[Intro]
Neon breath, city pulse—yeah, uh, whoo
(Hand on the mic, lights low)
[Verse 1] (16 bars)
Step off cracked pavement, neon on my face
Late nights in the booth, chasing one small trace
Empty pockets, heavy jacket, cigarette smoke
Trophies on the window ledge—wise jokes we wrote
Knuckles learned the alphabet of hustle and scars
Subway sighs, ticker-tape of headlights, parked cars
Mama fried ambition in a skillet of doubt
I flipped the loss, made the hush scream loud
Paper cuts from unpaid bills taught my hands to write
Ink bled into drum patterns, turned dark into light
I traded small echoes for the echo of roars
Scarred knees on cold steps, every stair earned chores
Clock hands stole my youth but couldn’t kill the spark
I drew maps on napkins, lit corners of the dark
From block cipher cyphers to the midnight hotline
Now I lace gold on verses—every bar a milestone
[Pre-Chorus]
When the booth goes quiet, my past talks loud
I hustle fonts of feeling—more than an audience, a crowd
Breathe in the scramble, exhale the fight
Turn every shadow into neon light
[Chorus] (Mantra + Tag)
Rise up, run the night (Rise up, run the night) — yeah!
Rise up, run the night (Call it up!) — whoo!
(Tag ad-lib: hands up, we take flight)
[Verse 2] (16 bars - rapid-fire)
Fast lane, no brakes—eight AM to late shows
Beat knocks, I sign my lines where the cold wind blows
Quick scrawl, profit from pain, flip the script tight
Broken glass, dusty trophies, hunger in sight
I spit ledger lines—balance sheets of scars
Quick commas in my breath, counting up small stars
Made pennies buy palaces, turned scars into charts
Call me Nova—lightning tongue with a street-chart heart
Every headline I lived underlined now signs deals
Late calls, closed doors, now the crowd peels
Every setback a set-up—watch the comeback plot
I stitch broken timelines into platinum-hot spots
Check the ledger—I owe nothing but truth
Step back—watch me vault out the roof
Silver tongues rust, but these records hold gold
I laugh last and loud—empire in the fold
[Bridge] (half-sung, half-rap)
Night blooms; I bloom with it—neon in my veins (sung)
Heart tight, but my hands build lanes through the pain (sung)
They said slow down—I said speed up, light up, paint (rap)
I carry more than bars—carried names, carried saints (rap)
[Chorus] (repeat)
Rise up, run the night (Rise up, run the night) — yeah!
Rise up, run the night (I said rise!) — whoo!
(Tag ad-lib: keep on, keep on)
[Outro]
From cracked steps to gold steps—watch the skyline tilt
Call it hunger turned into hymns, turned into wilt
Call me Nova—I shine where the dark used to sit (uh)
Rise up, run the night—this is how legends get lit (whoo!)
(Ad-libs: yeah, rise up, run, run the night, ooh)
