Scar Tissue Currency

Intro

Otis kept a mirror cracked in three since oh-nine

Said every crack was a customer who couldn't pay in time

Wiped the glass clean, kept the ledger in his head

Around here scars ain't scars, they collateral instead

Verse 1

Otis chalked your story on the glass instead of cash

Line for every stitch, a tally for every gash

I walked in bleeding, eleven, elbow torn on brick

Kept my brother's bike from rolling into traffic quick

Otis wiped it clean, said that one's on the house

Wrote my initials next to names he wouldn't call out

Told me scars don't fade here, they just change their rate

Later that same mark bought me credit at the gate

Corner boys respect what your skin already spent

Wear the proof and nobody question where you went

But currency got interest, and it never sleeps

Every wound you cash out, some part of you it keeps

I still feel that elbow ache when weather turns to rain

Paid it forward once, still collecting on the pain

Otis said the body is the only bank that's real

No teller, no receipt, just what your scars reveal

Chorus

Scar tissue currency, that's the coin round here

Spend a wound to buy a name, spend a name to buy a year

No bank hold this collateral, no teller count it clean

Scar tissue currency, the only cash we've seen

Verse 2

Nineteen now, Silas owed a debt he couldn't cover

Otis wasn't there to broker, this the street, no other

Stepped between two numbers, took a blade across my rib

Silas walked home clean that night, I walked home with the bid

Traded my whole side for his safety, called it fair

Momma saw the bandage, didn't ask, just combed my hair

Word got round the block, my rate went up again

Dudes who never spoke to me start nodding like we're kin

Funny how a scar buys more than working two jobs could

Funny how the ledger only reads in blood, not good

Silas got clean, moved his family cross the river line

Sent a card that said he's sorry, no return address behind

Don't need the sorry, need to know it balanced out

Some nights I still count stitches like they settle any doubt

Scar tissue holds its value till you try to cash it in

Then you learn the market's rigged, you were paying for a sin

Chorus

Scar tissue currency, that's the coin round here

Spend a wound to buy a name, spend a name to buy a year

No bank hold this collateral, no teller count it clean

Scar tissue currency, the only cash we've seen

Bridge

Got a nephew now who thinks a scar's the only proof

Showed him mine like medals, told him, kid, that ain't the truth

Sat him down, said curr