[Verse 1] I learned the difference between love and needing something, Same hand that pulled me up kept count of what it wasn’t. Funny how the room gets quiet when the money starts subtracting, Everybody got principles till there’s something worth abandoning. Watched a good man miss his daughter’s birthday for a reason, Said he had to handle business; she was old enough to read him. Kept the lights on, fridge full, showed up every Sunday, Still she stopped asking where he was when he missed another Monday. You can leave the mud behind and still bring it where you’re going, Some scars never hit the skin, you just get good at never showing. Seen a man protect his image like the truth might come and tax him, Seen another tell the truth and lose the people who’d have backed him. I stopped confusing being close with being able to trust you, You knew where I kept my guard down; I thought that meant I loved you. I was treating you like family, you were studying the angles, Now I see the difference between a bond and being useful. [Hook] I got nothing to explain, let ’em talk, let ‘em guess, I don’t owe the whole world every thought inside my chest. Everybody wants the crown till they find out what it costs, Funny how they count the winnings, never calculate the loss. I got nothing to explain, I got scars, I got sense, Seen a man sell a lifetime for a moment’s recompense. If I ever gave you loyalty, I meant that when I gave it, You don’t get to rewrite history because you can’t explain it. [Verse 2] His mother called me after midnight, I could hear it in her breathing, Asked me if I’d seen her son; I told her not that evening. She’d fed us when the cupboards had a couple cans between us, Now she couldn’t get an answer, couldn’t tell if he was breathing. I remembered all them dinners, how she’d stretch a little into plenty, How she’d tell us we were brothers when the world wasn’t too friendly. So I stayed there on the phone while she kept searching for a reason, Funny how the ones who raise us pay for all the ways we leave ’em. He’d been talking like a boss, but every move was somebody else’s, Always had a clean excuse, just never one that helped him. I ignored the little things because the truth would change the friendship, Then the cops came to the crib and made the choice for me to end it. I was gone before the knock could turn to boots across the landing, Heart was racing, phone was buzzing, I could barely understand it. All them nights we split a meal, all them times I swore I’d stand him— Now I’m counting every memory, wondering when I got abandoned. You can win an argument and still be wrong about the ending, He can have the final word; I got no interest in defending. I know anger makes a promise that your better self resents, And the hardest thing about betrayal is deciding what it gets. [Hook] I got nothing to explain, let ’em talk, let ‘em guess, I don’t owe the whole world every thought inside my chest. Everybody wants the crown till they find out what it costs, Funny how they count the winnings, never calculate the loss. I got nothing to explain, I got scars, I got sense, Seen a man sell a lifetime for a moment’s recompense. If I ever gave you loyalty, I meant that when I gave it, You don’t get to rewrite history because you can’t explain it. [Verse 3] Seen a broke man keep his word when the whole room had a price, Seen a man with everything still sell his friend for a slice. You can own the building outright, still be renting your respect, And a handshake means a lot less when you know what’s coming next. I don’t need to tell a story like I lived somebody else’s, I know what it costs to trust and how it feels when that gets tested. Every bar don’t need a sermon, every rhyme don’t need a necklace, Sometimes one plain sentence does more damage than a message. I learned silence ain’t surrender, sometimes talking gives ’em leverage, Sometimes walking out the room is how you keep your head together. I used to think that being solid meant forgiving every lesson, Now I know you can let it go and still remember the direction. I gave people all the access, they mistook it for permission, Let ‘em turn a small exception to a permanent condition. Now they say that I’ve been distant; I just changed the way I listen, I can hear the difference now between a promise and intention. I don’t need to make a threat, I don’t need to make a scene, I know who was really there when there was nothing there to see. You can tell me what you meant, but I remember what you did, And the strangest part of growing up is seeing who you live with. [Outro] No parade, no applause, No clean hands, no just cause. You can tell them your side. I remember mine. I don’t need you to confess. I don’t need to make amends. I know what loyalty costs now. I know who never meant it.
