"Silent Grind" by Rap 12AM

Best rap song by Rap 12AM. Lyrics: "Yeah... uh... just another night..." (Rain sounds. Soft piano fades in.) Late nights, city lights, Chasin' what I can't afford, Soul tired, but I'm wired, Grindin' till I see the morn'. They sleep, I creep, Through the static and the storm, Late nights, city lights, This the life I chose to born. (Verse 1) Yeah— I'm on the block with a notepad, watchin' the moon fade, Streetlights flicker, paintin' shadows on the new page. Pen in my hand like a sword, but I ain't fightin' no war, I'm fightin' the silence, the doubt, the "what you doin' it for?" My homies caught up in the trap, I caught up in the rhyme, Same struggle, different hustle, both runnin' out of time. They movin' packs, I'm movin' bars, both tryna make a mark, Difference is—my prison got a melody in the dark. Mama said, "Boy, you dream too much," I said, "That's all I got," 'Cause when the world is cold as stone, a dream is all that's hot. So I let the beat breathe, let the sample cry, Write my pain in parentheses, let the rest just die. (Hook) Late nights, city lights, Chasin' what I can't afford, Soul tired, but I'm wired, Grindin' till I see the morn'. They sleep, I creep, Through the static and the storm, Late nights, city lights, This the life I chose to born. (Verse 2) Uh— My alarm don't ring, I wake up to the hunger, My stomach growlin', but my vision gettin' younger. Every day a battle, every night a rehearsal, For the moment when the spotlight turns my name to a mural. I seen my people fold, seen my people fall, Seen a smile turn to a frown in a second flat, y'all. But I keep my head low, keep my heart high, Learn to fly in the dark, no stars in the sky. They ask me why I'm quiet, I tell 'em "I'm listenin'," To the frequency of struggle, the rhythm of prisonin' Myself inside these four walls, but I built 'em with my vision, So every bar I write is a brick, every word a decision. This ain't rap, this a diary with a bassline, Every verse is a scar, but the beat is a lifeline. Some nights I wonder if the sun will ever find me, If the path that I'm walkin' is really behind me, Or ahead of me—blurry, like the face in the mirror, When you stare too long, the reflection gets clearer. I see a kid with a dream and a terrible fear, That the world don't care 'bout the tears that you smear On a page, on a stage, in a cage of your own, But I'd rather be alone than be someone I don't know. (Verse 3) Yeah— They say the grind don't stop, I say the clock don't care, Tick-tock, life's a rock and we all just climbin' air. But I found my peace in the crackle of the vinyl, In the 808 hum, in the spaces that are hostile, I found my voice in the noise, my name in the static, My purpose in the panic, my calm in the chaotic. So let the rain fall, let the world spin, I'm right here, right now, with a pen and a grin, 'Cause I know who I am when the lights go dim, I'm the silence in the storm, the voice within. (Outro) Late nights, city lights... Grindin' till I see the morn'... They sleep, I creep... This the life I chose to born...