Russian Street Life

Verse 1

Khrushchyovka walls and the stairwell smellin' stale

Bootleg vodka in the plastic cup

Concrete courtyard where they taught me how to run

Every shadow got a story that I never told enough

Winter mornings and the frost burns through your lungs

Grandma's icons on the shelf above the stove

Saw my first hustle underneath the dying sun

Sixteen years old and already learning how to move

Pre-Chorus

Moscow nights ain't fiction

They're written in the brick

Every corner got a witness

To every dirty trick

Chorus

Russian street life

Concrete and chrome

Every day a battle

Every night a home

Russian street life

Blood and the snow

Rise up from the gutter

Watch the empire grow

Drop

Grow grow grow

Watch the empire grow

Grow grow grow

Yeah

Verse 2

Neon signs flicker off the highway east

Cyrillic letters spray-painted on the wall

Made my name in places cops don't like police

Learned to smile through the teeth and never fall

Phone calls on a burner in the parking lot

The architecture's pretty but the pavement's hard

Every brother that I lost I keep inside a thought

Every dollar that I made came with a scar

Pre-Chorus

Petersburg ain't fiction

The Neva's running cold

Every corner got a witness

To stories never told

Chorus

Russian street life

Concrete and chrome

Every day a battle

Every night a home

Russian street life

Blood and the snow

Rise up from the gutter

Watch the empire grow

Drop

Grow grow grow

Watch the empire grow

Grow grow grow

Yeah

Bridge

From the block to the boulevard

Same lesson every time

Keep your circle small and tight

Never trust the shine

From the block to the boulevard

I built it brick by brick

Mama prayin' for her boy

While the city does its tricks

Verse 3

Market stalls and the vendors know my face

Samovar steam hanging in the morning air

Turned a dollar into dreams inside this place

Now the old heads nod and they point at me with care

Moscow money got a gravity of its own

Pulls you up or pulls you down and nothing in between

But I swing through the south and the west like I'm home

Every city paved in gold and painted green

Pre-Chorus

Every city ain't fiction

It's written in my bones

Every corner got a witness

To how I made it known

Chorus

Russian street life

Concrete and chrome

Every day a battle

Every night a home

Russian street life

Blood and the snow

Rise up from the gutter

Watch the empire grow

Drop

Grow grow grow

Watch the empire grow

Grow grow grow

Yeah

Outro

Russian street life

Yeah

Russian street life

From the bottom to the throne

Russian street life

Mm

Watch the empire grow