[Intro]
(Spoken) 3AM on a cold bench, city breathing slow — this one's for the late nights. (ah)
(Ad-lib: yeah, uh, rise)
[Verse 1]
Bus stop at 3AM, torn sneakers, pocket lint dreams (breath)
Late-night studio, blue light, spilling coffee on the scheme (breath)
Momma's kitchen clock ticking, rent due, heartbeat syncopates (breath)
Frets on my frets, freestyles like confession, fate negotiates (ah)
Paper crumpled demos—trash can testimonials of practice (breath)
Graffiti skyline watched me promise I wouldn't fold to static (breath)
I counted losses like lesson plans, learned to hustle with a grin (breath)
From cold corners to bright boards, every scar is where I begin (yeah)
[Pre-Chorus]
I kept the tape rolling, kept the rhyme rolling (rollin') (breath)
Heartbeat met the bass, found the lane that I was chosen for (breath)
Small wins in the margin, big plans on the door (breath)
One mic, one night, one fight until I'm more (let's go)
[Chorus] (HOOK — compact trademark)
Rise up — let the world know my name (rise!) (breath)
Torn sneaks, late beats, now I'm staking my claim (yeah) (breath)
(Ad-lib tag: rise! shine! rise!)
[Verse 2]
Booked a backyard show, thunder rolled — crowd thin, lights fail (breath)
Promoter ghosted, fifty chairs empty, cold fumes and stale ale (breath)
I sat in my car, keys in hand, thought maybe this ain't for me (breath)
A voicemail from a stranger said, "Your line, it set me free." (breath)
Doubt tried to rent my time, put up signs that said 'quit now' (breath)
But I stitched my torn resolve with verses — learned to vow (breath)
Multisyllable hustle, internal muscle, syllables collide (breath)
From missed checks to playback checks, I turned the tide (uh)
[Pre-Chorus — Variation]
When the light blinked low, I wrote harder, I kept score (breath)
Every no turned to prose, every floor became a door (breath)
Small wins in the margin, big plans on the door (breath)
One mic, one night, one fight until we soar (we soar)
[Instrumental - 8 bars]
(Beat switch — lower hats, heavy snare, open hi-hat pattern) (breath)
(Rap cadence change: triplet flow — ad-libs: ayo, yeah, come on)
[Bridge]
There was a night I watched a neighbor pack boxes, moved away (breath)
He said, "Son, dreams cost more than hope when the bills all weigh." (breath)
I answered with a bar about a busted amp and a better day (breath)
We traded fear for furnace heat, turned the cold into our stage (ah)
This is not the end—it's the edit, the cut that makes the film (breath)
We color in the margins, paint the gray till it gets real (yeah)
Doubt's a chord that taught me rhythm; failure wrote the hook (breath)
Now every chorus is a map back to the corner where I stood (let's go)
[Final Chorus — Hook Change / Elevation]
Rise up — let the world know my name (rise!) (breath)
Now watch the skyline bend — city lights remember the flame (we shine!) (breath)
From torn sneaks to stage seats, from cold breaths to roars (yeah) (breath)
We rise up — new tag, same fight, open all
