KB - Hold Me Back Lyrics
Lyrics
Refrain 1
Yeah, I'm singin' my song
Yeah, I'm singin' my song for the squad, for the squad, for the squad
What if God, what if God run the squad?
Pre-Chorus 1
Leave the signs to the zodiac, ayy
I don't need 'em, I just go attack, ayy
I make it epic, call me Iliad, ayy
Quit playin' with me, I go really bad
All '19, listen
Chorus 1
They gon' have to hold me back, ayy, yeah (Hold me back, ayy)
They gon' have to hold me back, hold me back, ayy (Hold me back, ayy)
They gon' have to hold me back, hold me back, yeah (Hold me back, ayy)
Really on God, yeah
Really on God, yeah
Verse 1
Ask me where my Rollie at, ayy
Can I ask you where your soul is at? Yeah
'Cause they get funny with that holy rap, dang
'Cause I could do this all day, though
My homies call me Thanos
'Cause that brother only snap
Livin' in a New Era when they only cap
Southside, intellectual with a holy plaque
I like Jesus, I like Jesus over Florida trap
Living Water, water pitcher, won't you get a catch?
Preaching God, man, that boy lookin' like Goldman Sachs, wait!
Just run it up, I got an open tab, ayy!
And won't you go and get another round
They gon' have to dumb it down
Verse 2
I don't dumb it down
I be givin' all I got
Really livin' more than sentimental
Put it in the middle of an instrumental
Every jot and tittle from a brother pencil
Riddle with the scribbles of the Father's riddles
Let me get a griddle, can I cook a little with the??"
Modesty, I tell 'em I am not playing, boy
Jesus coming back and I am not staying, boy
You loving money, ain't lookin' too favorable
Blood on my hands if I don't say what I say to you
Hip-Hop was dying and I brought the Savior through
Then it's unbreakable
You better make a move
What you gon' take with you?
I never switched up, I never ditched us
When they dissed us, I didn't flinch up
Ask my sister, we don't give up
Ready to die for the Truth that clinched us
You can't bench us, get your weight up
'Cause you can't bench us while we lift up
I come around, man, the boy mean business
Everybody down when the Lord be with you, nah, man
Refrain 2
Yeah, singin' my song
I'm just singin' my song with the squad, with the squad
Yeah, I'm singin' my song, yeah, I'm singin' my song
Yeah, I'm goin' off 'til I fall
Pre-Chorus 2
This is not a drill, it's a real attack, ayy
For the squad and affiliates, ayy
I make it epic, call me Iliad, ayy
Quit playin' with me, I go really bad
All '19
Chorus 2
Promise they gon' need to hold me back, yuh, yuh, yuh (Hold me back, ayy)
They gon' have to hold me back, hold me back, ayy (Hold me back, ayy)
They gon' have to hold me back, hold me back, ayy (Hold me back, ayy)
Really on God
Really on God
Bridge
Really on God
Really on God
I am really on God
Yeah, really on God
Ayy, really on God
Me and my dogs
Tried to put a call and the King is on a song
15 years raw
If I got more
He can have it all, yeah
He can have it all, yeah
Let the sweat fall
'Til the world know
Your glory alone
Not wanted for my songs
All for the Lover of my soul
Even unto death
I don't even know where that came from
Pre-Chorus 1
Leave the signs to the zodiac, ayy
I don't need 'em, I just go attack, ayy
I make it epic, call me Iliad, ayy
Quit playin' with me, I go really bad
All '19, listen
Chorus 1
They gon' have to hold me back, ayy, yeah (Hold me back, ayy)
They gon' have to hold me back, hold me back, ayy (Hold me back, ayy)
They gon' have to hold me back, hold me back, yeah (Hold me back, ayy)
Really on God, yeah
Really on God, yeah
Video
KB - Hold Me Back (Official Music Video)
Meaning & Inspiration
My grandson left his playlist running in the kitchen while he went to fetch more coffee, and that’s how I found myself sitting here, staring at a stack of old Sunday School bulletins while this frantic, pulsing beat filled the room. KB is the name on the screen. It’s loud, it’s fast, and it’s full of the kind of hunger that only comes when your bones are still relatively unbroken.
There’s a line in the middle of the chaos that caught me, though. He says, "Blood on my hands if I don't say what I say to you."
I sat with that for a moment. It’s a heavy thing for a young man to carry. It echoes that old burden the prophet Ezekiel spoke of—the watchman on the wall who has to sound the alarm, or else the blood of the city is on his own head. In my younger years, I used to carry that like a physical weight, thinking I had to convince, convert, and coerce everyone I met into a corner. I wanted to see the needle move on their soul, and if it didn’t, I felt like a failure. Now, with hands that shake a little more and skin that’s seen too many winters, I look at that same truth differently. It’s not about being a judge; it’s about being a witness. Are we speaking because we love the people, or are we speaking because we love the sound of our own certainty?
Then there’s the tail end of the song, where he stops the shouting for a second and admits, "He can have it all... Even unto death / I don't even know where that came from."
That gave me a start. That’s the most honest thing on the whole record. It’s the sound of a man trying to talk big, only to have the Spirit nudge him into something much larger than he intended to say. It’s a terrifying thing to offer God "all of it," even unto death. When you’re twenty, that sounds like a dramatic flourish, a line for the chorus. When you’re eighty, you know it’s a prayer that God actually answers, usually in small, quiet ways you didn’t ask for. It’s the surrendering of your own plans, your own pride, and your own "squad."
Is this just young man’s noise? Maybe. It’s aggressive, and I’m a man who has learned the value of a whisper. But I hear a flicker of the same fire that drove the saints of old—that frantic need to ensure the truth doesn’t die with them. KB sounds like he’s running a race, and he’s terrified of tripping. I suppose I can respect that. I’ve tripped enough times myself to know that the only thing keeping any of us upright is the very thing he’s rapping about: "Really on God."
He’s still got the energy of the world in his lungs. I’m just happy he’s using that breath to talk about the King. Maybe that’s enough.