Sombra del cartel, we ride until the end (Version 2)

Intro

Six deep, one candle, smoke don't ask no questions

Same blood since the trailer, same road, same lesson

Verse

Copper wire fence line, that's where we learned the handshake

Eight of us in one truck bed, splitting one tamale plate

Mateo took the fall in '09, never gave a name

Three years in that concrete box, came out crowned the same

We don't write it down, we just carry what we're owed

Every scar's a receipt from a debt paid on that road

Tio taught me patience with a rifle in his lap

Said the loudest man at the table's the first one that they trap

So I keep it low, keep it slow, like the sierreño strings

Every promise that I whisper weighs more than diamond rings

Grew up counting sirens like they're counting sheep at night

Learned to read the silence better than I read the light

Now the young ones look at me the way I looked at him

Same hunger in their eyes, same fire getting dim

I just tell 'em what he told me, hold the ones who hold you back

Loyalty's the only road that never doubles back

Chorus

This is for the ones who never left when it got dark

Sombra del cartel, we move as one, we share one heart

Bullets in the distance, but we never break the chain

Brothers 'til the dirt, we carry every brother's name

Verse

Rosaries on the mirror, dust collecting on the dash

Every mile we drove together left a permanent scratch

Chuy don't talk much since the funeral back in May

Just nods when I remind him that we're bound to stay this way

We split the load like family split a plate of beans

Nobody eats alone here, nobody chases dreams alone

Cousins turned to soldiers, soldiers turned to kin

Same hands that held the shovel now they're holding pen

I write these corridos so the story don't get lost

So when they count the fallen, they remember what it cost

Every name's a candle burning slow behind my eyes

I don't cry in public, but the sierra hears my sighs

We don't chase the fame, we just chase the debt we're due

To the ones who bled for nothing but a promise and the truth

This ain't about the money, this is blood that never dries

Loyalty's the only thing that walks me through the night

Chorus

This is for the ones who never left when it got dark

Sombra del cartel, we move as one, we share one heart

Bullets in the distance, but we never break the chain

Brothers 'til the dirt, we carry every brother's name

Bridge

If I fall tomorrow, don't let my name go dry

Pour it in the dirt where the rest of my brothers lie

Every debt gets paid, every promise gets its due

This crown of shadows only means something next to you

Outro

Six deep turns to twelve deep, the circle never ends

Sombra del cartel, we ride until the end