Concrete Diplomas (version 2)

Verse

Eleven years old, corner store hum like a hymn

Ledger balanced books with the change in his pocket seam

Sable taught me silence, said less is still permission

Taught me how to duck for cover when the sirens scream

No trophy case here, no banners to hold up

Just a block that remembers every kid who didn't fall through

Marcus held the door when the whole building came down

Now he holds the pen and writes the names we knew

Chorus

Concrete diplomas, signed in blood and chalk

Every scar's a signature, every name still walks

We don't carry nothing fancy but our hearts still hold it

Concrete diplomas — that's what brothers get before they grow up

Verse

Denny took the charge, eighteen months behind bars

I sent him letters folded with my mama's prayer cards

Ledger kept the store open past closing time every night

Sable preached a sermon straight through the whole week's fight

No diploma ever given for standing in the rain

This one written every winter by the salt on the rail

Nineteen, I was running numbers but they never knew my name

Marcus said it's not about justice — it's just knowing what you're made of

Chorus

Concrete diplomas, signed in blood and chalk

Every scar's a signature, every name still walks

We don't carry nothing fancy but our hearts still hold it

Concrete diplomas — that's what brothers get before they grow up

Bridge

Now the block is gentrified, glass towers by the old school gate

Some of them still ask for Marcus like he never got a gate

I hand 'em paper and my name but they don't understand it yet

They think it's just a story when really it's how we settled debt

Chorus

Concrete diplomas, signed in blood and chalk

Every scar's a signature, every name still walks

We don't carry nothing fancy but our hearts still hold it

Concrete diplomas — that's what brothers get before they grow up