Where We From

Where we from Woke up to sirens, not the kind for parades Another young soul laid cold up in the shade Mamas crying loud, echoes down the blocks Teddy bears on poles, the candles never stop Ain't no warning when the heat start barking The shots rain down on little kids out walking It ain't beef, it's boredom pulling triggers for pride Another brother's gone, just for being outside We hustling hard cause the jobs don't come So we move that snow just to see some sun Fast cash in hand, but the reaper moves quicker And the liquor numbs pain till visions gets thicker Where we from We don't plan for old age We pray we don't die listed on the front page Gun smoke hangs like a ghost in the air These streets don't sleep, they just stare Pour one for the lost light, one for their pain Bleed in the gutters, baptizing crimson rain Chasing that paper but the cost so high in the hood Lucky if we born then we die Funerals every week, I'm tired of the black Young kings in caskets, never coming back They had dreams, man wanted out the game But the corner got rules, the bullets ain't tamed We stack for respect, flip packs for the rent Tryna dodge cuffs and the lives we spent Ain't no guidance, no just survival maps Just a circle of pain over booming raps Uncles gone, cousins shot, names on the wall We laugh through the trauma just to stand tall Most of us won't make it past 25 Tell our story in beats, keep my spirit alive Where we from We don't plan for old age We pray we don't die listed on the front page Gun smoke hangs like a ghost in the air These streets don't sleep, they just stare Pour one for the lost light, one for their pain Bleed in the gutters, baptizing crimson rain Chasing that paper but the cost so high in the hood Lucky if we born then we die I ain't glorifying nothing, this is truth full stacked Reality ain't sweet, it's red sidewalks and gats Mama said, baby, you were made for more But we only know pain and locked up doors Dreams get buried for they allowed to breathe Hope fades fast in the hood's broken streets Teacher said, college, we learned to block Chalk outlines taught us how our time stops We ain't asked for this life, it chose us at birth Now we climb through the blood and the dirt So if for when we go, let them know what we saw The highs, the lows, and the hood's flawed law Every verse is a prayer, every beat's a cry For those who got wings but ain't learned to fly Raise a fist for the ones that ain't getting to grow Let this track be the flowers we never got to know Where we from