Verse 1
Salt air on my skin the mornin’ I left St. James,
Mama’s hand on my face, she was callin’ out my name.
Left my grandmother’s kitchen, left the yard where I grew,
Left the sound of the gate, left the mango tree too.
Packed a whole life in a bag that could barely close,
Told my little brother “soon come,” but nobody really knows.
Engine roared like it was swallowin’ everything I’ve known,
I watched Jamaica get small through a window made of stone.
Chorus
This is the hustle, this is the price of the dream,
Workin’ two jobs just to wire back everything.
Concrete under my feet where the grass used to be,
I’m buildin’ up a kingdom that my eyes may never see.
Send it home, send it home, keep the lights on at the door,
Even when I’m empty I give a little more.
This is survival, this is the blood in the song —
I left to find a life but the distance is so long.
Verse 2
Been here six winters, still can’t call this place mine,
Workin’ the graveyard, countin’ hours like they’re borrowed time.
Every dollar folded tight, every wire sent with a prayer,
But the miles don’t get shorter no matter how much I care.
Talk to Mama Sunday, static breakin’ up her voice,
Tellin’ me she’s proud of me — like I ever had a choice.
Lonely in a crowded room, foreign in my own skin,
Buildin’ bridges out of heartache just to reach my kin.
Chorus
Bridge
They took my father on a Tuesday night,
Called me at work, I couldn’t hold the phone right.
Five thousand miles and I couldn’t say goodbye,
Couldn’t stand beside his grave, could only cry.
Papa, I hear you in the wind off the sea,
Everything good in me, you put it there in me.
No badge, no justice, just silence in the yard,
But I carry your name now — I carry it hard.
Rest by the river, rest under that old tree,
I’m still your son out here, still tryna make you proud of me.
Verse 3
Love came and went like a tide I couldn’t hold,
Buried a friend, lost a job, felt my heart go cold.
Slept in my car one December, too proud to make the call,
Prayed to a God I was startin’ to doubt through it all.
But somethin’ kept movin’ my feet when the road got steep,
Somethin’ kept whisperin’ “don’t you dare fall asleep.”
I’ve been broke, I’ve been broken, I’ve been down to the bone,
But I turned all that sufferin’ into somethin’ I could call my own.
Final Chorus
This is the hustle, this is the price of the dream,
Now I’m plantin’ somethin’ greater than anything I’ve seen.
Concrete under my feet, but I found my own ground,
I became the man my father would be proud of, proud —
Send it home, send it home, but now I’m buildin’ one too,
A home for the family, for the ones still comin’ through.
This is redemption, this is the rest of my song —
I left on a Tuesday, boy — look how far I’ve come.
