Still Counting Ceiling Cracks (version 2)

Intro

Yeah, still here

Water-stained ceiling, same view, different year

Still counting cracks

Verse

Rent's due Friday, radiator's coughing steam

Momma said I'm chasing paper like a losing dream

Uncle Ray said rappers starve, told me pick a trade

Now the same block watching every move I made

Sixteen years old, notebook under the mattress

Wrote sixty bars a night just to sharpen the accent

Corner store cashier used to short me on the change

Now she asking for a photo, funny how the tide range

I kept the receipts, every dollar, every doubt

Kept the rejection letters folded in a shoebox, no lie

Every "not right now" turned to fuel for the grind

Every closed door taught my knuckles how to climb

Cousin Trey said quit before the landlord catch you slippin

I said watch the cracks turn to blueprints I'm building

Ceiling never moved but my mind kept expanding

Still counting cracks while the whole block's understanding

Chorus

Still counting ceiling cracks, still holding on

Same room, same fight, but the fire ain't gone

They said I wouldn't make it past the county line

Now I'm still counting cracks, still counting mine

Verse

Studio time was a bus pass and a prayer

Booth made of blankets, egg cartons for the air

Producer named Solace, gave me beats on credit

Said "pay me when you eat," man I ain't forget it

Landlord taped a notice, thirty days to vacate

I turned that letter into sixteen bars I couldn't shake

Every skeptic became a character in my rhyme

Turned the static into rhythm, turned the doubt to time

Momma cried when the check finally cleared the light bill

Told her save the tears for when we leave this whole zip code still

Sister asked if fame gon' change the kid she grew up with

I said nah, same cracks, same room, same blueprint

Radio said my sound too rugged for the format

I said keep the polish, I'll just sharpen up the combat

Every "no" I got turned into ammunition

Still here, still building, still writing my own scripture

Chorus

Still counting ceiling cracks, still holding on

Same room, same fight, but the fire ain't gone

They said I wouldn't make it past the county line

Now I'm still counting cracks, still counting mine

Bridge

Funny thing about the doubt, it never really left

It just moved to the back seat while I drove myself

Uncle Ray came around, said he always believed

I just smiled, kept the cracks, kept the receipts

Some nights I still hear the echo of the "can't"

But it sounds like a beat now, sounds like a chant

Outro

Still here, same block, different sky

Ceiling cracked but the walls held tight

Count 'em up, every line, every scar

Still counting cracks, still who I are