Lost Beyond the Walls

LOST BEYOND THE WALLS ♾️Kapo♾️’s Point of View [Intro — spoken, quiet] They tell you how long you got. Nobody tells you what that time gonna take from you. You come through these doors with a name… Then one day you realize everybody just calls you by a number. Yeah. Some people doing time. Some people get lost in it. [Verse 1] I came through young, barely knew who I was, Still learning the difference between anger and love. Judge read the years like he reading a page, Then they closed that book and they locked me in a cage. Everybody said, “Bro, I got you, don’t worry,” Funny how forever disappears in a hurry. First came the letters, then the calls got thin, Then birthdays passed and they forgot again. People I would’ve bled for stopped saying my name, Some switched sides, some disappeared with the rain. Mama getting older while I’m stuck in this place, Years in the mirror putting lines on my face. You learn real quick not to show when it hurts, ’Cause weakness around here can make everything worse. So I swallowed every tear, put the pain on a shelf, Till surviving this place started changing myself. [Pre-Chorus] You can lose more than freedom when they take you away. You can lose your whole identity one forgotten day at a time. [Chorus] I’m lost beyond the walls, Can anybody hear me? Still breathing in this cell, But sometimes I disappear completely. Forgotten by the ones Who swore they’d never let me fall. I’m not just what I did, I’m still somebody beyond these walls. Lost beyond the walls… Still somebody. Lost beyond the walls… Don’t forget about me. [Verse 2] I’ve seen grown men break and nobody blink, Seen somebody lose himself sitting alone with his thoughts to think. Seen abuse get buried underneath “that’s just the way,” ‘Cause when you’re locked behind these doors, who listens anyway? You complain, you’re a problem. Stay quiet, you survive. So people learn to suffer Just to make it through the night. I’ve watched hope turn bitter, Watched good hearts become stone. You can stand around a hundred men And still feel completely alone. No hugs when you’re hurting. No room to fall apart. So you build another wall Inside the walls around your heart. And after enough years You forget the man you knew, ’Cause everybody keeps reminding you Of the worst thing you ever do. [Chorus] I’m lost beyond the walls, Can anybody hear me? Still breathing in this cell, But sometimes I disappear completely. Forgotten by the ones Who swore they’d never let me fall. I’m not just what I did, I’m still somebody beyond these walls. Lost beyond the walls… Still somebody. Lost beyond the walls… Don’t forget about me. [Verse 3 — beat gets heavier] The system got a number where my name used to be, A file full of charges telling strangers who I be. But that paper don’t show you The nights I couldn’t sleep, The funerals I couldn’t attend, Or every promise I couldn’t keep. It don’t show birthdays missed, Or watching family grow through pictures. Don’t show relationships dying ’Cause years made everybody distant. Don’t show what happens When survival becomes routine, When you’ve been surrounded by concrete Since you were eighteen. And yeah, I made choices. I carry what I did. But accountability shouldn’t mean Pretending I ain’t human again. I’m somebody’s family. Somebody’s friend. Somebody still capable Of becoming more than where I’ve been. [Bridge — music drops almost completely] Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not asking you to erase what brought me here. I’m asking you not to erase me. Because some men lose their freedom… And somewhere along the sentence, the world decides they’re supposed to lose their humanity too. [Final Chorus — bigger, emotional] We’re lost beyond the walls, Can anybody hear us? Thousands breathing behind concrete, But the outside don’t come near us. Some betrayed. Some forgotten. Some abused where no one saw. Some been screaming twenty years Without making any sound at all. We’re lost beyond the walls… But we’re still somebody. Lost beyond the walls… We’re still fathers, brothers, sons. Lost beyond the walls… Don’t reduce us to our worst day. ‘Cause there’s still a human being Standing underneath that number They gave away. [Outro — spoken] Some people leave prison. Some people never do. And some people get lost inside it long before their sentence is through. So if you remember anything… Remember this: A number has a name. A sentence has a story. And behind every wall is still a human being. Still SHINE