Verse
Eighth and Denby, curb chipped like a knuckle
Ms. Odell lent me sugar when the cupboard'd buckle
Paid her back in shoveled snow, four winters straight
Never wrote it down, the block just calibrates
Chalk lines from a hopscotch game still faded pink
Same square where they laid Andre out, same block, same brink
Tyrell fronted me the fare when my check ain't clear
Three years later I'm the one who covers his kid's gear
Nobody swiping cards, nobody counting cents
The ledger's in the cracks, that's how the loyalty's spent
Pre-Chorus
So what's it worth, a favor held that long
What's it cost to hold a debt that strong
Ask the sidewalk, it remembers everything
The interest that a neighborhood collects and brings
Chorus
Concrete don't take checks, concrete don't take cash
It just remembers every favor, every debt attached
You settle up in presence, you settle up in time
Round here the currency of concrete's on the line
Verse
Moved my cousin's mattress down four flights, no elevator
Same week his landlord raised the rent up like a threat later
He slipped me forty, told him keep it, you'll need that
Still collecting on the summer that he had my back
Watched him watch the block through a windshield, driving slow
Ten years since he left, still sends what he can throw
His mother's light bill, my name still on the account
That's the only interest rate the block will ever count
Some men measure worth in what the safe can hold
I measure mine in doors that opened when it's cold
Pre-Chorus
So what's it worth, a favor held that long
What's it cost to hold a debt that strong
Ask the sidewalk, it remembers everything
The interest that a neighborhood collects and brings
Chorus
Concrete don't take checks, concrete don't take cash
It just remembers every favor, every debt attached
You settle up in presence, you settle up in time
Round here the currency of concrete's on the line
Bridge
Renny called his favor in for something dark last spring
Said I owed him silence for the winter he had brung
Told him debts don't cover that, I ain't built in that trade
Lost a friend that night but kept the currency I made
Some accounts you close for good and eat the balance owed
The concrete cracked a little, still it held the whole road
Chorus
Concrete don't take checks, concrete don't take cash
It just remembers every favor, every debt attached
You settle up in presence, you settle up in time
Round here the currency of concrete's on the line
