The Ascent

Intro

Yeah...

Everybody wanna own the skyline...

Few ask who laid the first brick in the highlight.

Verse 1

Used to split one meal three ways at the table,

Now lawyers split percentages across the paper.

Life's funny...

The decimal point changed more conversations than success ever did.

Some niggas celebrate the purchase,

I celebrate the bid.

Anybody can spend money.

Building something that keeps paying after you're gone?

That's different, Sonny.

I learned the hard way that access ain't ownership.

Applause ain't influence.

And expensive don't always mean a-ffluence.

You can fill a room with cash

And it'll still look like mishmash.

Hook

Count what you create...

Not what you collect.

A watch only tells time.

A legacy changes the dime.

They'll remember what you fought for

Not what you bought.

That's the difference, that's what I was taught.

Verse 2

I don't chase trends.

They expire too fast.

I'd rather sit on my ass

Than race everyone on the hype train

Funny how people confuse being seen

With being a gripe train.

One disappears when the lights go out.

The other survives generations building up clout

Yeah, I made mistakes.

Paid interest on pride.

Lost sleep protecting my hide

That never protected me, a fucking lie

That's tuition.

Now every contract gets read twice.

Every handshake earns its fruition.

Every dollar got an assignment, anything else is just

Money without a mission

It's just expensive volition

Bridge

The room is quiet...

Not because somebody spoke louder...

Because somebody finally said shit worth carrying a doubter

Verse 3

I stopped measuring success in square footage.

Started measuring it in opportunities devoted.

How many niggas can eat because you stayed to the locomotive.

How many dreams got permission to exist

Because you didn't roll over like a pussy instead to resist.

That's wealth.

Not the bottle.

Not the car.

Not the headline.

The ability to leave a place stronger

Than you found the design.

That's the fuck-ass part they don't call your line

Final Hook

Count what you create...

Not what you collect.

Your name fades.

Your work satiates

Build something that survives introductions.

Build something they can't call deconstructions.

Outro

The goal was never to look rich...

The goal was to make sure the next generation not stuck up pig bitches never start where your stitches began