Intro
Concrete kept score, every crack in the block
Nine mil chalk lines where the corner clock stopped
I still hear it tickin' underneath the block noise
Brick and marrow, that's the sound of my voice
Verse
Cracked knuckle winters, taught me how to grip cold
Momma stretched one check into a whole week of gold
Corner store credit, Mr. Faysal knew my face
Wrote my debt in pencil, said I'd pay it back in grace
Seventeen, sneakers flappin' like a loose tongue
Rhymed on the stoop step till the streetlight glow hung
Coach cut me twice but I ain't never cut the rope
Tied it to my ankle, called that tension hope
Every open mic they gave me sixty seconds flat
Turned that into sixty bars, ain't no coming back
Landlord taped the notice, I taped up my resolve
Learned the block don't forgive you, but it lets you evolve
Studio was a closet, egg crate on the wall
Kick drum knockin' quiet so my sister wouldn't fall
Asleep past the hour, I was chasing paper ghosts
Now the concrete kept score and I'm the one who post
Chorus
Concrete kept score, I remember every line
Every fall, every hour, every dollar, every grind
Never asked for the shine, only asked for the time
Concrete kept score and I'm still on the climb
Verse
Traded bus passes for a Metro card that's maxed
Studio sessions on an empty stomach, that's a fact
Engineer said "one more take" like it was free
I gave him thirty more, he gave the world to me
Demo tape circled back like a rubber band snap
Three labels passed, said the sound ain't got the map
I drew my own, block by block, vein by vein
Turned rejection letters into ink for the rain
Momma kept the receipts from every gig I did
Said "one day you gon' frame these," I said "yes ma'am," I did
Now the same block corner got a mural with my name
Kids that used to dap me now recite it like a claim
I ain't chase the diamond, I was chasing daylight
Studio at midnight turned to stages under stage light
Still I walk the old block, let the memory absorb
'Cause the concrete kept score before the whole world saw
Chorus
Concrete kept score, I remember every line
Every fall, every hour, every dollar, every grind
Never asked for the shine, only asked for the time
Concrete kept score and I'm still on the climb
Bridge
They ask me "how you make it," I just point at the ground
Say the pavement was the teacher, and the silence was the sound
No shortcut through the winters, no elevator to the peak
Just repetition, revelation, one bar at a time I speak
This ain't a victory lap, this a debt that I repay
To the block that never lied to me, kept me honest every day
Outro
Concrete kept score, now I'm writing my own page
Still got the same grip, different kind of cage
Brick and marrow, that's the marrow in the rhyme
Concrete kept the score — I just kept the time
