[Intro – Spoken over Jon’s piano & a lone trumpet] I used to pray for a way out. Now I pray for a way through. The city still hummin’. Same brass, same rain, same soul — just louder. (Brass riff enters — mournful, then flips joyful.) ⸻ [Verse 1 – Lil Wayne] I’m the hymn after heartbreak, halo in the half-light, Piano in the puddles where we danced last night. I sip forgiveness out a snowball cup, Every scar on my heart like a gold touch-up. My city talk French when she talk through horns, My pain got rhythm, my joy reborn. Ain’t no choir without dirt on they shoes, Faith gotta groove, love gotta blues. I learned to smile in a language of loss, Took a cross and made a boss. God don’t talk, He just hum in tune, And when the beat drop — that’s communion. ⸻ [Hook – Choir + Jon Batiste + Wayne] 🎶 Welcome to Benediction Boulevard, Where the hurt turned holy, the broken hard. We don’t kneel ‘cause we down, we kneel ‘cause we stand, Ain’t nothin’ more divine than a second chance. 🎶 (Jon’s piano fills behind, bright and gospel-lush.) ⸻ [Verse 2 – Lil Wayne] Every verse a stained glass window, look through it, See heaven with tattoos, angels that do it. The halo crooked, the prayer off key, But the melody perfect — that’s New Orleans to me. I talk to ghosts, they talk back in time, Said, “Boy, don’t rhyme for money — rhyme for shine.” So I wrote this verse on a torn-up pew, With a horn and a dream and a déjà vu. Now the rain sound rich, the thunder sound right, Jon on them keys turn pain to light. I see grace in graffiti, truth in smoke, The flood ain’t gone, it just spoke. ⸻ [Bridge – Spoken/Sung with Gospel Choir] (Wayne over a groove, call-and-response with choir) Say we bend — (choir: we don’t break!) Say we fall — (choir: we awake!) Faith ain’t soft, it’s the hardest art, Turn that scar into a start. 🎶 Le soleil, encore, mon frère, Faith still risin’ in the air. 🎶 ⸻ [Final Hook – Full Ensemble] 🎶 Benediction Boulevard, Where the past been washed but the soul still scarred. Every note a prayer, every beat a brand, Ain’t nothin’ more human than a second chance. 🎶 (Trumpet solo ascends; piano flourishes under choir harmonies.) ⸻ [Outro – Spoken / Piano & Brass Fade] The church ain’t the building, it’s the block that survived. We don’t wait for Sunday no more — we praise on sight. (The horns fade out in slow procession, like a second line walking into the sunrise.)