Slowburn

Verse

Copper pot on the stove, three burners, one lit

Landlord banging on the door about the rent I still owe

Coach said second string, said I'd never see the field

Kept my name off the roster, wrote it into the steel

Teacher passed back the paper, red ink like a wound

Said my ceiling was low, I said watch the fumes

Slow drip coffee at five, engine hasn't turned

Every no in my notebook is a lesson I learned

Cousin laughing at the mixtape, said it's amateur hour

Burned that laugh into fuel, turned it into power

Broke phone screen, cracked in three different places

Still recorded sixteen bars in the same three basements

Pre-Chorus

They said it wouldn't catch, said the wood's too wet

Didn't know I been striking matches since I was ten

Now the smoke's in the room and they finally checking

This the part where the fire stops respecting

Chorus

It's a slowburn, watch it climb

Every doubt was kindling, every hour was mine

Told me it won't take, told me it won't last

Now the whole block smell it, now it's burning fast

Slowburn, ember to a flame

Wrote my name in the ash so they'd remember the name

It's a slowburn, watch it climb

Every doubt was kindling, every hour was mine

Verse

Auntie said get a backup, said the rap don't pay bills

Kept the backup burning under everything I build

Studio in the garage, extension cord for the light

Neighbor banged on the wall, I just turned down the mic

Not the message, the volume, still said what I meant

Six months behind on dreams but never behind on rent

Manager passed on me twice, said the sound wasn't there

Third time I walked back in with the room in my share

Every closed door taught my knuckles a rhythm

Every empty room taught my voice how to fill it

Grandma kept the porch light on past midnight for me

Said son take your time, the slow ones burn steady

Pre-Chorus

They said it wouldn't catch, said the wood's too wet

Didn't know I been striking matches since I was ten

Now the smoke's in the room and they finally checking

This the part where the fire stops respecting

Chorus

It's a slowburn, watch it climb

Every doubt was kindling, every hour was mine

Told me it won't take, told me it won't last

Now the whole block smell it, now it's burning fast

Slowburn, ember to a flame

Wrote my name in the ash so they'd remember the name

It's a slowburn, watch it climb

Every doubt was kindling, every hour was mine

Bridge

Funny how the same folks warming by the fire now

Never brought the matches but they wanna take a bow

I ain't holding grudges, I'm just holding the light

Cause the ones who doubted taught me how to burn right

Every no was oxygen, every wall was a spark

I built my whole house out the coal from the dark

Chorus

It's a slowburn, watch it climb

Every doubt was kindling, every hour was mine

Told me it won't take, told me it won't last

Now the whole block smell it, now it's burning fast

Slowburn, ember to a flame

Wrote my name in the ash so they'd remember the name

It's a slowburn, watch it climb