Intro
Coffee can under the bed, lid rusted shut
Every scar got a paper trail, I kept enough
Ain't bragging, ain't bleeding for nobody's applause
Just proof for the nights when the streets forget the cost
Verse
Eleven stitches, elbow, curb on Dellwood Lane
Doc gave me a form, I folded it, kept the stain
Fell off a bike I ain't own, chased by a kid named Ray
Turned enemies to brothers by the end of that same day
Sixteen, pawnshop ticket for my daddy's watch
Got it back at nineteen, receipt still in my sock
Corey said forget it, that's a debt too old to chase
I said some things you carry just to remember the place
Nineteen, knuckle scar from a door I couldn't afford to lose
Landlord wanted proof I paid, I showed him bruised
Twenty-two, hospital band still got the barcode on
Scanned it once at self-checkout just to see if it was gone
Every mark's a line item, every ache's a date
Momma kept the bills, I kept what the bills create
Ain't asking for your pity, I ain't asking for the crown
Just don't tell me what I lost when I got the printout
Hook
Scars I kept the receipt for
Every one paid, I ain't hiding what it's for
Nothing here I didn't earn the hard way
Scars I kept the receipt for
Verse
Twenty-four, Marcus owed me for the winter coat
I let it ride, wrote the amount inside a note
Taped it in the can next to my broken wrist X-ray
Reminder that a debt collects no matter how you pray
Barbershop back room, Tico keeps a jar like mine
Says the scars that count are ones you paid on time
I told him mine ain't currency for nobody's game
Just a ledger for the version of me nobody claimed
Twenty-six, car got repo'd on a Tuesday night
Kept the notice folded next to the ER receipt, tight
Two different papers, same year, same shaking hand
Learned to read my whole life like a business plan
My little cousin asked why I don't throw the old ones out
I said some scars is proof of what your silence costs
He didn't get it yet, too young to understand the weight
Of keeping what you survived so you don't repeat the date
Hook
Scars I kept the receipt for
Every one paid, I ain't hiding what it's for
Nothing here I didn't earn the hard way
Scars I kept the receipt for
Bridge
Found my daddy's old receipts after he passed
Same coffee can, same rust, same kind of math
Turns out the man who never said a word out loud
Was keeping score the whole time, quiet and proud
Guess that's where I got it, the folding, the keeping
The proof over promise, the counting instead of weeping
Now when they ask me how I made it out that door
I just tap the can and say the amount's what it's for
Outro
Lid's still rusted, can still full, still mine
Every scar's a paid stub from a hard-earned line
Don't need your sorry, don't need the applause
Just know when I bleed, I keep the receipt because
