Sable & Ledger - Concrete Canvas

Verse

Ledger wrote my name in the wall when I was ten

Same red marker he used to sign the block again

Sable taught me how to hold a rhyme before I could spell it right

She said 'Son, if you keep it on the street, nobody's gonna take it tonight

I drew a picture of a house with the windows wide open

Told my momma that this is where I'd be, come morning

Denny took a charge and left us for a minute

But when he came back, the picture still had a light in it

He said 'You know what's real?' He said 'This right here, boy

Pointing to the canvas on my bedroom wall, where I drew our story

Pre-Chorus

So don't ask me what I want from this life

Ask me what I already made out of strife

Chorus

I got a concrete diploma, signed in my own hand

Pencils wore thin but the lessons never lost or planned

Sable and Ledger gave it to me for free

This is my canvas, and every scar is what makes me me

Verse 2

Marcus was there when the man came to tear down the block

He said 'Son, you keep your art in your head and don't let nobody lock

Your grandma made a quilt with all our names stitched inside it

She said 'Hold on tight to what we built here tonight

I got an A- minus in English class one year

But my teacher couldn't grade this picture when I drew it clear

Pre-Chorus

So don't ask me what I want from this life

Ask me what I already made out of strife

Chorus

I got a concrete diploma, signed in my own hand

Pencils wore thin but the lessons never lost or planned

Sable and Ledger gave it to me for free

This is my canvas, and every scar is what makes me me

Bridge

It's not something you can take from me

Not something I can lose or throw under a tree

I'm still drawing on these same streets where we grew up

And the colors never faded, never came up dull

That picture of the house with the windows wide open

Still keeps my heart lit after all these years gone by

Chorus

I got a concrete diploma, signed in my own hand

Pencils wore thin but the lessons never lost or planned

Sable and Ledger gave it to me for free

This is my canvas, and every scar is what makes me me