Copper Taste, Concrete Throne (Version 2)

Verse 1

Third split lip this summer, taste like a penny on my tongue

Stood between two blocks arguing over a corner that ain't won

Milk crate for a chair, stoop concrete cold through denim

Nobody claps for peace, they just remember who ended it

Fire hydrant painted over, still leaking rust like a wound

Kept the peace past midnight, paid for it by noon

Grandma's window cracked, she watching like she always do

Says baby come inside, I tell her not yet, not through

Pre-Chorus

How many teeth I gotta lose to keep this street from breaking?

How long I gotta sit here 'fore the sitting stops the shaking?

Chorus

Copper taste, concrete throne

Every scar's a brick I own

Sit up here so they stay whole

Copper taste, concrete throne

Verse 2

Corner store owner slides me ice wrapped in a paper bag

Says I carry this block like a father with a bad back

Sharpie tally on the wall counts the fights I broke instead of started

Sixteen names, sixteen nights I stayed when everybody departed

Chain-link fence bent from the weight of leaning bodies

Mine included, three a.m., watching for who's next hobby

Little Trevon asks me why my knuckles always swole

I tell him it's the rent I pay to keep this block whole

Pre-Chorus

How many teeth I gotta lose to keep this street from breaking?

How long I gotta sit here 'fore the sitting stops the shaking?

Chorus

Copper taste, concrete throne

Every scar's a brick I own

Sit up here so they stay whole

Copper taste, concrete throne

Bridge

Handed Trevon the milk crate, told him it ain't no trophy

Told him a throne just means you first in line to catch the copy

He said I don't want your seat, I want the block to walk it steady

I said that's the whole point, son, that's why my jaw stay heavy

Maybe the win ain't holding court, it's raising one who don't need it

Maybe the crown's worth more the day someone else can wear it

Chorus

Copper taste, concrete throne

Every scar's a brick I own

Sit up here so they stay whole

Copper taste, concrete throne