[Verse 1]
I grew up where the sirens sang lullabies to the blocks,
Concrete cradles, broken bottles, padlocked shops.
Mothers with tired eyes, fathers who never came back,
Kids on the corners learn early how to move in packs.
See the teacher said I’m gifted but the system said I’m not,
I was scribblin’ hope in a notebook while my brother was shot.
Council estate cages, we’re pigeons not doves,
They preach about peace but they fundin’ the guns.
I saw a boy lose his soul for a pair of Nike creps,
Debt’s a chain round your neck tighter than the rest.
Politicians on the telly with their tailored disguise,
Shake hands with the bankers while they cut off supplies.
I’m a product of survival, I’m a mirror of the pain,
But a spark in the darkness still remembers my name.
And when the shadows try to hold me, I remind ’em I’m free,
Cos every scar on my skin is still a map back to me.
[Chorus]
Shadows on the pavement, voices in my head,
Tryna pull me under but I rise instead.
World’s full of hunger, hearts painted red,
But I won’t lose my soul, I’ll f***t till I’m d**d.
[Verse 2]
See the council flat walls they remember the screams,
Echoes of a***e tucked behind the TV screens.
A child hides in silence when the bottles get thrown,
Praying someone hears him through the cracks in the stone.
But the cracks let the light in, Leonard Cohen told me so,
Even roses in the gutter still manage to grow.
I’ve been scribblin’ on the back of receipts, scraps of pain,
Every lyric is a candle in the cold, pouring rain.
The dealer on the corner offers paradise in a bag,
But it’s temporary heaven, permanent drag.
I seen friends overdose, I seen mothers relapse,
I seen churches close doors while the homeless collapse.
But I won’t bite my tongue, nah I won’t play along,
Cos the world needs a truth carved sharp into song.
And if my voice is the weapon that they tried to erase,
Then I’ll aim it at the silence till the system’s replaced.
[Chorus]
Shadows on the pavement, voices in my head,
Tryna pull me under but I rise instead.
World’s full of hunger, hearts painted red,
But I won’t lose my soul, I’ll f***t till I’m d**d.
[Verse 3]
See the cracks in the kingdom, see the rust on the crown,
Every empire built up still comes crashing down.
I ain’t scared of the truth, I’m afraid of the lie,
Where we trade human lives for the pound signs in sky.
My therapy’s rhythm, my confession’s a b**t,
What I bleed on this mic keeps my spirit on its feet.
I’m a poet for the hopeless, a torch in the smoke,
Even broken instruments can still carry hope.
[Bridge]
They tried to chain me to my trauma but I cut that rope,
Tried to d***n me in the madness but I learned to float.
Every shadow that stalks me only sharpens my flame,
Cos without a little darkness, light don’t mean the same.