About the song
A story for this song hasn’t been added yet.
Words from the artist’s archive
Which Jersey lyrics
Artist-supplied lyric sheet, matched by title. The sheet may differ from this released performance. Production notes and alternate promotional cuts are omitted.
Read the lyric sheet
Verse 1
Gym lights flickering over cracked paint, same jersey three years straight Coach drawing X’s on a whiteboard that barely erases, still we run the play AAU bus money short again, parents scraping gas, but we still show face Sweat dripping, suicides till legs burn, that’s the only scholarship we chase Huddle tight, playbook pages taped together, every kid dreaming of the next level But the city memo just hit the desk, another program cut, another door shut
Pre-chorus
Lights on or lights off, same heart beating Which team you running plays for when the funding stops breathing?
Chorus
Which jersey you wearing when the lights go out? Gym floor or corner store, what you running routes? Scholarship dreams or the block’s open tryout Team Street or Team Hope, pick your side now Which jersey? Which jersey? Which jersey you wearing when the lights go out?
Verse 2
Coach calls practice canceled, budget axe came swinging, travel games gone Scouts stopped pulling up, eligibility letters started reading like a long con Same kids who balled out in the paint now standing on the corner with the same heart Hoodie up, backpack swapped for a duffel full of something heavier than ball I laced ‘em up for the last time, felt the pull both ways, gym echo still ringing But the text came through at midnight, “spot open, same rules, different league”
Pre-chorus
Lights on or lights off, same heart beating Which team you running plays for when the funding stops breathing?
Chorus
Which jersey you wearing when the lights go out? Gym floor or corner store, what you running routes? Scholarship dreams or the block’s open tryout Team Street or Team Hope, pick your side now Which jersey? Which jersey? Which jersey you wearing when the lights go out?
Verse 3
Same story on every block, every city, every program folder getting thinner Rec league closed, midnight basketball lights cut, but the corner always got dinner Kids who could’ve been point guards now posted up, playbook traded for a pistol grip Talent don’t disappear, it just gets drafted by whoever pays the trip I watched my whole team split, some stayed in class, some slid into the trap Same drive that made us captain made us valuable when the system collapsed
Bridge
Funeral in the same gym we used to run suicides in Teammate gone, flowers on the bleachers where he used to win Coach showed up in the back row, eyes red, still wearing the same whistle Said the same discipline could still be redirected if we chose to rebuild it
Verse 4
Now I’m back on that hardwood, but the jersey’s different, coaching the next wave Same drills, same suicides, same huddle, different name on the back of the wave City still cutting checks for the wrong things, but I’m the one writing the playbook now Every kid that shows up gets the same chance I had before the lights went out
Verse 5
I ain’t preaching, I’m proof, same hunger, different lane Turned the tryout into a handoff so the next ones don’t feel the same pain Streets always got an opening, but so do the dreams if somebody holds the door Which jersey you wearing? That choice still on the floor
Chorus
Which jersey you wearing when the lights go out? Gym floor or corner store, what you running routes? Scholarship dreams or the block’s open tryout Team Street or Team Hope, pick your side now Which jersey? Which jersey? Which jersey you wearing when the lights go out?
Outro
Pick your side… pick your side…
Inside the recording
Gym lights flickering over cracked paint, same jersey three years straight Coach drawing X’s on a whiteboard that barely erases, still we run the play
Lights on or lights off, same heart beating Which team you running plays for when the funding stops breathing?
Pick your side… pick your side…
Excerpts from artist-supplied lyric files matched by title. Lyric sheets may differ from the released performance.