This a song about growing up in Maxton, North Carolina. We were responsible young and walk the streets at night. Life dealt curve balls but we survived. Cousins helped you fight and made the days go by. Playing ball at the park. “Maxton Stories” [Intro] Yeah… Maxton, North Carolina. Three stoplights, dirt roads, big lessons. Let me talk to ’em. [Verse 1] I’m from a town so small, the silence got a name, Where the same few streets carry everybody’s pain. Dirt roads, red clay, dust on the tires, Three stoplights—still we had big desires. Grandma on the porch, radio low, Kids in the yard, but the stress still show. Mama work late, come home, feet sore, Smile for the babies, then cry by the door. I learned early: love don’t pay the light bill, But it keep you from crashin’ when the night feel real. We used to play ball just to clear our head, Make a dream feel close when the fridge almost dead. Gym smell like hope, net snap like prayer, Coach yellin’ “run it back,” like life really fair. But outside them lines, it was different rules— Same kids from the court at the Minute Shop cool. [Hook] Three stoplights, dirt roads, that’s where I’m from, Played ball for peace, but the streets still come. Pool hall nights, Minute Shop days, Survival on my mind, tryna find my way. Three stoplights, dirt roads, that’s where I’m from, If you know that pressure, then you know where I’m comin’ from. [Verse 2] Posted at the pool hall, watchin’ grown men fade, Talkin’ ’bout back when, while the future get delayed. Cigarette smoke, neon buzz, cracked tile floors, Every laugh got a shadow, every joke got wars. Somebody cousin caught a case, somebody daddy got sick, Somebody sister had a baby, had to grow up quick. And the streets stayed callin’ like a bill past due, With a voice that sound sweet when it’s lyin’ to you. “Just do this one time,” that’s the devil’s refrain, Same line, different mouth, same chain. I seen my homie with a jersey still under his coat, Tryna hoop on Friday, but he movin’ that load. He told me “I ain’t proud, but I’m stuck in between, Mom need medicine and the job pay mean.” I wanted to judge him but I couldn’t ignore How the town treat dreams like a luxury store. So I wrote in notebooks, kept my head out the fog, Prayin’ I could outrun what I came from—God. [Bridge] And it’s crazy how a small place make a big heart, How you learn to be strong before you learn to start. I don’t hate my roots, I just hate what it do, When the only way out feel like somethin’ you gotta lose. [Final Hook] Three stoplights, dirt roads, that’s where I’m from, Played ball for peace, but the streets still come. Pool hall nights, Minute Shop days, Survival on my mind, tryna find my way. Three stoplights, dirt roads, that’s where I’m from, If you know that pressure… then you know where I’m comin’ from.
