[Verse 1] Grandma kept the sugar in an old film can Pop said it used to hold a whole ‘nother man “Click, flash” on the back, just a date and a name Then the war took the body, left the ghost in the frame Black-and-white smiles on the mantlepiece lean Ash on the edge from the stress in his teens He would wipe it with a thumb, whisper “I ain’t you” But he wore the same stare when the rent came due [Chorus] I’m developing in negatives, photographs in the smoke All these stories in my skeleton, but the spine still broke If the past is a prison, I’m filing down each bar I know Till the frame can’t hold me Till the frame can’t hold me (no more) [Verse 2] Teacher said, “You gifted,” slid a pamphlet across But the bus didn’t run where the scholarship stopped So we studied how the sirens set the bedtime rules Learned to count using corners, not in classrooms News said “numbers” like they ain’t know names Mama hit mute, couldn’t take that pain “Baby, switch the channel, make the volume low” But the ticker kept crawling in the corner of her soul [Chorus] I’m developing in negatives, photographs in the smoke All these stories in my skeleton, but the spine still broke If the past is a prison, I’m filing down each bar I know Till the frame can’t hold me Till the frame can’t hold me (no more) [Bridge] Who profits off a wound that never clots? Who edits out the bodies from the blocks? If history is written by the hands that own the ink Then my verse is a verdict on the way they make us think [Chorus] I’m developing in negatives, photographs in the smoke All these stories in my skeleton, but the spine still broke If the past is a prison, I’m filing down each bar I know Till the frame can’t hold me Till the frame can’t hold me (no more)

rap, Jazz-infused hip-hop with live upright bass, brushed drums, and muted trumpet phrases weaving through dusty piano loops. Male vocals with elastic flows: verses start conversational and tighten into double-time pockets; choruses stretch into melodic, soulful chants with stacked harmonies. Subtle choirs and vinyl crackle swell in the hook, then drop to near-solo vocal and sparse keys for intimate lines. Final section adds rimshots and ride cymbal shimmer for a reflective, cinematic outro., emotional, hip-hop, dynamic, jazz, poetic, beats

Photographs in the Smoke