5
Front step stoop light
Scuffed up Airs on
Same block same fight
But the fear gone (yeah)
Mom’s rent late
Got a pink note stuck in the door frame
Cousin got booked last week
Now his hoodie hang quiet in the doorway
I used to bag up dreams
In a Crown Royal bag by the ashtray
Counting singles on the table
Thinking “maybe I could flip this halfway”
Old heads on the corner talk ‘96
Say they had the whole ave in a vice grip
Now they scratch off tickets at the bodega
Tell me “lil man get rich then write this”
I was writing on the back of the light bill
Blueprints drawn in a cramped little side room
Headphones on whole world in a spiral
Trying to outrun every siren I ride through
Late night laces tied too tight
I been running from the past my whole life (my whole life)
Cold little room big dark sky
But I still see a way in the low light (ohh)
If the pain gonna stay let it pay my rent
Turn the weight on my chest to a paycheck spent
Late night laces I’ma run that route
Till the wounds in my soul finally bleed right out
Big bro came home
Same posters peeling on the same wall
He just stare at his old diplomas
Like they someone he can’t name at all
He said “School call job call none stick
Only thing ringing is the block when the sun dip”
I said “Look I been stacking these verses
Trying to turn every wrong we done into one gift”
First show fifteen kids in the basement
Mic hanging by a wire from the ceiling
Beat too loud but they sang every line
Felt the whole damn room start healing
Walk back home jacket smelling like smoke
Hands still shook from the crowd and the quote
Text from mom: “They moved up the payment”
Heart dropped but I typed back “say less I’m close”
Late night laces tied too tight
I been running from the past my whole life (my whole life)
Cold little room big dark sky
But I still see a way in the low light (yeah)
If the pain gonna stay let it pay my rent
Turn the weight on my chest to a paycheck spent
Late night laces I’ma run that route
Till the wounds in my soul finally bleed right out
I seen halos over pay phones
Crying mamas on the cracked stones
Empty bottles by the bus stop
Prayers floating where the smoke go (smoke go)
If I make it off this block one day
I’ma frame this view in gold
But ‘til then it’s tied up sneaks
And this tired hungry soul
Late night laces tied too tight
I been running from the past my whole life (my whole life)
Cold little room big dark sky
But I still see a way in the low light (ohh yeah)
If the pain gonna stay let it pay my rent
Turn the weight on my chest to a paycheck spent
Late night laces I’ma run that route
Till the wounds in my soul finally bleed right out
