Intro
Streetlight hums low, corner still asleep
Ravens on the wire, they don't blink, they don't sleep
Renny used to say the birds remember every name
Long after the block forgets who lit the flame
Verse 1
Eight years old on the stoop, counting cracks in the concrete
Ravens on the wire above, watching who moved on the street
Corner had a rhythm, a map I memorized
Three knocks meant it's clear, one whistle meant disguise
Uncle Renny ran the block like a deacon runs a church
Taught me how to read a face before it learned to search
Said the birds don't lie, son, they circle what's about to fall
Watch the ones that scatter first, they know before us all
Traded my recess for a walkie clipped inside my coat
Learned to count in silence, kept the numbers in my throat
Snow came down that March, buried half the block in white
Ravens never left though, held their post through the whole night
Renny caught a charge that spring, the count don't ever stop
Handed me his walkie like a crown built off a drop
I was ten years old and already knew the weight of watching
Corner keeps a ledger, and the ravens keep it honest
Hook
Ravens count the corner, mark who's next to fall
Perched above the hustle like they already know it all
I fed the block my youth and got a scar for every debt
Ravens count the corner, they ain't forgot us yet
Verse 2
Twenty-two and running numbers Renny used to run
Same four corners, different faces, same unfinished sum
Buried Marcus in July, buried Dre that same December
Learned the ground stays hungry, ravens help you remember
Momma prayed the rosary while I counted out the take
Told her every dollar bent was still a dollar I could break
Scar along my collarbone from a night I can't repeat
Taught me debts get paid in blood before they're paid in feet
Watched the young ones come up quick, sneakers barely broke in
Tried to warn them slow, but the corner don't speak soft to men
Every winter thinned the block, every summer filled it back
Ravens kept their numbers straight, never lost a single track
I got old before my time, ash-gray at twenty-nine
Still I kept the walkie charged, still I held the line
Renny came home gray and quiet, said the count feels different now
I said nothing's different, uncle, just louder ravens, same old vow
Hook
Ravens count the corner, mark who's next to fall
Perched above the hustle like they already know it all
I fed the block my youth and got a scar for every debt
Ravens count the corner, they ain't forgot us yet
Bridge
Kid showed up last winter, walkie clipped just like mine
Same hungry eyes I carried, same unfinished sign
I could've handed down the crown the way it came to me
Instead I told him run, boy, before the ravens count you free
Some men build a legend passing weight down like a name
I'll be the one who broke it, let the birds forget my flame
Outro
Ravens still line the wire when the corner goes to rest
Counting empty spaces where a hundred names used to press
