oh god will you wake me up Will you wake me up From this night terror From this night terror Oh god will you (Jordan Bink) 25 it's been alive. I mean It's been a ride I mean like what a flight. I closed my eyes to soon and then it flew on by. Take off like butterflies. Nostalgia's my enemy it's killing me by memories They wonder why I'm always in my mind Maybe my brain is fried. Maybe I wasted mine Maybe by wasting time Life's such a fragile line When you're living for this moment Life is too sublime to live and die. (Content) 11 I am 11 I am 11 I am Can you feel me? Ohh, come on yeah.

about

Without further ado, we present to you our first album together as a duo!

We made this album as a tribute to our growth as individuals. From the days of building tree forts and thinking girls had cooties, to the days of finding love and making the most of it all. Really, the music speaks for itself. "11, I AM" is best listened to from start to finish with no interruptions..

Special thanks to everyone who made this album a reality!

- Thanks to Martini's Grille for letting us use their wonderful party room after hours to record and mix with a beautiful view of the Mississippi and Downtown Burlington.
- Thanks to my (Stephen's) co-workers for their group claps in "Life on the Run PT. 2"
- Thanks to Jay Wetterling of Manhattan Blockade for his backing vocals at the end of Night Terror. Mad respect for you.
- Thanks to Desmond Mallon (AKA Matthew Blake) for helping produce and mix our first single, "Hit Restart," and for your constructive feedback over the past year.
- Thanks to Savannah over at Hot 97.3 for promotion and radio play.
- Thanks to our lovely friends and family for their undying support and inspiration. Really, we can't thank you enough. We love you.
- Thanks to our amazing fans that have stuck with us throughout the years. We love you all and we can't wait to see what comes of this.

Last but not least, a big thank you to the first timers for hitting that play button. We hope that this project resonates with you.

credits

released March 11, 2017

Jordan Bennink (Jordan Bink) - Lyrics, Vocals, Recording Engineer, Percussion, Production
Stephen Coleman (Content) - Lyrics, Vocals, Mix Engineer, Percussion, Producer
Ross Lara & Phoebe Sharp - Sample of "Atmosphere" by Adara in Bleed Out
Matt Brown - Gang Vocals
Emille Lacsa - Gang Vocals
Josh, Olivia, Monica, Jess, Charli - Professional Hand Clappers
ARIA Mastering - Mastering
Archipelago Ent. - Distribution

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Read & Return Burlington, Iowa

Read & Return is a underground hip-hop group consisting of Jordan Bennink (Jordan Bink) and Stephen Coleman (CONTEИT / My City Glory)

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