Chalk Dust and Change

Intro

Chalk dust on my knuckles, change jingling deep

Kilo Vantage back, told you doubt don't keep

(yeah) let the record spin

Verse

Corner store courtside, milk crate for a rim

Coach said I was too slow, too small, too thin

Wrote it on a napkin, kept it folded in my sock

Every missed shot taught my wrist a different clock

Momma worked doubles, I worked doorknobs and blocks

Learned to count my blessings by the change in that lock box

Uncle sold that dream cheap, I bought mine on layaway

Interest paid in sweat drops on a Tuesday in May

They said "stay in your lane," I built a whole highway

Chalk on my palms now, ledger balanced my way

Every "no" a brick, stacked 'em till they made a wall

Now that wall's a stage and I ain't scared to fall

Scraped knees on the pavement, turned it into pavement art

Every scar a sentence, every bruise a chart

I don't rap for likes, I rap for that kid still counting

Nickels in a jar, dreaming past the mountain

Chorus

Chalk dust and change, that's the sound I came from

Empty pockets, full heart, that's the song I sang from

They bet against the odds, I bet against the doubt

Chalk dust and change, watch me turn it inside out

Verse

Second verse, same hunger, different kind of hungry now

Got investors calling, still remember every "how"

"How you gon' make it rappin' bout some milk crate hoops"

Watch me turn that skepticism into cash coupes

Traded bus passes for a leather seat that hugs

Still keep a nickel in my pocket like a lucky bug

Reminder where I started, keeps my head out the clouds

Success is quiet money, doubt was always loud

I remember teachers saying "this ain't realistic"

Now I'm realistic proof, statistically sadistic

To the odds they laid against me, stacked like index cards

Flip 'em over, every failure just a business card

Momma got that house now, chalk turned into charm

Every doubter's silence is the loudest kind of calm

I ain't gloating, I'm reporting, documenting the climb

Chalk dust never settles, it just changes over time

Chorus

Chalk dust and change, that's the sound I came from

Empty pockets, full heart, that's the song I sang from

They bet against the odds, I bet against the doubt

Chalk dust and change, watch me turn it inside out

Bridge

Funny how the same hands that they said would never write

Signed the deal that proved 'em wrong under courtroom light

Funny how the mouth they said would never rhyme correct

Now recites the lesson every doubter should collect

It ain't revenge, it's arithmetic, addition of the years

Subtracting every naysayer, multiplying tears to cheers

Outro

Chalk dust on my knuckles, still counting up the change

Every doubt's a deposit in the bank of my name

Kilo Vantage, story told, ledger closed, we good

Chalk dust and change, exactly how I said I would