[INTRO — distorted soul sample / footsteps / low piano] VOICE: You ain’t been yourself lately. MAN: I know. How long you planning on staying like this? I don’t know. That’s the problem. [SAMPLE CHOPS — DRUMS SLAM IN] [VERSE 1] I been walking like a ghost wearing somebody’s face, Every morning same routine, every night the same place, Everybody sees the body so they figure I’m alright, They don’t see me negotiating with my mind every night. Don’t go there. Why? Something might happen. Don’t drive there. Something could go wrong. Don’t try that. Better stay where it’s safe. Man, shut the fuck up— When did fear start telling me my place? I wasn’t always like this. I remember that man. Walked into uncertainty without shaking his hands, Didn’t calculate disaster every time that he moved, Didn’t need reassurance just to know what to do. So where’d he go? VOICE: He died with your father. MAN: Nah. [DRUMS CUT] Say that shit again. VOICE: I said he— MAN: I heard you. He didn’t die. [BEAT RETURNS HARDER] [HOOK] GET UP. You’ve been down long enough. GET UP. Yeah, the road’s gonna be rough. You can miss him. You can hurt. You can carry that love— But if Dad could see you now, Would he tell you stay down… or tell his son GET UP? [VERSE 2] See, grief started talking like it knew what was best, Then anxiety moved in and started paying no rent, Fear took the couch, panic slept beside my bed, Now I got a whole damn house full of voices in my head. And every one got advice: “Stay home.” “Turn around.” “What if something happens and there’s nobody around?” That’s when something inside me finally snapped— Not rage. Recognition. I’ve been giving fear permission. Every time I turn around, Every plan I never make, Every road I won’t travel, Every chance I won’t take, I’m teaching my own brain: “Yeah, you’re right. We should be scared.” Then wondering why tomorrow that motherfucker’s still there. Nah. We changing the lesson. Starting today. Fear can sit in the passenger seat— but it ain’t choosing the way. [HOOK — BIGGER] GET UP. You’ve been down long enough. GET UP. Let the drums shake the dust. You can miss him. You can hurt. You can carry that love— But I know what my father would say: “Son… GET UP.” [BEAT BREAK — only bass + vinyl] CHILD: But what if we’re scared? MAN: Then we’re scared. CHILD: What if something happens? Then something happens. CHILD: What if we can’t handle it? Look at everything we’ve already handled. [SILENCE] Exactly. [VERSE 3 — BEAT FLIPS] I buried people I loved and still woke up the next day, Carried pain nobody saw and still somehow found a way, I’ve stood beside a coffin wishing death could be reversed— And I’m scared of taking roads? Man, I’ve already survived worse. That’s when perspective hit me like a fist against the chest: Maybe courage ain’t a feeling. Maybe courage is a step. Then another. Then another. Till your nervous system learns: “We went there. Nothing happened. And somehow we returned.” That’s rebuilding. Not pretending everything is fine. It’s taking back an inch every time fear takes a mile. I don’t need to be the person that existed years ago. Because that man never carried everything that I now know. I need somebody stronger. Somebody scarred but still alive. Somebody who can feel the fear— and drive. [FINAL VERSE — drums relentless] Dad… I kept thinking I needed you to show me where to go. Then I remembered all those years you were already showing me the road. Every lesson. Every warning. Every time you made me stand. Every time I wanted help and you said— “Figure it out, man.” I hated that sometimes. Now I understand. You knew one day you wouldn’t be here to reach and grab my hand. So you weren’t just raising your son while you were here with me— You were preparing the man I’d have to be when you leave. Damn. I finally understand. [FINAL HOOK — SAMPLE FULLY OPENS] GET UP! Let the whole damn record shake. GET UP! You got another life to make. Bring the grief. Bring the scars. Bring the fear along too— But none of them motherfuckers get to decide what you do. Dad ain’t coming back. That’s the truth I couldn’t touch. But everything he gave me? That’s more than enough. So when that frightened little boy inside me starts looking up— I put my hand on his shoulder… And tell him— GET. THE FUCK. UP. [DRUMS DROP OUT] CHILD: Where we going? MAN: Forward. CHILD: You know the way? MAN: Nope. [KICK HITS] That’s the point. [BEAT PLAYS OUT]
