(Production: 90 BPM, sparse piano + vinyl crackle intro, 808s enter on hook)
[Verse 1]
Cold subway steps at 3 AM, breath foggin' out the light,
Mama folded up her last paycheck, prayed we’d be alright.
Stitchin' sneaker soles with hope, threadbare dreams on the line,
Basement breaths to rooftop lights — stole minutes from the time.
I spit catalogues of hunger, catalogues of late trains,
Payphone confessions, ink stains, tape-recorded rain.
From basement breaths to rooftop lights, I climbed and flipped the script,
Taught the night to rhyme for me, picked a fight with the clock and won the tip.
[Pre-Chorus]
Faded dreams, now vivid scenes, we flip the script and write,
Turnin' pain into a chorus, turn the wrongs into our rights.
Hold your head up, louder now, make the city feel your fight,
Through the darkest hours we move — we claim the morning light.
[Chorus]
We up, no ceilings, we fly (we up, no ceilings, we fly)
We up, no ceilings, we fly (we up, no ceilings, we fly)
[Verse 2]
Corner store neon, I paid in change and promise kept,
Two-dollar coffee, big dreams nested where the cold wind wept.
Mama text: “Keep goin’,” three words with heavyweight grace,
I put them on the hook, now the whole block knows my face.
Punchlines like paychecks — deposit hope into the beat,
Multisyllable muscle, every bar a heartbeat street.
From subway naps to late-night maps, we mapped a new route,
Victory in small things — hot soup, clean socks, no doubt.
[Pre-Chorus — Variation]
Those faded dreams turned bright receipts, we cash 'em in tonight,
Scars are trophies, every seam is stitched with stubborn light.
We raised the volume, cut the doubt, now our shadows walk upright,
Room full of echoes turned applause — we turned struggle into might.
[Chorus]
We up, no ceilings, we fly (we up, no ceilings, we fly)
We up, no ceilings, we fly (we up, no ceilings, we fly)
[Bridge — Introspective / Spoken-Rapid]
(Quiet, half-sung) Listen —
I remember the cold tiles, the taped-up bedroom door,
Silver spoons of false starts, the landlord knocking at the floor.
Rapid: Lost friends, gained lessons, late texts that saved me, vengeance-less,
Kept a ledger of the love, not the losses — that's relentless.
(Soft) If the city breathes, we breathe back louder;
(Spoken, building) I count the nights I didn't quit, one by one I signed the hours,
Turned the whispers in the dark to anthems in the towers.
[Final Chorus — Tightened for Punch]
We up, no ceilings, we fly (we fly)
We up, no ceilings, we fly (we fly)
[Outro]
(Ad-libs over diminishing 808s) No ceilings — feel it —
Rise up, we up, we fly.
(End on a single piano hit, leave space for ad-libs)
