

Two tongues in one mouth,
still it comes out true
I bend with the room,
but I don't break through I'm the pale face on the block
where the rent stays late And the dark joke at the cookout
by the iron gate I know the slang on the corner,
know the schoolyard code Still I sharpen every vowel when I hit
the road
Too proper for the back row,
too rough for the lawn By the time they choose a side,
man, I'm already gone I learned how to laugh with both hands
on the wheel
Half mask, half mirror,
trying to say what is real
I change my frame,
not my name
Same fire,
different flame
If I fit nowhere at all
Why do both sides know my call White boy in the ghetto,
black sheep in the burbs Talk slick with the cadence,
still pronounce every word I wear what I lived,
I don't borrow no stripes Caught between two windows,
trying to read both lights White boy in the ghetto,
black sheep in the burbs Talk slick with the cadence,
still pronounce every word
Teachers heard a good kid,
cousins heard a bad tone Each room had a script and I
never had my own Some days I was welcomed,
some days just a guest Smile for the checkpoint,
then a hand on my chest I know how the block sounds
right after the rain And how the hedges hide a colder kind
of pain So I keep my chin level when the room gets
absurd Heart full of slang,
and I fully pronounce every word Maybe I'm a map with the
borders rubbed thin Maybe both doors were never mine to begin But
I can hold two truths and still stand firm A tongue can
stay honest while the whole world squirms White boy in the ghetto,
black sheep in the burbs Talk slick with the cadence,
still pronounce every word I wear what I lived,
I don't borrow no stripes Caught between two windows,
trying to read both lights White boy in the ghetto,
black sheep in the burbs Talk slick with the cadence,
still pronounce every word
Still pronounce every word
Still pronounce every word
I'm from where I stood
I said it how I could