Free Dom

. [INTRO — whispered, almost spoken] I finally understand... [PAUSE] Why somebody would walk away from everything. [BREATHE] Not because they didn't love nobody... [PAUSE] But because they had to love themselves enough to leave. (Had to leave...) [2-BAR INSTRUMENTAL — let the beat breathe] [VERSE 1 — low, controlled] I left the house, left the block, left the bloodline, [BREATHE] Left the ones I called family, thought they'd love mine. (Thought they'd love me...) [PAUSE] Left the baby daddy, left the friends too, Took the kids and disappeared like I had something to prove. (Had to go...) But they don't know what it cost me just to get free, [BREATHE] They only know the version somebody told them about me. (That's not my story...) Now they calling me crazy, putting labels on my name, Trying to turn my pain into a reason I'm to blame. (Why?) [PAUSE] I moved somewhere new thinking maybe I could breathe, [BREATHE] But somehow they found me, couldn't let me leave. (Still found me...) Now it's whispers in the neighborhood, watching through the glass, Calling police with stories, trying to make the peace collapse. (Leave me alone...) [PAUSE] [PRE-CHORUS — build emotionally] And I finally see it now... [PAUSE] Why somebody gives it all away. (I see it now...) Sometimes you gotta lose the whole crowd... [BREATHE] Just to wake up and save yourself one day. (Save yourself...) [2-BEAT PAUSE — drums drop out] [CHORUS — BIG, MELODIC] Now I see why people sell they soul, [BREATHE] (Now I see...) When everybody around them wants control. (Wants control...) They don't wanna see you ball... [PAUSE] They wanna see you fall. (Don't wanna see me win!) They'd rather watch you lose it all Than watch you finally stand tall. (Stand tall!) [BREATHE — 1 BEAT] So I sacrificed the names, Sacrificed the love, Sacrificed the places I was supposed to call home. (Had to let it go...) If losing everything is what it takes to be free... [PAUSE] Then everything I lost... Wasn't worth more than me. (Never again.) [VERSE 2 — RAP, MORE AGGRESSIVE] They'll fabricate a story, then repeat it till it's fact, [BREATHE] Get a whole room against you before you make it back. (That's how they do it...) Tell 'em you're unstable, tell 'em everything's your fault, Never tell 'em why you ran or what you survived before. (They don't know!) And the people who knew you suddenly don't know your heart, Funny how they loved you till you finally chose to depart. (Funny, right?) Cousins become strangers, friends turn into witnesses, Everybody got a story but nobody got the evidence. (Where's the proof?) [SHORT PAUSE] New community... same energy... different faces. (Same energy...) Thought I changed my life, but they followed to the new places. (Still followed...) I stopped explaining myself—let 'em talk, let 'em lie, 'Cause I know what happened when nobody else was inside. (I know what I lived.) I don't need revenge, I just need distance. [BREATHE] I don't need their approval, I survived their resistance. (I survived.) And if peace costs relationships, then send me the bill, I'd rather sleep alone than live controlled against my will. (I'd rather be alone...) [BRIDGE — STRIPPED DOWN, EMOTIONAL] Maybe freedom ain't supposed to feel easy... [LONG PAUSE] (Maybe it ain't...) Maybe healing makes the old world leave me. [BREATHE] (Let it go...) Maybe losing people wasn't losing me... [PAUSE] Maybe that was the price of finally being free. (Finally free...) [2–4 BEATS — NO VOCALS] [FINAL CHORUS — FULL VOCALS + BACKGROUND STACKS] Now I see why people sell they soul, (I see it now!) Why they disappear and never tell nobody where they go. (Had to get away!) They don't wanna see you ball, (No!) They wanna see you fall. (They wanna see you fall!) They'd rather watch you lose it all Than watch you rise above it all. (Rise! Rise!) So I sacrificed the names, (Let 'em go!) Sacrificed the love, (Let it go!) Sacrificed the places I was supposed to call home. (Had to leave home...) And if they call me selfish for choosing to survive... [PAUSE] I'll carry that word proudly— [BREATHE] 'Cause I'm still alive. (I'm still alive!) [OUTRO — WHISPER / VOCAL ECHO] I lost the crowd... [PAUSE] (Lost the crowd...) But I found my peace. (Found my peace...) Lost the old life... [BREATHE] But my children could breathe. (They can breathe now...) Now I understand... [LONG PAUSE] Sometimes the greatest sacrifice... is walking away from everybody... who never wanted you free. (Never wanted me free...) [BEAT FADES] (Free...) (Free...) (I'm free...) .