[Verse 1: Scrappy teenage hyphy male MC, hyper hyphy bars, bouncing drums, thumping sub bass] Fourth floor walk-up on Thirty-Fourth Street Window by my bed and a ladder by my feet Every night at twelve I'm a ghost on the rail Every morning on the stoop I'm in somebody's mail Miss Odom on three say she'll call my mother Super say he'll lock it, put a bar on the cover Man with the parrot taught the bird my name So it scream it at the window every time I came But I know that iron better than the back of my hand Third landing rattle so you step where you can Bottom ladder stick till you kick it twice I been sneaking out so long I could do it on ice [Hook: Scrappy teenage hyphy male MC, bouncing hyphy drums, hard claps] Everybody hated how I took the back way Every window yelling that I'm out of my place Now the stairs full of smoke and the hall full of heat And the back way the only way down to the street [Verse 2: Scrappy teenage hyphy male MC, faster hyphy bars, wobbling bass] Three in the morning and the stairs gone gray Somebody's grease on the stove got away Whole hallway coughing in their socks and robes Front stairs full of smoke and nobody knows Not the front, not tonight, I said follow my light Went out my own window like any old night Knocked on the glass of the fifth and the sixth Told 'em feet on the iron, don't touch the rail, it's slick Miss Odom in a robe saying Lord, not the rail I said hold on to me, ma'am, I don't fail Parrot man with his bird and his bird on his hat Bird yelling my name and for once I yelled back [Hook: Scrappy teenage hyphy male MC, bouncing hyphy drums, hard claps] Everybody hated how I took the back way Every window yelling that I'm out of my place Now the stairs full of smoke and the hall full of heat And the back way the only way down to the street [Breakdown: Scrappy teenage hyphy male MC, breathless, ladder kick slam on the stuck ladder line, drums come back doubled] Third landing rattle, said step where I step Thirty people on the iron and nobody slipped yet Bottom ladder stuck, I gave it the kick Gave it two like I do, and it dropped like a brick Fire trucks screaming and the sidewalk in blankets The super just looking at the window he painted Then Miss Odom stood up and she called me by name And the whole building said it, and it never was the same [Final Hook: Scrappy teenage hyphy male MC, bouncing hyphy drums, hard claps, raw full voice] Everybody hated how I took the back way Every window yelling that I'm out of my place Now the stairs full of smoke and the hall full of heat And the back way the only way down to the street [End]
