We Can Survive

Yeah

Still here

Still breathin’ (uh)

Listen

Used to count late fees and late rent

Mama in the dark, sayin’ “Say less”

Lights cut, we would light one candle

Swear the small flames held what we can’t hold

Hand-me-down shoes, still runnin’ them laps

Hunger in my chest, not just in the cabinets

Teacher said “pipe down,” I was too loud

I just knew one day I’d talk for the whole crowd

We can survive, we don’t fold, we rise

Tears in our eyes, still fire inside

Storm in the sky, but we don’t lose sight

We bend, we break, but we still stay alive

We can survive (yeah), we can survive (uh)

Say it out loud so the fear gets quiet

We can survive (yeah), we can survive

Long as you with me, we gon’ be alright

Look

I seen homies disappear to the same block

Money got ‘em chained like a padlock

I was one text, one step, one call

From the same fate, same shirt on the same wall

Now I talk hope like a street slang

Turn pain into plans, that’s a heat wave

Every little scar like a barcode

When it get scanned, that’s a story that I own

We can survive, we don’t fold, we rise

Tears in our eyes, still fire inside

Storm in the sky, but we don’t lose sight

We bend, we break, but we still stay alive

We can survive (say it), we can survive (yeah)

Say it out loud so the fear gets quiet

We can survive, we can survive

If you still breathing, you still got time

Who you think you are?

More than what they call you

More than every L that ever tried to stall you

If today hurts, write it in the margin

Tomorrow read it back like “Damn, I really fought this”

We can survive, we don’t fold, we rise

Tears in our eyes, still fire inside

Storm in the sky, but we don’t lose sight

We bend, we break, but we still stay alive

We can survive (yeah), we can survive (hey!)

Say it out loud so the fear gets quiet

We can survive, we can survive

You ain’t alone, we gon’ be alright