[Verse 1] They say I'm gifted, got a knack for the syntax and pigment Paint a theme in a sentence, flip a scene in an instant Barely under my means, budget thinner than patience Dreams tastin' like vinegar, this is grape-bitter frustration Smile stapled in place when I'm sittin' with fam They applaud every scrap like I'm winnin' exams Freestyle paradox, trashcan full of diamonds Bars thrown away that could've fed an island Broke chair, crooked spine, still I'm writin' to pass time These pages are a graveyard full of alternate lives Where I kept every promise that I buried alive [Hook] I write and I write, but the needle don't move Every verse is a riot that nobody reviews They tell me I'm chosen, say my talent is proof But the ladder's missin' rungs, and the ceiling ain't proof I could stream, I could post, I could chase all the views Trade my trauma for a clip and a comment or two But my storytime nightmares got me stuck in this room Where the failure feels familiar and success feels rude [Verse 2] I got vows in my chest that I carved with a pen Now I'm fallin' through a cistern of old what-could-have-beens I keep punchin' at the glass that reflects who I am Watch it splinter into versions with a mic in their hand If talent's really currency, I'm rich in arrears Got a fortune in my notebook, can't cash in the years I'm the ghost in my own house, hauntin' my own career Watch my future drift by like it missed the pier [Hook] (repeat) [Bridge] They don't see me in the kitchen with the stage in my head Where the cheers are so loud they replace all the dread Then the phone stays quiet, all that noise goes dead Just the hum of "you ain't shit" loopin' over my bed I'm upset on the inside, outside I'm composed Like a bottle of champagne never popped, just froze All this pressure in the glass, every doubt that it holds If I ever blew the cork, it'd just spray out the ghosts [Outro] So if you find these lines buried in a notebook's spine Know a broke chair held a throne while I wrote this design If the world never sees it, still I carved out a page Where a man kicked when he's down turned his fall into rage
