[Intro]
Sparce 808, single hi-hat tick (yeah)
Neon breath on a cold train track, watch it flick (uh)
Whisper: "Rise Above" — three syllables, heartbeat click
Let the bass roll slow, then let the rhythm stick
[Verse 1]
Two A.M., subway platform, neon sputter, metal breath (10)
Mama’s skillet on the stove — smoke that tastes like debt (10)
Corner store coffee, sugar clings to tired hands (10)
Rusted chain-link dreams, we still map out plans (9)
Scars that narrate my nights, turn pain into rights (10)
Streetlight staccato, feet tapping under flaring lights (11)
Voices told me quiet, I turned quiet into sound (10)
Paid dues at midnight, now my name bounce around (10)
Internal rhymes, tighten lines, every bar a snapshot (11)
From stoop talks to headline walks — grind never stops (10)
[Pre-Chorus]
Heartbeat sync with the kick drum, steady, calibrated (11)
Promise in my pocket, heavy — never faded (10)
Say it soft, say it proud — let the city testify (11)
We learned to fly slow first, then we learned to fly high (11)
[Chorus]
Rise above the noise — watch us claim the night (9)
Rise above the noise — lights up from the fight (9)
Rise Above (call) — Rise Above (echo)
Rise Above the noise — watch us claim the night
[Verse 2 — Escalation]
Now it's thicker smoke, brighter strobes, the stakes get loud (10)
Used to count pennies on the dashboard, now we count the clouds (11)
More hunger in my knuckles, more truth in my tongue (10)
They expected I’d be silent — I turned silence into drums (11)
I write with concrete ink — names carved on corner stones (10)
Microphone exorcist, every line frees homegrown bones (11)
Angles sharper, cadence darker, watch my cadence cut (10)
I stitch a broken record, flip the break, then strut (10)
Internal flip, multi-syllable hits, watch me ricochet (11)
From stoop to studio, from hush to sold-out play (10)
[Rap Breakdown — Fast Flow]
Flashbacks: cold nights, coat tight, penniless poet (10)
Flash forward: bold lights, sold-out, they show it (10)
Snap — city breath, chest chest, step, step, never throw it (11)
Counter every quit with grit, every doubt I outgrow it (11)
[Bridge — Melodic Shift / Stark Image]
Clock hands bleeding red on a cracked apartment wall (11)
One stopwatch, two promises, we won't let them fall (10)
Echoes of a mother's lullaby over static and sirens (12)
We trade my fear for this mic and call it our horizon (11)
(Whisper) Rise Above — lift the skyline, break the glass (10)
[Chorus — Hooked]
Rise above the noise — watch us claim the night (9)
Rise above the noise — lights up from the fight (9)
Rise Above — Rise Above (repeat as tag)
[Outro — Punchy Close]
So we stand — scarred, awake, undefeated — Rise Above (10)
(One last call) Rise Above — let the city feel our love (10)
[Ad-libs / Performance Notes in Lyrics]
(yeah) (uh) (rise) — space for ad-libs after lines, leave gaps for call-and-response
[Production Notes]
- Intro: sparse beat — heavy low 808, single hi-hat, distant synth pad to create space.
