Crosswalks and Cardboards

Got a letter from my cousin up in Angola again He need

five hundred dollars just to breathe in the pen And my lady

in my ear about the rent on the first I'm trying to

balance out the blessings with the weight of the curse My uncle

told me that the family is falling apart But when I needed

to get rolling, nobody would start So I just sit inside the

driveway with the engine on idle Looking at my reflection in the

chrome of my title Everybody want a piece of what I ain't

even made They see you standing in the sun,

they want a piece of your shade I got a partner on

the block who say he still got the work I'm trying to

keep my hands clean,

keep my shoes out the dirt But the cost of living rising

and the weather is hot It's hard to tell the difference what

is real and what's not (damn)

Every time I try to take a step ahead Got another bill

or got a mouth to be fed (yeah)

Past pulling at my jacket till the fabric shred But I gotta

keep my focus on the road instead

Every time I try to take a step ahead They want the

living proof before the body is dead

I remember when the water used to rise to the porch We

was trying to find a way without a map or a torch

Now I'm older, got some money but the pressure is double Every

dollar that I make comes with a portion of trouble

They think because you on the television you don't feel pain Like

you don't get the same water when it start to rain My

partner got a new indictment,

now he calling my phone He want a lawyer but I'm trying

to secure my own home I'm in the kitchen looking at the

bills laid on the wood I'm doing everything I can for the

neighborhood

But you can't save everybody when you drowning yourself You gotta put

your own oxygen mask on the shelf First before you help the

person sitting next to your seat I'm just a man trying to

stand on his own two feet

My lady tell me that I'm distant and I'm losing my mind

I told her I am just trying to buy us some time

Because the clock is ticking faster than the wheels on the car

We went from hanging on the corner to the edge of a

star But the gravity is heavy when you come from the clay

It's hard to wash the mud off even when you pray I

met a preacher at the store,

he tried to sell me some hope I told him I just

need a sturdier piece of the rope My cousin out in Metairie

is asking for a loan He say he need to start a

business, need to get in the zone But I remember when he

wouldn't even give me a ride Now he want to be the

passenger sitting on my side I'm keeping everybody level but the bubble

might burst I gotta put the people who was with me here

first (for real) Every time I try to take a step ahead

Got another bill or got a mouth to be fed

(yeah) Past pulling at my jacket till the fabric shred But I

gotta keep my focus on the road instead Every time I try

to take a step ahead They want the living proof before the

body is dead

So now I'm looking at the city from the top of the

bridge Thinking about the little boy who lived on the ridge He

didn't have a single dollar but his spirit was clean Now I'm

surrounded by the wolves and the ghost in the machine But I

ain't going back to living on the floor of the flat I'm

too intelligent to ever get caught in the trap I got a

vision of the future that is solid and clear I gotta block

out all the noise and the doubt in my ear (shhh) I

put my mother in a house where the garden can grow I

put my brother in a position to handle the flow And if

they want to call me selfish cause I'm guarding my peace Then

they can talk to the lawyer about the terms of the lease

I'm just a man who made it out of where the water

was deep And now I'm trying to get a little bit of

decent sleep