Crown on the Block (version 2)

Verse

Iron bars and frost on the fire escape stair — winter still grip it tight like my fist in the air.

Told them I'd rise before they could bury me six feet deep under the block's quiet streets.

Sold my first chains from a suitcase window at midnight, counting that bread by candlelight — no lights out

Came back with armor and war paint, walking down Main Street, watching rats scatter like they know I ain't small in this game

I don't beg for an empire, I build it on every hand that laid me low.

Nineteen years old and the whole block knows my name — I'm the one who won't fold when the winter snows blow

Every fence I climbed is a mountain I'll conquer again — broke every lock just to understand how they're built in.

Hear them whisper 'he's got some wolf in his chest' — I don't know if it's legend or the weight of what I've lost yet

Pre-Chorus

So tell me now who you think wears the crown — you, sitting behind that counter counting your cash like a throne?

Or someone who ain't afraid of no snow, who learned how to carry his own weight home

Say my name three times before the winter comes, say it loud so the whole hood remembers what they're looking at

Chorus

I'm not born for a kingdom — I built one from every door that shut in my face

Crown on the block where the frost still bites and no throne came with an invitation or a safe place

So if you think you can take it, step to me before I count up all the winters I've had to face

Crown on the block — I don't need some kingdom, this street's already my kingdom — come at your own pace

Verse 2

Now they say the winter of '22 was colder than the one that left my brother down dead in the alley behind the store.

I didn't break, I just got hungry for every crown and every name that sat on a throne before — never to beg or behold it — I'd bury that same dirt deeper still, watch the rats scatter like they're scared of the story that I'll tell

My armor's not leather and steel — it's hunger, pride, a name in a block where nobody knows what tomorrow holds yet

I trade the weight for the sound of the carnyx horn, loud enough to break every windowpane before the storm even hits — no shield wall needed when you're the one they all chase

Pre-Chorus

So tell me now who you think wears the crown — you, sitting behind that counter counting your cash like a throne?

Or someone who ain't afraid of no snow, who learned how to carry his own weight home

Say my name three times before the winter comes, say it loud so the whole hood remembers what they're looking at

Chorus

I'm not born for a kingdom — I built one from every door that shut in my face

Crown on the block where the frost still bites and no throne came with an invitation or a safe place

So if you think you can take it, step to me before I count up all the winters I've had to face

Crown on the block — I don't need some kingdom, this street's already my kingdom — come at your own pace

Bridge