Echoes in the Margin

Intro

Margin of the notebook where the doubt used to live

Erased every no they gave, kept the space where it sits

Ink still wet on the promise I made to myself

Echoes in the margin now, that's the only thing left

Verse

Nine years old, teacher said I'd never hold a mic right

Wrote it on the chalkboard, I erased it that same night

Cousin said the rap game only chews up dreamers

Told him watch the margin, that's where I plant my seeders

Broke laptop, cracked screen, still recorded sixteen bars

Landlord taped a notice, I taped lyrics on the door instead

Momma cried in kitchens counting quarters for the bread

I turned static into anthems playing loud inside my head

Uncle called it foolish, said go get a real trade

I said watch the margin, that's where the real gets made

Bus window fogging up, I'm writing with my finger

Every doubt's a metronome, I let the rhythm linger

Coach cut me from the team, said I moved too slow

I moved through verses faster than the doubts could grow

Now the same mouths humming hooks they said I'd never write

Echo in the margin turned to headlights in the night

Hook

They said I'd never make it, I wrote it in the margin

Every no's a needle and I turned it into stitching

Proof is in the echo, proof is in the pages

Told them watch the margin, now the margin's turned to stages

Verse

Two a.m. studio, the heater's on the blink

Breath like smoke signals rising over kitchen sink

Old rejection letters lining up my studio wall

Every stamped denial taught me how to stand up tall

Producer said my cadence wouldn't ever chart or sell

Now the cadence got a rhythm that the whole block yell

Sister said stop dreaming, get a job at the mill

I said the margin's where I'm planting, watch the harvest build

Traded sneakers for the bus fare, walked it in the rain

Every drop that hit my collar washed away the shame

Landlord's final notice folded into origami cranes

Sent them flying out the window while I counted out the gains

They said the sound too different, said the flow too strange

Different is the diamond when the coal refused to change

Now they play it at the party, now they sing along

Echoes in the margin turned into the whole dang song

Hook

They said I'd never make it, I wrote it in the margin

Every no's a needle and I turned it into stitching

Proof is in the echo, proof is in the pages

Told them watch the margin, now the margin's turned to stages

Bridge

Funny how the ones who laughed the loudest

Learned the words before the second verse arrived

Funny how the silence that they gave me

Became the space where all my truth survived

No apology required, I don't need the credit

Just remember when the margin was the only place I said it

Outro

Notebook's full now, cover's coming loose

Every empty page I filled with proof

Echo in the margin, echo down the hall

Told you watch the margin, now the margin holds it all