NOT GUILTY

[Intro - spoken, cold and clear] I didn't do it. I said that from day one. Nobody listened. [Verse 1] Twelve strangers in a box decided who I was Based on evidence manipulated just because The DA needed numbers — needed somebody's name Needed a conviction — I became the frame Orange ain't my color but they dressed me in it anyway Took my daughter to my mama — watched her cry that day Courthouse steps were cold — public defender barely tried I sat there in that chair and watched my future testify Four walls now — concrete ceiling, concrete floor I replay every second of the night they said I tore A life apart — a life I never touched, a life I never knew But somebody needed answers and the system pointed to Me. Just me. A woman with no money and no pull A woman with no connections when the system came to full I screamed "not guilty" — watched it echo off the walls Nobody heard it then — but everybody's gonna hear it now [Hook] Not guilty — that's the truth they buried deep Not guilty — while the real one's walking free Not guilty — I said it then, I'll say it till I'm gone Not guilty — I been singing this song too long They took my years — they took my name They took the version of me before the pain But they could not take what they couldn't see Not guilty — and the truth still lives in me [Verse 2] Cell block C, top bunk, counting cracks in the ceiling Mama brings my daughter every other weekend She got my eyes — she got my stubborn chin She said "Mommy when you coming home?" — I said "soon, baby, soon" That's the lie I tell to keep her world from breaking While my lawyer files appeals they keep on rejecting While the witness who recanted sits at home regretting While the judge who rushed the verdict gets re-elected I read law books by the light beneath the door I know my case by heart — know every flaw and every floor I found three inconsistencies the jury never saw I'm building my cathedral from the inside of these walls I wrote a letter to the Innocence Project last spring They wrote back — first time anybody heard my name Not as a number, not a case file, not a charge But as a woman — as a mother — as a heart [Hook] Not guilty — that's the truth they buried deep Not guilty — while the real one's walking free Not guilty — I said it then, I'll say it till I'm gone Not guilty — I been singing this song too long They took my years — they took my name They took the version of me before the pain But they could not take what they couldn't see Not guilty — and the truth still lives in me [Bridge - strings peak, most emotional moment] You think justice is a blindfold and a scale You never seen it weaponized against the frail You think the truth will always find its way to light You never spent a thousand nights fighting for your right Just to breathe. Just to be believed. I am not my case number. I am not your headline. I am not the story that they told to close the file. I am someone's mother. I am someone's daughter. I am someone who was here before they took my life away. And I am — not — guilty. [Hook - final, defiant, full production] Not guilty — that's the truth they buried deep Not guilty — while the real one's walking free Not guilty — I said it then, I'll say it till I'm gone Not guilty — I been singing this song too long They took my years — they took my name They took the version of me before the pain But they could not take what they couldn't see Not guilty — and the truth still lives in me [Outro - piano fades, voice alone] I didn't do it. I never did it. And one day… the whole world's gonna know.