Scars That Never Fade (Version 2)

Verse

Ledger's in my chest pocket where the weight of the block lives on

Ten years old and I was counting nickels, never counted time

Cousin got clipped in a crosswalk, we were there before the crime

Split his medicals three ways like the bill wasn't mine

Landlord posted eviction slips on every door in the hall

We stood outside and recited our favorite lines from it all

Nobody signed my name to what I did

I don't want that kind of paper, don't need one to hold

Every scar tells a story but some stories you keep closed

Rio lost his left eye in January

Still rides shotgun like the night never happened at all

Tay got sent upstate, we split the visits by the day

Kept the prison numbers scribbled under the porch light where it stays

Buried Jamal's father when the snow was knee-deep and cold

Said a brother's loyalty ain't measured in how long he holds

It's measured in how low you drop for what the block called home

I took a bullet meant for someone else just to keep that crown

Still don't say it out loud, don't need no medal or renown

The porch still creaks where we stood the night it all went down

Grass still growing through the crack where the old guy used to drown

Same streetlights casting shadows long and wide

Different names on the list but the same blood underneath the pride

Chorus

Scars that never fade, scars that never hide

Loyalty's a weight you carry in your stride

I wear mine like armor, I don't need it for the show

Same block raised us rough, still we stand and know

Verse

Four years later, same porch light flickers twice a year

Tay came home early, said the system ate him clean, not fear

We rebuilt the kitchen, replaced what the winter took apart

Momma's smile was our only profit — that's the only kind of art

Nobody asked for thanks or promised we'd be paid

We just kept the ledger open and let the balance get made

Every crack in the sidewalk is a name I know by heart

Every name that left this block still beats inside my chest

I don't need the city's plaque to prove what I did

I got the scars for witnesses, and that's enough to hold it

Chorus

Scars that never fade, scars that never hide

Loyalty's a weight you carry in your stride

I wear mine like armor, I don't need it for the show

Same block raised us rough, still we stand and know

Bridge

Uncle asked me once what kind of man I'd be without this place

I said the same one who would've come back anyway

A man don't choose a code — he chooses how to hold it

Sometimes that's carrying what the wall already sold

Outro

Scars never fade, scars never hide

This block's still my name written on the inside