Verse 1
Third split lip this summer, taste like a penny on my tongue
Stood between two blocks arguing over a corner that ain't won
Milk crate for a chair, stoop concrete cold through denim
Nobody claps for peace, they just remember who ended it
Fire hydrant painted over, still leaking rust like a wound
Kept the peace past midnight, paid for it by noon
Grandma's window cracked, she watching like she always do
Says baby come inside, I tell her not yet, not through
Pre-Chorus
How many teeth I gotta lose to keep this street from breaking?
How long I gotta sit here 'fore the sitting stops the shaking?
Chorus
Copper taste, concrete throne
Every scar's a brick I own
Sit up here so they stay whole
Copper taste, concrete throne
Verse 2
Corner store owner slides me ice wrapped in a paper bag
Says I carry this block like a father with a bad back
Sharpie tally on the wall counts the fights I broke instead of started
Sixteen names, sixteen nights I stayed when everybody departed
Chain-link fence bent from the weight of leaning bodies
Mine included, three a.m., watching for who's next hobby
Little Trevon asks me why my knuckles always swole
I tell him it's the rent I pay to keep this block whole
Pre-Chorus
How many teeth I gotta lose to keep this street from breaking?
How long I gotta sit here 'fore the sitting stops the shaking?
Chorus
Copper taste, concrete throne
Every scar's a brick I own
Sit up here so they stay whole
Copper taste, concrete throne
Bridge
Handed Trevon the milk crate, told him it ain't no trophy
Told him a throne just means you first in line to catch the copy
He said I don't want your seat, I want the block to walk it steady
I said that's the whole point, son, that's why my jaw stay heavy
Maybe the win ain't holding court, it's raising one who don't need it
Maybe the crown's worth more the day someone else can wear it
Chorus
Copper taste, concrete throne
Every scar's a brick I own
Sit up here so they stay whole
Copper taste, concrete throne
