Prompt / Lyrics
[Verse 1] Brownstone bricks cracked stoop, old mail Sky blue North Face scuffed wheat Tims, sale Token in my palm turnstile bite, cheap thrill Bench by the numbers we draft dreams, stand still Cameras? Just Polaroids curling on the fridge Only fans we knew sat screaming by the bridge Cousin had a pager thought he ran the whole block Payphone confession coins cold in the sock Boom-box bass dust jumping off the tape We’d rewind one bar ‘til the ribbon tried to break Cyphers by the bodega sun low, smoke thick You earned every nod every ooh, every diss Moms in the window yelling gov’ment name loud You came upstairs late whole building your crowd Summer jam on the TV foil on antenna We believed one verse could buy Abuela her renter [Chorus] It ain’t the same back when the corners talked When every crack in the pavement held chalk, held stories in the chalk Now the screens glow bright but the hearts feel far I miss that 90s Bronx where a rhyme was a scar It ain’t the same nah, it ain’t the same, no Back then we bled our pain now they just scroll [Verse 2] Fast-forward, 26 TikToks on the 6 train Kids dance in ring lights but can’t name who paved lanes Algorithms pick heroes off numbers, not spine They ghostwrite the aura auto-tune in your mind We battled on corners no camera, just pride A stumble hit deeper ‘cause the hood stood beside Lose once, you’d study come back, earn your turn Now they clip out the context just to caption the burn Sneakers came from layaway we guarded ‘em like gold Now they tap on an app never feel ‘em in the cold We stole time from curfew just to sharpen a scheme They scroll past greatness if it’s longer than a meme I ain’t knocking progression I’m just mourning the proof When a verse fed your section put respect in the roof When your crew was your label and your label was the block Now they chasing new filters we were chasing new plots, look— [Chorus] It ain’t the same back when the corners talked When every crack in the pavement held chalk, held stories in the chalk Now the screens glow bright but the hearts feel far I miss that 90s Bronx where a rhyme was a scar It ain’t the same nah, it ain’t the same, no Back then we bled our pain now they just scroll [Bridge] But when that drum swing hits and the sample runs through I still see the old heads yelling “Little man, that’s you” So I lace each line like I’m tagging my name On a brick in the Bronx that remembers my flame (hey!)
Tags
rap, Dusty 90s Bronx boom bap, male vocals. Gritty chopped jazz loop, detuned horns and murky Rhodes over head-nod kick-snare. Verse one stays laid-back, syllable-dense, riding the pocket; chorus widens with stacked call-and-response hook. Sub bass tucked under the sample, light turntable cuts answering end phrases. Second verse adds subtle string stab layers and extra ad-libs, final hook rides out with drops on key punchlines for crowd participation., lyrical, hip hop
Duration
2:36
Instrumental
No
Created
3/27/2026