Knuckles

I wake up swingin’ at mirrors like, bitch, who you are?

Every thought got hands, every memory scarred

I don’t need a gun, my mind stay armed

Trigger finger twitchin’ when the silence gets long

Mama said pray, I said I already tried

But God went quiet when my ego survived

Now I talk to myself like we enemies

Every compliment poisoned with penalties

I got knuckles in my thoughts, blood on my pride

Every night I’m fightin’ shit I keep inside

If I sound aggressive, that’s the cost of the grind

Peace never loved me, so I made friends with the fire

I got knuckles in my thoughts, blood on my pride

Every night I’m fightin’ shit I keep inside

If I sound aggressive, that’s the cost of the grind

Peace never loved me, so I made friends with the fire

I don’t break down—I break through walls

Leave dents in my conscience, echoes in halls

They say “calm down,” like calm ever fed me

Like rage didn’t build every bone in my body

I been boxed in by expectations and lies

Had to beat my way out just to look myself in the eyes

If I curse, it’s punctuation for pain

Every “fuck” just a vein goin’ straight to my brain

This ain’t murder, this survival in prose

I kill old versions every time I evolve

If you hear violence, listen closer to me

It’s the sound of a boy refusin’ to bleed quietly

Why?

I got knuckles in my thoughts

Who taught you anger was evil?

Who taught you silence was pure?

I learned pain don’t leave unless you drag it to war

So I clash with my past

Uppercut my regret

Chokehold my trauma

Till it gasps for respect

Call it madness, call it sin

Call it unholy behavior

I call it self-defense

In a world built to break ya

I got knuckles in my thoughts, scars in my flow

Every bar leave bruises you ain’t meant to know

If it feel like violence when you hear me speak

That’s the sound of restraint barely holdin’ the leash

I don’t glorify blood, I just honor the fight

I survived myself, bitch—that’s the hardest night

This ain’t rage for the cameras

This ain’t pain for applause

This is discipline

Into lyrical claws