(Intro) (deep sigh) Yeah… Another candle on the curb. Another program printed out. I’m standing in the same damn section of the park where we used to trade Pokémon cards and dream about Benzes. Now everybody’s frozen in a frame. I’m tired, man. So damn tired. (Verse 1) Staring at a mural on a brick wall peeling Wondering at what exact point we lost our feeling Every single face up there, I knew 'em since the sandbox Now they just memorials on t-shirts and matchbox Cars driving by, bumpin' music like it's normal While half my childhood’s sleeping underneath a floral Arrangement that the county paid for cause we broke Generation after generation up in smoke And nobody can even name the reason why it started Just a cycle of retaliation, cold-hearted Was it over colors? Was it over block lines? Man, nobody even knows as we cross the finish lines Of our own short lives, dodging shadows in the alley Another brother down in the concrete valley (Chorus) And I’m jaded, pacing up and down these same blocks Watching time run out on all our phantom clocks Lost 'em all to the pavement, lost 'em to the iron While the mothers left behind are tired of crying Tell me, is death also my fate? Am I just waiting on the clock, locked in the gate? Or do I pack my bags and run from where we played? 'Cause everyone I grew up with is underneath the shade. (Verse 2) Remember Reggie? Smartest kid in algebra and physics Now his momma’s living off of memories and visits To a headstone that don't talk back, doesn't answer why Just another statistic underneath a smoggy sky And Marcus—man, we shared a jacket in the winter Now his name's just letters that the local graver's printer Stamped onto a slab of granite, cold and gray Over something nobody remembers anyway. It's a war with no enemy, a ghost in the dark Leaving empty spaces in a scarred-up park I look into the mirror and I see the paranoia Living in a city that’s a modern-day Troy, uh. We tore it all down from the inside out With a loaded pistol and a bitter doubt. (Chorus) And I’m jaded, pacing up and down these same blocks Watching time run out on all our phantom clocks Lost 'em all to the pavement, lost 'em to the iron While the mothers left behind are tired of crying Tell me, is death also my fate? Am I just waiting on the clock, locked in the gate? Or do I pack my bags and run from where we played? 'Cause everyone I grew up with is underneath the shade. (Bridge) They say the good die young, but the truth is way more tragic: Nobody was good or bad, we just fell into the habit Of survival in a system that was built to see us drop And nobody's got the power to make the reaper stop. Am I next? Is my name next to be called? Am I just another victim waiting in the hall? (Outro) Yeah. I’m tired. I’m so tired of looking at empty chairs. If I leave, do I escape the curse? Or is my shadow already carved into the earth? Rest in peace to all of 'em. Man...
