(Intro)
Night train hum, vinyl crackle, streetlamp humming low
808 heartbeat, snare snap — we let the story flow
Tag: "Rise up, shine" (yeah), piano loop under the glow
(Verse 1)
Corner store on Fifth and Pine, neon buzzin' like a sign,
Mama's prayers at 2 a.m., coffee cold, she don't mind.
Pocket change and past due notes, mail stacked like heavy ropes,
Old mixtape in the trunk — promise songs turned into hopes.
City lights flicker, mama's prayers get thicker, nights get slicker,
Pocket full of wishful glitter, but the rent got sicker.
I spit through cracked sidewalks, asphalt ghosts and boarded locks,
Paper plates in winter lines, names call out through building blocks.
Skooled on hustle, learned the muscle of a second-hand dream,
Wrote my name on bathrooms, subway tiles, and bathroom steam.
Internal taps, rhyme snaps — heartbeat matching train tracks,
Every scar a map that I trace back when the world attacks.
(Pre-Chorus) [Call & Response]
Call: We climb? — Response: We climb, yeah!
Call: We grind? — Response: We grind, uh!
Hands up, we claim time, breathe in, then we sign: "Rise."
Short tag: "Light the sky" (let it fly)
(Chorus)
Rise up, shine — light the sky (ooh!)
Rise up, shine — light the sky (yeah!)
Payoff 1: From stoop to skyline, we rewrite the night
Ad-lib tag: (rise!)
(Verse 2)
Late shift, bakery steam, my jacket smells like daydreams,
Worn-out Chuck Taylors squeak secrets in the hallway seams.
Eviction notice taped to the door, name in black ink cold,
I traded chains for chapters, every line I fold is gold.
Met Big Lou on the corner, taught me how to count time,
Showed me how to turn pain into cadence and rhyme.
Bullet hole in a billboard, mother cried on the stoop steps,
We held a candle for Malik — sirens sang in the depth.
Studio nights, caffeine fights, trying to catch the right note,
I press record, my soul poured, mama's rosary in my coat.
Multisyllable hustle, internal rhyme — we climb the ladder,
Counting losses like lessons, turning shrapnel into matter.
(Pre-Chorus) [Call & Response]
Call: We rise? — Response: We rise, let's go!
Call: We fierce? — Response: We fierce, yo!
Build breath, drop — silence, then the hook drops bright: "Rise up."
Short tag: "Light the sky" (uh)
(Chorus)
Rise up, shine — light the sky (ooh!)
Rise up, shine — light the sky (yeah!)
Payoff 2: From late-night bills to a brand-new flight
Ad-lib tag: (we go!)
(Bridge) — The Turn
Lost my brother to a name on a board, cold concrete and headlines,
Took his chain off the wall, put it on a mic — kept his lines.
Grief cut deep, I learned to kneel, then learned to stand and grind,
What broke us almost stole the sound, but we found the sign.
Now every tear is currency — I spend it on a cause,
Turn the pain to poetry, the silence into applause.
Revealing tag: I cried, then I wrote — then I rose, I compose.
(Verse 3) — Final Push
Breakfast at dawn, we celebrate the small wins like gold glints,
Neighbors clap from stoops, little kids practice their sprints
