Say It Like You Mean It

Intro

Cracked phone screen, still recording the vision

Basement window fogged up, that's the only heat in the kitchen

Say it like you mean it, that's the only law I'm living

Verse

Four a.m. grind, coffee cold in the thermos

Momma asked when the rap thing turning into a purpose

I said soon, wrote sixteen more before the sunrise

Landlord banging doors while I'm banking on my own hype

Cousin took the deal, sold his verses for the quick cash

I kept mine in the vault, waiting on the wick flash

Bus pass down to fumes, walked forty blocks in November

Every step a metaphor, every scar I remember

Studio time borrowed off a favor and a handshake

Engineer said talent free but the truth cost a landscape

Sold my old chain just to pay for the mix down

Watched the numbers crawl but I never let the risk drown

Uncle said the odds are stacked higher than the ceiling

I said watch me climb it, turn the doubt into a feeling

Every no's a brick, I'm out here building me a fortress

Say it like you mean it, or don't say nothing, that's my promise

Hook

Say it like you mean it, no more talking in the shadows

Every word's a seed, watch it grow through the asphalt

Say it like you mean it, put your name where the doubt was

Say it like you mean it, that's the only law I follow

Verse

Two years later, same block, different energy

Kids on the corner now they quoting back my remedy

Label came around after the block already knew me

Told them keep the advance, I already own the movie

Built my own light, don't need the industry's permission

Turned the basement studio into a whole tradition

Momma got the house now, kitchen finally got the heat

Uncle came around, said he always believed in me

I remember when he laughed, kept that memory as fuel

Every interview I do, I bring the block, keep it true

Cousin hit me up, said he still chasing that same deal

I said come through, I'll show you how the real thing feel

Money different now but the hunger never left me

Still write like the power could get shut off any second

Still say it like I mean it, every bar's a testament

Watch the come-up turn to legacy, that's the evidence

Hook

Say it like you mean it, no more talking in the shadows

Every word's a seed, watch it grow through the asphalt

Say it like you mean it, put your name where the doubt was

Say it like you mean it, that's the only law I follow

Bridge

They ask me how I made it out the static and the silence

I say I never asked permission, I just trusted in the science

Every doubt a door I kicked, every fear I turned to fire

Say it like you mean it, watch the ceiling turn to sky, no

Outro

Cracked phone healed to a platinum frame, still the same vision

Basement turned to blueprint, that's the only heat I'm living

Say it like you mean it, said it, meant it, kept on climbing