With Me

[Intro — spoken, low energy] Look… I used to think survival was the same thing as livin’. Nah… That was just breathin’ with bad habits. Mm. [Verse 1 — broken cadence, reflective] Uh— Young Polo with a stomach full of static noise, Mama workin’ doubles, I was hangin’ with the louder boys. Pain turned performance, I was jokin’ through the damage, Smile on my face while my spirit speakin’ Spanish. Mm. Joanna told me, “Baby, God gon’ keep ya stable,” I nodded but my appetite was bottles on the table. Woot Woot clownin’ just to cut the tension thinner, Whole house laughin’, I was dyin’ at dinner. Tell me— How a lost child pose to learn manhood? When the mirror lookin’ back like “you misunderstood.” So I ran. West coast palm trees, counterfeit peace, Women in the sheets while depression ate me piece by piece. And the city said— “Everybody got a mask, pick one.” Boulevard prophets with the wisdom and the pierced tongues. One told me family ain’t blood, it’s alignment, People who sit beside your silence when your mind bent. [Bridge — layered vocals] Mm-mm… You was there when I was hidin’. Mm-mm… Even then, You stayed beside me. [Hook — melodic, repetitive, soulful] I know You was with me… (With me…) Even when I went missin’. I know You was with me… (With me…) Even when I wouldn’t listen. Rain came, pain came, still I ain’t fold. Deep water, dark road, still You held close. I know You was with me… (With me…) Whole time… whole time… [Verse 2 — emotional build, conversational pockets] Almost fifty when I met my bloodline, Imagine waitin’ half a lifetime for the punchline. Shook hands with my past, felt the floor shift, Every unanswered prayer finally got a portrait. Then death came greedy. Mama gone. Brother gone. Daddy too. Three funerals and I still ain’t know what grief do. I was yellin’ at heaven like, “What kind of God moves like this?” Tears in the car while the radio playin’ nonsense. But Pops stepped in— Different blood, same love, that’s kingdom. Taught me real fathers ain’t always who you came from. See, I was busy countin’ loss like statistics, God was buildin’ family through the cracks in the physics. Mm. Now every line got a limp in it, Every rhyme got survival and repentance in it. I ain’t rappin’ for applause, I’m testifyin’, Every flaw in my story got a purpose behind it. [Hook — stronger, choir layers] I know You was with me… (With me…) Even when I went missin’. I know You was with me… (With me…) Even when I wouldn’t listen. Rain came, pain came, still I ain’t fold. Deep water, dark road, still You held close. I know You was with me… (With me…) Whole time… whole time… [Verse 3 — Kendrick-style switch-up, tighter pockets] Look— Then love hit different. Met my wife, both of us carryin’ smoke from old collisions. Three kids hers, three mine, now six at the table, Tryna teach stability when we both came unstable. That’s God work. Not the flashy kind, more the quiet type, Late-night prayer over bills under kitchen lights. Kids laughin’ upstairs while we fight exhaustion, Tryna break generational curses without caution. And me? Man, I done been selfish, addicted, manipulative too, Used charm like camouflage whenever truth came through. But God kept pullin’ at me like, “Boy, I ain’t finished.” Every season that almost killed me gave me vision. Now I talk to the lost with compassion in my speech, ‘Cause judgment from a broken man sound weak. I’d rather give game from the bruises that I carry, Tell ‘em grace still works when your soul look scary. Mm. Ain’t perfect. Still got pride in me. Still got nights where anxiety lie to me. But I know now— God don’t leave when the room get ugly. He stayed through every version of me. [Outro — spoken over soft instrumentation] See… I spent years askin’ God where He was at. Whole time… He was askin’ me the same thing. Mm. And somehow… He still stayed.