Weight On My Name (version 2)

Intro

Two a.m., city breathing smoke

Every block I walk got weight on my name

Verse

Streetlights flicker on the wet concrete

Count the steps from Fenmore all the way to Third and Reed

Coat collar up, breath turning into steam

Every corner got a story that ain't in my dreams

Twelve floors up, the elevator's stuck again

Same old hallway, same cracked window, same old friends

Phone lit up with numbers that I can't erase

Every deal done quiet in a diff'rent place

Momma thinks I'm working nights down at the depot store

Truth is heavier than anything I've said before

Cash in envelopes, stacked like bricks in a wall

Every night I build it higher so I never fall

Sirens singing distant like a lullaby

Watching shadows move where the corner boys collide

I ain't chasing shine, I'm chasing steady ground

Weight on my name but I carry it around

Chorus

Weight on my name, city lights won't sleep

Every step I take got a debt I gotta keep

Weight on my name, but I hold it steady

Late night, dead night, still I stay ready

Weight on my name, city lights won't sleep

Every step I take got a debt I gotta keep

Weight on my name, but I hold it steady

Late night, dead night, still I stay ready

Verse

Third shift ending when the sky's still black

Coffee cold in the cup, ain't never going back

Passed my brother's building, saw the light still on

Same grind different night, that's the family song

Rearview mirror showing headlights trailing slow

Paranoia dressed up like it's part of the flow

Every dollar that I move got a story of its own

Every silence in this car is a language of its own

Ledger in my head, add it up before I sleep

Every risk I take, man, the margin's thin and steep

Block getting colder, breath still hanging white

Every hustle got a shadow walking with the light

I ain't perfect, got scars underneath the coat

Every debt I settled came with something that I wrote

Name getting heavier every time it's said

Still I wear it like a crown instead of dread

Chorus

Weight on my name, city lights won't sleep

Every step I take got a debt I gotta keep

Weight on my name, but I hold it steady

Late night, dead night, still I stay ready

Bridge

Momma called me, said she heard the sirens loud

I told her I'm alright, kept my voice from getting proud

Truth is some nights I don't know if I'll make it home

But the weight I carry taught me how to walk alone

Ain't asking for a crown, just asking for the dawn

Every dark hour proving that I'm built to carry on

Outro

City quiet now, first light on the wall

Weight on my name but I never let it fall

Two a.m. turned to six, still I'm standing tall

Weight on my name, I answered every call