[Intro]
Just another kid from the bottom
Dropped into a world already on fire
Had to learn how to stand
Before I ever learned desire
From soft beginnings to a hardened frame
Every lesson came with a name
Every door had a different lock
Every promise carried a ticking clock
[Verse]
Mama counted coins beside the kitchen sink
I learned to read a room before I learned to think
Shoes by the radiator, one pair for the week
Kept my questions in my pocket, kept my hunger discreet
The hallway taught me balance, the cold taught me pace
I watched grown men lose years trying to save face
So I built from the scraps that the hard days threw
A spine made of patience, a point of view
[Chorus]
I came up where the ground stayed moving
Still found a way to plant my feet
No map, no hand to guide me through it
Just a pulse that would not retreat
If the world wants proof I made it
Let it count these scars instead
I was shaped by what I carried
Not the things I left unsaid
[Verse]
Now the same old fear wears a newer coat
It sits in the room whenever I clear my throat
But I know its language, I know its route
I let it knock twice, then I let it out
I don't need a clean past to call this mine
I don't need permission to redraw the line
From the kid with a storm behind his eyes
To the man who stays when the easy answer dies
[Chorus]
I came up where the ground stayed moving
Still found a way to plant my feet
No map, no hand to guide me through it
Just a pulse that would not retreat
If the world wants proof I made it
Let it count these scars instead
I was shaped by what I carried
Not the things I left unsaid
[Outro]
From soft beginnings to a hardened frame
I kept the fire, I changed its name