[Intro ] I learned to fight with crayons, traded lullabies for streetlights, Sandbox scars, scraped palms, neon nights and porchlight fights. This one’s first person — my chest, my past, my song, From kindergarten to grown, we held fast, we held on. [Verse 1] I learned to swing with chalk lines, traded nap-time for night climbs, Backpack straps, blacktop maps, little kings with big crimes. I sold mixtapes out the trunk, cassette hiss, corner store glow, We ran from curfew, ran to trouble, ran to everything we thought we know. Bar stools, busted knuckles, blood on my sleeve like confetti, My best mate got wasted, lunged, bit my pride — then we laughed like it wasn’t heavy. I patched a lip with a cigarette wrapper, grin split, friendship tighter, We cursed the cops, praised the moon, prayed to the amp, the mic, the lighter. I watched some brothers fold — some gone like last night’s chorus, Others turned cold, ghosted calls like I was buried under a story in their drawers. Weddings passed, birthdays slid — an RSVP that never came, Maybe I’m the new me, maybe I burned bridges when I stoked that flame. But I keep my record spinning, keep my rhymes tuned to the truth, Music’s the rope that dragged me back from the gutter of my youth. [Pre-Chorus ] I ain’t perfect, I was reckless, I left scars I need to mend, I’m calling out apologies, putting pride in the passenger’s end. Sometimes grown life drags people, distance cuts like a knife, But when the beat drops, I still hear the echo of our life. [Chorus ] Brotherhood nights — I bled, I stayed (I stayed) Brotherhood nights — I fought, then I forgave (I forgave) Brotherhood nights — I kept the light (I kept the light) Brotherhood nights — we bruise, we ride (we ride) [Verse 2] I remember Joey’s laugh, Dex’s jacket, T’s busted hat brim, A Polaroid of reckless grin, beer on the stairs, a mixtape hymn. We ran gun-runs in sneakers, dreams heavier than our coats, We carved names in park benches, passed around truth like burning notes. I’ve got a scar on my knuckle from a fight over nothing at three A.M., He stumbled, I stumbled, we both fell — then we taped it with a friend’s hem. Phone calls dried up, letters turned to drafts, the city rearranged, I got sober on some mornings, but the nights still play the same range. If MTV had filmed our chaos, they’d monetize our mistakes, But no camera caught the quiet — the excuses, the takes, the breaks. I float through photos, I float through faces, some frames feel like frost, I owe amends to the lost and the living, I count what we paid and what it cost. Music kept us stitched through seams that should’ve split apart, I spit these lines like stitches, sewing up the map of my heart. [Pre-Chorus — Variation] Maybe I disrespected when I was a mess, I admit it in the dark, Maybe time pulled scarves over friendships, maybe we outgrew the park. Either way I hold the rhythm — the tape, the hum, the fight, When the chorus hits, I remember who showed up at my side. [Chorus ]