Scar Tissue Ledger

Intro

Kitchen table, Sharpie bleeding through the page

Nana's ledger book still counting out my age

Every mark's a debt, every debt got a face

Fourth line down still smells like copper and grace

Verse 1

Split my knuckle on Rio's jaw, thirteen years old

Defending my cousin's name, told stand your ground and hold

Nana wrote it down in Sharpie, said that one's paid

Said the street remembers different than the scars we made

Eyebrow opened on a fence behind Torrence Lane

Running product for my brother, dodging Ricky's chain

That scar bought me silence, kept his secret zipped

Never told my mother how the wire caught my lip

Palm burned flat against the fryer at the chicken spot

Paid my rent in blisters when the check just wasn't enough, I fought

Ledger's got a column just for debts I couldn't skip

One for all the ones that healed but left a permanent grip

Shin scar from the chase when Danny's brother got jumped

I didn't run for cover, felt my own heartbeat thump

Every mark's a receipt, every receipt tells a story

Ledger don't lie like the mouths that chase the glory

Chorus

Scar tissue ledger, every mark paid in full

Skin keep the receipts that the banks never pull

I don't flex what I got, I just carry what's true

Scar tissue ledger, still keeping score for you

Verse 2

Dre owed me quiet since the summer of the raid

Held my secret steady while the sirens serenade

Never asked him for a dime, just asked him hold the code

Ten years later he came knocking, said the debt's overload

Wanted me to vouch for him when the whole block turned cold

I remembered every scar before the story told

Weighed it like the ledger, checked the column twice

Loyalty ain't free but I ain't charging double price

Gave him what he needed, marked it settled clean

Some scars close the ledger, some just start a scene

My mother's hands got marks from bleach and second shifts

Taught me every scar on skin's a testament, not a myth

I carry mine like receipts folded behind my chest

Never cash them in for pity, only used to pass the test

Fourth floor walk-up still got my name in Sharpie by the door

Ledger keeps on growing but I settle what's owed for sure

Chorus

Scar tissue ledger, every mark paid in full

Skin keep the receipts that the banks never pull

I don't flex what I got, I just carry what's true

Scar tissue ledger, still keeping score for you

Bridge