About the song
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Words from the artist’s archive
THE QUARTET lyrics
Artist-supplied lyric sheet, matched by title. The sheet may differ from this released performance. Production notes and alternate promotional cuts are omitted.
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Intro
Block lights flicker like bad decisions nobody claims... Young blood learns the deck the hard way, no instructions, no escape lane.
Verse 1
Corner kid with a backpack full of nothing but nerve and a half-baked prayer Leapt from the porch into traffic with his heart wide open in the air Section 8 walls taught the math of staying alive long after the dark Mama on her second shift, so the corner became his only lullaby and spark First taste of quick money felt like the whole world finally bending his way Second taste showed the teeth hiding behind every smile of the day Third taste came with a warning in the shape of a lost friend gone too soon But the fool in the blood kept jumping again under that same heavy moon One hand offered hope like a gift, the other already knew the hidden cost Concrete don't forgive the ones who leap before they ever look across Bus stop prayers and turnpike dreams mixed with the summer heat Every corner store lesson came with a price that he couldn't beat Turnpike dreams turned to nightmares when the first real test arrived The fool kept betting on tomorrow while today took everything he prized
Chorus
The quartet plays when the lights start to fade in the 305 One leap too many and the whole story comes alive Chains look like options when the hunger won't let you slide Death don't announce itself, it just opens the gate and lets you decide
Verse 2
Now the same kid got tools, every angle got a counter and a spin Sleight of the tongue on the corner, making problems disappear like wind Clients line up like the bus at the stop on 79th when the line gets long But the ones who loved him started locking their doors when he came around The mirror shows a king with a crown that feels borrowed, heavy, and tight One bad read on the room and the whole empire turns to smoke in the light He mastered the formula, numbers dancing like they were finally free But the eyes looking back started looking like the enemy he couldn't see Every deal felt like control, every move felt like a master plan Until the ones he trusted started moving like they had another hand The formula worked until the trust started cracking at the seam One wrong read on the room and the whole thing came apart at the dream
Chorus
The quartet plays when the lights start to fade in the 305 One leap too many and the whole story comes alive Chains look like options when the hunger won't let you slide Death don't announce itself, it just opens the gate and lets you decide
Bridge
Then the call came at 3 a.m. while the rain slicked the street black Brother on the other end with a voice full of something incomplete and cracked Line went dead in the middle of a sentence that never got to land or breathe Casket lowered slow in the church while the choir sang off key and grieved Everything he built on sand washed away in the grief and the blame and the rain The fool, the tricks, the chains all part of the same old repeating game Now the old self buried, rain mixing with the pain that won't drain
Chorus
The quartet plays when the lights start to fade in the 305 One leap too many and the whole story comes alive But the last card flips and the darkness gets remade into something new Into morning light where the new path is finally laid and the old debts are through
Inside the recording
Block lights flicker like bad decisions nobody claims... Young blood learns the deck the hard way, no instructions, no escape lane.
The quartet plays when the lights start to fade in the 305 One leap too many and the whole story comes alive
The quartet plays when the lights start to fade in the 305 One leap too many and the whole story comes alive
Excerpts from artist-supplied lyric files matched by title. Lyric sheets may differ from the released performance.