Saxophone crying through the corner store grate
Got my sneakers untied and my spirit irate
Half a blunt in the pocket of my bomber jacket
Turntable scratching like we breaking out the casket
Piano keys sticky from the heat and the smoke
Old head on the stoop said the block aint no joke
But the groove in my bones got me nodding like a saint
Baptized in the bass man I love what I became
This aint just music man this blood in the concrete
Every crack in the sidewalk got a drumline beneath
We the ones who painted heaven on a brick wall scheme
Living proof the gutter got a gospel and a dream
This aint just rhythm nah this family and proof
Every scar on my knuckles taught me how to move
We dont ask for nothing we just take what we need
And we turn the broken pavement to a royal symphony
Dance circle spinning outside the barbershop
My cuzzo throwing windmills like a helicopter drop
Stale beer and cologne mix with soul food steam
Tattooed on my memory like a permanent regime
Studio apartment with the mic in the closet
Recorded over cassettes that the thrift store lost it
Now the sample loops heavy like a sermon on Sunday
Told my story through the static now the youth wanna run plays
This aint just music man this blood in the concrete
Every crack in the sidewalk got a drumline beneath
We the ones who painted heaven on a brick wall scheme
Living proof the gutter got a gospel and a dream
This aint just rhythm nah this family and proof
Every scar on my knuckles taught me how to move
We dont ask for nothing we just take what we need
And we turn the broken pavement to a royal symphony
They tried to box us in with statistics and headlines
But the culture too deep got roots in the red lines
My voice carry the ancestors who never got a stage
Now I scream until the city know we turned a new page
This aint just music man this blood in the concrete
Every crack in the sidewalk got a drumline beneath
We the ones who painted heaven on a brick wall scheme
Living proof the gutter got a gospel and a dream
This aint just rhythm nah this family and proof
Every scar on my knuckles taught me how to move
We dont ask for nothing we just take what we need
And we turn the broken pavement to a royal sym