[Intro]
Hood up
Breath fog
Stop sign blinking red
Wind cuttin’ like a blade through my coat
[Verse 1]
I was twelve at that window
Watchin’ blue lights dance on brick
Mama prayin’ in the kitchen
Uncle flushin’ what he couldn’t flip
Old heads on the corner
Same story
Just a different zip
Said
"Shorty
This a ocean"
Taught me how to breathe inside the rip
Fast-forward
Metal on my hip now
Phone buzz
Someone say my name
Lil bro talkin’ ‘bout a bounty
Like it’s pocket change
Like it’s just a game
But this block keep score in bodies
Not in likes
Not in fame
Every alley like a hallway
Every hallway got a frame
[Chorus]
I walk these cold corners
Cold heart
Cold shoulders
Every step feel older
Every night feels closer
If I make it to the morning
I’m a ghost that got away
If I don’t
They pourin’ liquor where my chalk outline would lay
Cold corners
Turn a boy into a rumor
If the steel don’t hit ya
Then the silence eats ya sooner
[Verse 2]
We slide slow through the back streets
Heater tucked under the seat
Snow slush
Tires on the potholes
City pulse knockin’ under my feet
Mask on
Just my eyes showin’
Saw my reflection in the glass
Thought about mama on the night shift
Thought about prayers that never pass
We hop out
Hallway smell like bleach
Old paint
Piss
And old dreams
Stairs creak
Every step louder
Like the building tryna scream
Apartment door crack
TV glowin’
Kid shoes by the welcome mat
My hand shakin’ but I act frozen
Ain’t no script for moments like that
Lil dude look up from the sofa
Same haircut that I used to have
Cartoons laughin’ in the background
Whole world split in half
Target in the kitchen reachin’ down
He don’t see us in the frame
Lil bro whisper
"We on timing"
Like it’s just a name
Just a claim
My trigger finger got a heartbeat
I see two lives in my sight
His face
That kid
My childhood
All standin’ in the same light
[Chorus]
I walk these cold corners
Cold heart
Cold shoulders
Every step feel older
Every night feels closer
If I make it to the morning
I’m a ghost that got away
If I don’t
They pourin’ liquor where my chalk outline would lay
Cold corners
Turn a boy into a rumor
If the steel don’t hit ya
Then the silence eats ya sooner
[Bridge]
[Beat drops to distant drums and low strings]
I back out the doorway
Heart loud
But my feet quiet
Lil bro mad in the stairwell
Say I froze
Say I ain’t ridin’ (yeah)
But I seen my whole life on that sofa
Seen my name on a T in the snow
Seen mama dressed in all black
Before the first shot ever let go
[Verse 3]
Hours later
Phone buzz again
Same name
Different block
Same plan
They went back after I left
Did the job
Posted pics of what they can
Timeline flooded with the footage
Laugh reacts
Black hearts
Fake love
I stare at the screen in the dark
Hands red and I ain’t even use the glove
Two weeks
I’m at that funeral
Same church
Same cracked glass
Lil dude in a too-big blazer
Stare blank
Life movin’ too fast
Casket closed
Preacher talkin’
But the choir just sound like rain
Whole row smell like gunpowder
Even dressed up
We stained
After
On the steps
They plot
Who next
Who gotta pay
Cycle spinnin’ like a ceiling fan
Never coolin’ off the day
I walk home through the gray slush
Sirens hummin’ somewhere near
Every storefront got a ghost in it
Every shadow sound like fear
[Chorus]
I walk these cold corners
Cold heart
Cold shoulders
Every step feel older
Every night feels closer
If I make it to the morning