Scars at Face Value

Intro

Barbershop mirror, fluorescent buzz overhead

Pete traces the hairline, says every nick's been read

Verse

Eight years old, fell off the fence chasing Trey

Landed on the chain-link, left a zipper down my cheek

Mama poured peroxide, told me count to three

I counted to ten cause the sting don't listen to me

Corner store window, glass came in through the back

Robbery gone sideways while I'm stacking up the rack

Shard caught my collarbone, still got the little rip

Nine years later same block, different kind of grip

Marcus owed the wrong man, I stood there anyway

Bottle broke on brick, caught the edge before it sprayed

Kept the bandana on so the teacher wouldn't ask

Every summer stacked a line like rings up in a tree

Pete says "that one's oh-six," reads it right off me

I don't need a mirror, I just need a witness

Skin been keeping receipts since before I hit puberty

Chorus

Scars at face value, that's my whole résumé

Every mark's a story and the story sets the pay

Don't need your appraisal, don't need your estimate

I already know what I'm worth at face value

Verse

Sat in the office, fluorescent light again

Man behind the desk with a clipboard and a pen

Asked about the wrist scar, called it prior incident

Said it drops my rating, said the risk is evident

Told him that's the summer that I kept my boy alive

Held a towel to his neck till the ambulance arrived

He typed it in a box, never looked me in the eye

Said the numbers only count what the data can't deny

Funny how a ledger only tallies what you spend

Never counts the nights I bled just to keep a friend

Denied for the loan cause my file reads like trouble

Meanwhile the block remembers when I ran through rubble

Pulled a kid off a fire escape when the wood gave way

Left a scar on my palm