LOAD-BEARING

[Verse 1]
C-Note called from the payphone down on Fruitridge Road, static humming.
First time I heard his voice since the Tuesday they lowered your coffin, I ain't see it coming.
Said he had a framing issue, a bad beam, needed lumber money, cash in hand.
Talkin' 'bout old times, the lowrider, the unsupervised plans.
He said, "Jamal, man, I'm in a structural crisis, you're the only one who'd get it."
The cold sweat on the receiver, my gut told me to dead it.
Heard a tremor in the concrete of his voice, a hairline crack I knew too well.
Then he dropped your name like a contractor dropping a bid, ringing a silent bell.

[Pre-Chorus]
And the line went quiet, just the sound of the traffic on the grid,
He's waiting for an answer, waiting on the last real thing you did...

[Chorus]
You say we're family, that's a heavy claim.
You put that weight on my brother's name.
This ain't a structure built to hold the strain.
Some walls are load-bearing, some just hold the frame.

[Verse 2]
I saw his girl Thursday, at the FoodMaxx, looking thin.
She asked if I'd seen him, said he's been workin' late again.
Didn't take an engineer to run the numbers on that lie.
The delta breeze smelled of fryer grease and alibis.
He ain't building nothing up, he's planning a demolition.
A second mortgage on her trust, a gambler's attrition.
He needed my check to patch a hole in a life he dynamited.
He said, "'Toine would've fronted me this," and my whole spirit got ignited.

[Pre-Chorus]
And the line went quiet, but this time I saw the whole damn blueprint clear,
He's not just asking for a loan, he's trying to condemn what we built here...

[Chorus]
You say we're family, that's a heavy claim.
You put that weight on my brother's name.
This ain't a structure built to hold the strain.
Some walls are load-bearing, some just hold the frame.

[Bridge]
Antoine, they still asking for pieces of you I ain't even got for myself.
He thinks your memory's collateral sittin' on a shelf.
But your foundation's what I'm standing on, it ain't for public sale.
Nah, he got the wrong brother. This inspection's gonna fail.

[Outro]
Some walls are load-bearing. This one ain't.
Click.