Intro
Fourth floor walk-up, radiator clanks like a gong
First of the month hit different, everybody scramble along
Verse
Sharpie envelopes stacked, momma's handwriting strong
She'd send me down the hall with the numbers all wrote
Knock twice, whisper the rent, hold the tension like smoke
Mr. Odell counted quarters on a shoebox lid
Told me money's a language, learn it early as a kid
Super named Delroy, ledger thick as a bible
Marked the paid in blue ink, marked the owed in red trial
I was ten years old doing math in a stairwell
Carrying envelopes heavier than what they can tell
Some nights came back light, had to say it with my chest
She's a little short this month, watched his face, held my breath
Delroy never yelled, just wrote a note in the margin
Said the building stands together or the building starts sinking
That's the first sermon I learned before I learned to pray
Every first of the month it's the same ritual, same weigh
Chorus
Rent money sermon, preach it every first
Empty pockets, full hearts, we cover every hurt
Nobody's free until the whole floor's paid
Rent money sermon, that's the deal we made
Verse
Twenty years later, I'm the one with the ledger book
Same building, same stairwell, different kind of look
Miss Odell's still there, slower now with her keys
I carry her groceries up, four flights, bad knees
First of the month, I'm knocking doors with my own hand
Envelope for envelope, I understand the demand
Marcus on the third floor lost his job in July
Slipped him twenty extra, told him don't ask why
That's the sermon working through me, passed down like a coat
Delroy's in a home now, but his ledger's still my code
Space heater humming while the numbers get counted twice
Every dollar short is a decision, every dollar right
Some months I go without so the building stays whole
That's not weakness, that's the interest on a soul
I learned it in that stairwell, I still live it today
Rent money sermon, I still preach it, still pay
Chorus
Rent money sermon, preach it every first
Empty pockets, full hearts, we cover every hurt
Nobody's free until the whole floor's paid
Rent money sermon, that's the deal we made
Bridge
But serm
