Yeah… Savage mode, heart colder than the January snow Corner store philosophies, the landlord of the corner flow War stories stored in every scar that the mirror show Raised where the sirens harmonize with the stereo I was posted where the pavement got the pressure of a battlefield Youngins learn the math of loss before they ever learn to add a deal Hustle in the bloodstream, muscle when the matter real Faith in the steel when the prayers don’t get a chance to heal Savage with the stamina, candle in a catacomb Handle every gamble like a king without a catacomb throne Back against the wall, I’m brawlin’ with a backbone chrome Life taught lessons in a language carved in cracked stone Every bar heavy like the weight of a parole decision Every move measured like a jeweler with a cold precision Code written in the concrete — that’s the coalition Either you survive the jungle or become the soil nutrition Yeah, savage mode, I was baptized in the bitter rain Dinner plates spinning while the city played a bigger game Vision through the fog of war, never had a clearer lane Fear and faith wrestling inside the same ribcage See the devil in designer when the dollar get religious Watch the closest ones switch when the loyalty diminish But I kept my chin high, lion in a den of critics Built a throne from the stones that they throw in the village Punchlines sharp like a blade in a barber’s hand Flow cut clean while the pressure make a harder man Ain’t no fairytale endings where the sirens land Just a prayer and a plan when the night expand Savage mode — yeah the code never changed on me Every scar on my skin put a page on me From the corner where the hunger put the rage on me Now the pen bleed truth when the stage on me Still grimy, still shining through the grime and dust Still rhyming like survival was designed for us Every line like a lifeline when the time was rough Now the savage in my spirit turned the climb to thrust.
