[Verse]
From the Ave where the streetlights flicker,
Dreams smaller than the crack rock’s shimmer.
Caught up, cuffed up, in the back of a cruiser,
System built to turn a winner to a loser.
Concrete taught me more than school did,
Hunger pains louder than the tool did.
Cell block sermons, whispers through the vents,
Freedom’s expensive, they collect the rent.
[Chorus]
Ray Ave dreams, still schemin’ in the gutter,
No snitchin', my lips sealed like butter.
Came out the pen, still tryna make amends,
Hood love eternal, where the struggle never ends.
[Verse 2]
Back home, same block, same saga,
Hustle in my blood like my grandmama’s lava.
Chalk lines trace where ambition collapsed,
Trying to flip this pain into business maps.
I see youngins on the corner with the same stare,
Dreams buried under weight they can't bear.
Told ‘em, "Get it legit, keep the fam fed,"
But hunger don't listen when the streets bred.
[Bridge]
Ave whispers, they call me in my sleep,
Every step forward, the hood pull me deep.
Can’t leave, won’t leave, roots in the cracks,
But I’m planting new seeds, hope grows from facts.