Ten Toes Down

Uh, uh

Cold nights, colder hearts

Yeah

Listen—

Red lights flicker, city full of shadows

Pain in my chest but I’m still ten toes down though

Too many candles, too many names on the memorial

Street stories turn legendary,

then turn historical

No sleep, eyes low,

mind racing

Whole block tense, everybody feel the frustration

They want war, I want elevation ‘Cause revenge ain’t a win,

it’s another graduation

I got pain in the pen,

put pressure in the pad

Every bar heavyweight, make the whole room sag They was talking real

tough, now the

energy bad

Funny how the loudest voices get quiet when it’s sad

Cold city, cold heart,

winter in my veins

Every loss left a lesson,

every scar got a name

They want stripes, I want checks,

that’s a different campaign I’m tryna turn street pressure into legitimate gains

Wordplay surgical, every sentence got a blade But I’m cutting through the

beat, not somebody’s barricade Death around the corner,

so I’m moving with awareness Turn trauma into triumph,

make the pain pay the rent I don’t glorify the bodies,

I remember every face

‘Cause the block keeps receipts,

ain’t no running from the case Everybody wants a crown till they

realize the weight Real kings build an empire,

they don’t celebrate the grave

Red lights flicker, city full of shadows

Pain in my chest but I’m still ten toes down though

Too many candles, too many names on the memorial

Street stories turn legendary,

then turn historical

No sleep, eyes low,

mind racing

Whole block tense, everybody feel the frustration

They want war, I want elevation ‘Cause revenge ain’t a win,

it’s another graduation

I made pain into poetry,

pressure into profit Had the whole world against me,

still I couldn’t stop it They were waiting for me falling,

I was plotting on a rocket

Now I’m knocking down the ceiling every time I get a pocket

Heavy bars,

heavy thoughts, heavyweight mentality

Turn tragedy to strategy,

that’s street mathematics They count bodies,

I count blessings and opportunities

Same environment, different vision,

that’s the difference between A nightmare and a dream,

a sentence and a scheme

A victim and survivor,

a loss and a legacy I seen brothers turn to ghosts,

that’s reality

So I put their memory in every piece of poetry Sharp tongue,

dark tone, cold flow,

no gimmick Every sixteen hit different when the truth is embedded in

it They expect another crash-out,

I give ’em something bigger

Turn a street full of tension to a stage full of winners

Sirens in the distance,

bass shaking through the night

Everybody chasing darkness, I’m just tryna find the light

If the city gave me scars,

I’ma make ’em part of the fight

Not another name remembered underneath a candlelight

Red lights flicker, city full of shadows

Pain in my chest but I’m still ten toes down though

Too many candles, too many names on the memorial

Turn the pain into a story that’ll live beyond the corridor

No sleep, eyes low,

mind racing Whole block tense,

everybody feel the frustration

They want war, I want elevation Turn the pressure into power —

that’s

the real retaliation