The Come-Up Never Gets Old

Verse 1

Ninth hour on a block I used to know

Streetlights flickering through the haze of smoke and steam

The same four corners where my brothers fell asleep

Same cracked pavement that they called their home

I stood here once like I was born for nothing else

But something changed when the rain rolled in last night

Somebody's door lit up across the alley light

Radio playing low, it was a sound I missed

Pre-Chorus

So what if my story started small

Can a man write himself into this, still be brave at all

The city hums and asks me who I'll become

Tonight I'm not running from the dark anymore, I've come

Chorus

This is the block where every myth got written in the paint

Every kid that doubted me was just another reason to ignite

I am the fire they said would never start

Every light on this street now shines a little brighter because we're born for it

So I stand tall, I hold the floor, I sing what no one else can say

This is my anthem in the dark before the dawn breaks gray

Verse 2

Four years on and every storefront's got my name in gold lettering on the wall

Kids from next block come to learn how legends are made

They ask me about the struggle, I tell 'em it was just a test of will

Tell them losing never meant being still

I built a studio out the back door where the old warehouse used to stand

Same concrete floor but now it's a throne and it understands every word that's said

Streetlight flickers like a pulse, every window blinking gold

Nobody here believes in second chances like they're told

They think come-up means you made it, don't ask who paid the toll

I'm still standing, I'm still screaming back at every doubt that used to call my name

Pre-Chorus

Somebody asked me today if this is all worth losing sleep for

Every night the city tries to take a piece of what we're made of

But I'm not running from the dark no more, I'm walking toward it like a flame

I already know who I am in every version of my name

Chorus

This is the block where every myth got written in the paint

Every kid that doubted me was just another reason to ignite

I am the fire they said would never start

Every light on this street now shines a little brighter because we're born for it

So I stand tall, I hold the floor, I sing what no one else can say

This is my anthem in the dark before the dawn breaks gray

Bridge

They called me legend when the studio turned gold

I'm still the same man standing on the same street cold

Every kid that thinks he's lost it all tonight

Just watch him write his own light, ignite the whole night

Chorus

This is the block where every myth got written in the paint

Every kid that doubted me was just another reason to ignite

I am the fire they said would never start

Every light on this street now shines a little brighter because we're born for it

So I stand tall, I hold the floor, I sing what no one else can say

This is my anthem in the dark before the dawn breaks gray