Intro (spoken, distorted)
They stamped the papers.
Said the time was served.
Sentence expired by death.
Remember that.
⸻
Hook
Sentence expired by death—hear the gate slam shut,
Cold ink on a file but it don’t say much,
They took his life, tried to bury the breath,
Call it justice—nah, sentence expired by death.
Say his name when the lights go left,
He ain’t the charge, he ain’t the mess,
Steel doors closed, truth still crept—
Sentence expired by death.
⸻
Verse 1
Blood don’t mean loyalty, learned that quick,
Knife came home, had the family grip,
One betrayal cracked the whole damn frame,
Now his whole life wrapped in a number and name.
Kids on the outside, growing up fast,
He aging in concrete, stuck in the past,
Every call short, every goodbye long,
Still told me, “Stand tall—don’t carry my wrongs.”
⸻
Hook
Sentence expired by death—hear the gate slam shut,
Cold ink on a file but it don’t say much,
They took his life, tried to bury the breath,
Call it justice—nah, sentence expired by death.
Say his name when the lights go left,
He ain’t the charge, he ain’t the mess,
Steel doors closed, truth still crept—
Sentence expired by death.
⸻
Verse 2
Maximum walls, minimum care,
Hope get thin in recycled air,
Clock don’t move, just mocks your breath,
Every sunrise closer to the end of flesh.
He still checked on me from behind that line,
Still more human than the suits outside,
System cold, numbers instead,
Didn’t free him—just waited till he was dead.
⸻
Bridge (half-time, low)
They say “served,” I say “taken,”
Say “law,” I say “broken,”
Say “case closed,” I say “open,”
‘Cause truth don’t die—
It just gets spoken.
⸻
Final Hook (last hit)
Sentence expired by death—let that sit,
A man ain’t a file, ain’t a sentence, ain’t this,
They couldn’t break him, just starved the breath,
History gon’ remember—sentence expired by death.
Say his name, don’t bury the rest,
If I’m still here, then he ain’t left,
Bars couldn’t hold what the truth still kept—
Sentence expired by death.
⸻
Outro (spoken, raw)
He wasn’t the worst thing he ever lived through.
Say his name
