[Intro ] In our studio apartment, in the closet, making mixtapes with a 10 dollar mic — static, hush, we breathe. [Verse 1] my past, my song From kindergarten to grown We held fast, we held long I learned to swing with chalk lines Traded nap time for night climbs Backpack straps, blacktop maps Little kings with reckless rhymes We sold mixtapes out the trunk, cassette, his corner store glow Ran from curfew, ran to trouble Ran to everything we thought we know Bar stools, busted knuckles Laughter mask and how we're heavy My best mate got wasted and bit my face that night Then we hugged like it was steady I patched a lip with a blunt wrapper Grin split the bond tighter Curse the cops, praise the moon Prayed to the amp, the mic, I watched some brothers fold, some gone like last night's chorus Others turned cold, ghosted calls like I was buried Under stories in their drawers Weddings passed, birthdays slid and RSVP's never came maybe im to blame i burnt bridges when i stoked that flame keep my record spinning And keep my rhymes tuned to the truth Music's the rope that drag me back From the gutter of my youth I ain't perfect, I was reckless Left scars, I got a man Callin' out apologies, puttin' pride in the passengers' end Grown life will pull people different Distance cuts like a knife But when the beat drops I still hear the echo of our life, Nicks Jacket, Z-Mars busted hat brim Polaroids of reckless grims Beer on the stairs, a mixtape hymn We ran fast in beat up sneaks Dreams heavier than winter coats Carved names in a park benches Traded secrets for each other's notes Scar on my knuckle from a fight at 3am over nothin' Then we stumbled, we fell, then patched it up With jokes and borrowed cunning Phones went silent Let us stay drafts, the city rearranged Sober mornings came in waves But the nights still hit the same range If MTV had filmed our chaos They monetize our mistakes But no camera caught the quiet The apologies, the breaks I float through photos Float through faces Some frames feel like frost owe amends to the lost and living for what we paid and what it cost music kept us stiched through seems that should have split apart i spit these lines like stiches sowing up the map to my heart [Pre-Chorus ] Beat drops — names cut clean through hoodlight and hum I fold apologies like old tapes, press 'em to my chest until they come [Chorus — Hard Hook] (deliver uplifting) Blackstoners — closet shows, ten-dollar mic, we ride Wish we had a camera — MTV would've paid to film our life Blackstoners — closet-made, loud and raw, we ride Say the names, feel the flame — J-Gone, Nick, Zack, Kev, we ride [Verse 2] Out our hood Fairmount to Morin Hights we thought one day we would make it big Phone screens dim, seasons flip, mixtape hiss became our proof Car trunks, payphones, corners named — cheap roofs and louder truths We traded heat and handshakes, scraped pride for louder laughs Crossed lines, mended cuts, rewound the nights to stitch the halves I still hit