Intro
Streetlight buzzing, cracked glass on the curb
Curtis Ledger back, every syllable a word that's earned
Three a.m., city breathing slow
Concrete kept score, yeah, I already know
Verse
Twelve-block walk with a hoodie for a halo
Steam from the grate like the city got a shadow
Corner store flickers, sodium and rust
Counting up the hours turned to counting up the trust
Momma at the window when the sun ain't rose
Praying for a son that the block already froze
Basketball echoes off the chain-link fence
Every make a memory, every miss a debt against
The rent that's due, the dreams that's overdue
Sirens on the boulevard, a bassline coming through
Pockets full of nothing but a notebook and a pen
Wrote my way from nothing to a name I can't defend
Corner boys watching, wondering which way I lean
Between the block and the booth, between the real and the dream
Kept the porch light burning like a lighthouse for the lost
Concrete kept the record of the years that it cost
Chorus
Concrete kept score, every crack got a name
Late nights taught me lessons that the daylight never claimed
Ten years deep and the pavement still remembers
City never sleeps but it counted every December
Concrete kept score
Verse
Coffee gone cold at the twenty-four spot
Waitress named Ruby knows the tab that I got
Talking to the ghosts of the block that raised me
Half of them in prison, half of them amazing
Rooftop views where the skyline gets honest
Building lights blinking like the city's making promises
Broke phone screen still got a hundred contacts
Half of them owe me, half of them I owe back
Bass in the trunk shaking loose the memories
Chevy on the corner where the block used to bury me
Now it's parked different, tinted, moving slower
Same block, different chapter, elevated like a tower
Grandma's kitchen table where the real deals happened
Cousins in the basement, whole crew rapping
Nothing but a candle and a beat machine humming
Prophesied the future when the future wasn't coming
Chorus
Concrete kept score, every crack got a name
Late nights taught me lessons that the daylight never claimed
Ten years deep and the pavement still remembers
City never sleeps but it counted every December
Concrete kept score
Bridge
Used to run from the block, now I'm running it back
Every scar on the sidewalk is a map that I track
Not bragging on the struggle, just remembering the price
Every dollar that I made got a memory attached like ice
This the sound of the city when the traffic gets quiet
This the pulse of the corner when the world tried to buy it
I'm still here, still breathing, still writing the score
Concrete never forgets and I ain't asking for more
Outro
Streetlight dimming slow, morning creeping in view
City wearing me like a jacket it always knew
Concrete kept score, and it's still keeping time
Curtis Ledger, out.
