[Intro] This one's for my brother. Terrell. Same building, same fire — he the reason I'm still standing. They wrote him off early. Look at him now. That's my blood. Let me tell it. [Verse 1] Same stairwell raised us, same cold, same empty plate Me the older one, tried to shield him from the weight But the block don't wait, and the streets, they came recruiting Took my baby brother while I couldn't stop the shooting I was building me an exit, he was pulled the other way Every night I couldn't reach him was a prayer I couldn't say Watched him catch the cases, watched the system take a bite Watched him disappear a while — I ain't sleep a single night They said he was a statistic, said the fire was his fate Said the apple and the tree, said don't bother, it's too late But they ain't know my brother, ain't know the heart in that boy Ain't know the way he love, ain't know the light they tried destroy [Hook] They counted you out, but you rose, you rose Came up out the ashes, out the fire, out the cold Little brother, look at everything you chose I'm so proud of you, I'm so proud of you, it shows They counted you out — we here, we here Same blood, same building, made it out of here [Verse 2] He came home a different man, put the war down for a mic Took the rage that near destroyed him, turned it into something right Now he screaming on a stage 'stead of screaming in a cell Turned his hell into a harmony, he found a way to tell it Found a woman who could see him, saw the gold beneath the rust Naya loved him past the record, past the men he used to trust Found a band, found a brotherhood that wouldn't get him killed Found a set that set him free instead of setting him to build And I know I couldn't save him — that's a weight I carried long But he saved his own damn self, and God, that made him strong The little brother that I shielded now the one that's shielding me We ain't the ones they said we'd be — we everything and free [Bridge] And when the towers came down, we was holding on together Two kids from the reds who swore we'd figure out the weather He got Big Mama's name inked deep into his skin I keep her in my chest, he keep her on his limb Same grief, same gold, same fire that we came through Whatever storm still coming, brother — I got you, I got you [Verse 3] So this his moment too, put his name up in the light Terrell, the one they buried, still the loudest one alive Everything they said he wouldn't, watch him doing it in bold The comeback of a lifetime, watch the whole redemption unfold They don't get to write his ending, we the authors of our own He the proof you can be broken and rebuild yourself a throne Blood of my blood, the realest thing I know Wherever this thing take me, that's my brother — we both gold [Outro] Love you, T. Always did. Always will. We made it out. Both of us.
