There's seven of us in this room Each one learned to survive
So I could stand They wore the knives
Held the door They paid the dues I couldn't yet afford
Tonight they want the throne Talk, argue, prove they're worth the crown
My job is simple Let them speak Hold the table Keep the roof from crashing
I open the mic I close the doors Watch them fight
I ain't ask for mercy I came with scorched marks
Knuckles hungry From punching hours into dark
First out the crib Windows shattered on my name
Broke the silence with a fist Lit the alley with my flame
I snap on instinct Don't measure, just swing
Blink wrong And you drown in the wake of my fling
Call it reckless Nah, I call it the suit I stitched
Chest full of thunder Pocket full of switch
I sold my sleep to the night Traded peace for teeth
Kept the lights on While your saints turned thief
I moved loud for the loss I kept the air in our lungs
I carry the night like a blade With young hands and young lungs
Don't test the spark I set the block red
Little pit loud Living quiet a day
I step back and watch the room Counting seams, tracking lies
People speaking colors I hear the mask behind their eyes
I fold in the corners I catalog the steps they take
Voices in the walls say my name Tell me where the glass breaks
Dissolve for a minute Watch the world betray its frame
I taught myself to listen For the triggers that say my name
Cold hands, cold a mask I count nights I didn't fall
Turned every bruise into a ledger Kept my heart on hold
Streets taught the lesson Law taught the line
I learned to play both ways Silence is the currency
Bullets test the praise
I move like a ghost With a plan
Respect is coin I stack Don't speak love unless it's measured
Don't move soft or you get cracked
Crown of ash thrown in my ribs I legislate the night
Whisper laws to the stars Watch lesser kings take flight
They baptize me in flame Taught me geometry of pain
I constellate my rules High number every name
Bow or break I arbitrate the sins they hide
Call me divine or call me monster I still rule the tide
You, quiet down Let me breathe
All voices make quiet We saved you, we bleed
You, I let you speak But know the rule I leave
We bleed when you sleep We fight while you bleed
I kept the lights, you slept I bled for the wake
Don't touch my blade They whisper at the windows
I trace their letters in the glue Numbers don't cry
I keep the ledger clean I buy silence cheap
I am the law, they forgot the fear
Kneel or fold then disappear A red door clock
Blue river stop Climax blackout
He's mine, no I didn't I kept his breathing
Stop talking, let's take it Why you move so soft?
You don't know pain I can feel the edge
My hands go numb Don't, don't
Resolution You kept the nights from breaking me
I know, little bitch You held the furnace
Chris, you countered the crack Snow, you, you kept the ledger
You held the crown when it burned The two that stumble in the dark
You are the static that remembers The shape of terror
Without you, I would have vanished into sound
Without me, you would have had no roof
You keep the jobs, I keep the keys
Bow, don't break, guard, don't rule That is the deal
Huh?
Chris Anonymous
Soft beard, unnamed band
Short whisper, river
Unnamed B
Short whisper, river
