Intro
Composition notebook, black and white marble skin
Sharpie on the cover say property of Renny's kin
Corner of Corvale where the bodega used to breathe
Every favor got a number, nothing owed for free
Verse
Uncle Renny kept a tab under the register drawer
Nine-oh-three, milk and bread, paid it back in June for sure
He taught me numbers ain't just for the cash you spend
Said track the ones who show, not the ones who pretend
Wrote Miss Pearl in blue ink, watched my momma's shift
She covered daycare Tuesdays, never asked, never a gift
Wrote Dashawn in red when he pushed my car three blocks
Battery dead on Fenmore, rain coming down in socks
Store closed in oh-nine, Renny moved down to Georgia
Left me the notebook, said keep the ledger, boy, in order
I added pages, kept the system running strong
A name earns trust the way a hook earns a song
Ten years deep now, spine cracked, corners curling brown
Every soul on Corvale got a line, up or down
Some folks pay it forward, some let the balance lapse
I don't forget a favor, I just wait, I don't collapse
Chorus
I keep a ledger of loyalty, ink don't fade
Every name gets a number, every debt gets paid
Not in dollars, in Sundays, in rides you gave
That's the only interest a ledger of loyalty pays
Verse
Phone rings two a.m., Dashawn's voice all static thin
Says he's at the precinct, bail's twelve hundred, let me in
I flip back to his page, three favors, one still open
