Stuck In The Projects

Mama in the kitchen

Crying over dishes

Roaches in the light

Hope on eviction

Cold hallways

Names carved in the paint

Old heads dice games

Kids watch, can't blink

Food stamps, store run

Five dollars in change

One slip, one scene

Your whole life rearranged

Gunshots far off

We count, then we chill

"If they ain't this building

Probably ain't real"

Teachers say dream big

I stare at the ceiling

'Cause rent due Friday

How I chase a feeling?

I'm stuck in the projects

Same four walls, same pain, same logic

Trying to turn trauma to profit

Still hear the cops at the door, they knocking

We came from the projects

Where they teach you break first, then you process

I'm praying these losses make progress

'Til the gate swing wide, I ain't stopping (no)

Hand-me-down sneakers

Tongue talk, sole split

Cousin got a new chain

Next week, gone quick

RIP shirt

Sharpie on the white tee

Whole block marching

Like a broke-down nightly

Grandma in the Bible

Money in the pages

Says, "Baby, stay patient

God change phases"

But my boy hit the corner

Came back in bracelets

Judge look down

Like we already cases

I rap on the stairwell

Echo off the metal

They laugh, then they nod

"Bro, you really on a level"

If I make it off this block

I ain't never gonna forget it

'Cause the pain that tried to kill me

Put the truth in every sentence (yeah)

I'm stuck in the projects

Same four walls, same pain, same logic

Trying to turn trauma to profit

Still hear the cops at the door, they knocking

We came from the projects

Where they teach you break first, then you process

I'm praying these losses make progress

'Til the gate swing wide, I ain't stopping (I ain't stopping)