About the song
A story for this song hasn’t been added yet.
Words from the artist’s archive
MEMORY LANE 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
Intro
New sign on the pole where the bus stop used to bend, 62nd and Liberty, same block, brand new end.
Verse 1
Sun leaning on the barber shop like it forgot to go home, old heads on milk crates arguing bout Trick on the phone. Auntie on the porch with the church fan, peach dress, no lie, waved at me twice 'fore she figured which twin passed by. Reading these signs like scripture, third and Memory Lane, they renamed the corridor, corners remember the pain. Past the Chinese spot, past the lot where Ro got jumped, still hear the sneakers scuff gravel when my chest thumped.
Pre-chorus
Every block got a version of me I had to leave, every sign got a name that somebody bled to receive. I keep walking, keep talking to the boy on the bike, tell him this ain't the exit, lil bruh, this is the light.
Chorus
They put the names on the streets so we don't forget the way, every letter a lesson that somebody had to pay. Memory Lane, Memory Lane, don't turn it to a grave, it's a map, not a museum, it's the road, not the cage. Memory Lane, Memory Lane.
Verse 2
Fifteen, Air Force ones, fresh off a bad decision, hoodie up in August heat, sweating through the mission. Mama doubles at the Jackson, I knew her schedule, we boosted the blue Gatorade 'cause red was special. Ro had an older cousin, that cousin had a plan, plan with a pistol in it, pistol with a clip that ran. I remember the click, not the bang, I remember the pause, part of me that almost wrote the because. That boy still walking beside me, loud in my left ear, saying loyalty only counts if somebody somewhere near.
Chorus
They put the names on the streets so we don't forget the way, every letter a lesson that somebody had to pay. Memory Lane, Memory Lane, don't turn it to a grave, it's a map, not a museum, it's the road, not the cage.
Verse 3
Blogs calling, booker calling, cousin calling too, every call got a tax, every tax got an interview. They want the 305 on the verse but the verse on a chain, want the corner in the hook but the hook on a plane. Hometown love the kinda love can love you to death, hand you a crown of concrete, ask why you out of breath. I'ma rep it, I'ma rep it, ain't said I'ma repeat it, history a deeper thing, you gotta read it.
Bridge
Old head said, "The street ain't your father, it's your footprint." Mama said, "Don't let the block write your obituary 'fore your birthday." Ro said nothing. Ro been gone. Ro a sign, green, white, quiet. I heard him anyway.
Verse 4
Legacy ain't a costume, it's a compass, point me where the truth live, I can honor the block without holding what my youth did. Put Auntie in the booth, put the barber in the bridge, Mama on the bassline, porch in the ad-lib. Love where I'm from, don't gotta die where I'm from, that's a choice, not a betrayal, the drum, not the gun. I'm the letter, the package, the proof, signed and delivered from the corner of my youth.
Verse 5
Same cracked concrete remembers, same peach dress, same Decembers. Tip the hat, keep walking, writing it down, put the whole block on my back till the whole block take a bow. Memory Lane a direction, not a detour I lost in, Liberty City raised a pen, pen said, "We gon do it."
Chorus
They put the names on the streets so we don't forget the way, every letter a lesson that somebody had to pay. Memory Lane, Memory Lane, don't turn it to a grave, it's a map, not a museum, it's the road, not the cage. Memory Lane, Memory Lane.
Outro
Same block, this ain't the end.
Inside the recording
New sign on the pole where the bus stop used to bend, 62nd and Liberty, same block, brand new end.
Every block got a version of me I had to leave, every sign got a name that somebody bled to receive.
Same block, this ain't the end.
Excerpts from artist-supplied lyric files matched by title. Lyric sheets may differ from the released performance.