Gilt Afterimage

[Verse 1]
You better still check the peephole when you hear keys in the hallway,
you better still keep your back to the wall like Papi taught you, always.
You still taste the sour apple dust in the seams of your pockets?
Or did you trade it all in for the gold-plated lockets?
That Tuesday in March when the D train stalled out under the river,
did you forget the cold sweat, the promise you had to deliver?
You still got the calluses from twisting the caps off the Goya?
Or did the soft life smooth 'em out, did the quiet destroy ya?

[Chorus]
Look at you, all brand new, with that saccharine coating,
Hope you ain't forget the hunger, the reason you started floating.
Look at you, clean suit, smiling wide for the cameras,
Just tell me the Bodega Princess ain't die from bad manners.

[Verse 2]
Papi said, "Mija, your eyes get a little too quiet."
When you're backed in a corner, do you still start a riot?
Or do you negotiate now, do you talk about leverage?
Do you sip the flat soda and forget the real beverage?
The ice on the fire escape biting your palm through the glove,
you remember that burn, right? More than some abstract 'love'.
Does the silence in your high-rise sound like a victory lap?
*(dry vocal)* Don't you dare call it 'growth', 'cause I know it's a trap.

[Instrumental Breakdown]
(Beat rides for 20 seconds. A single scratched vocal phrase, maybe "remember", is cut up rhythmically by the DJ.)

[Bridge]
Keep the chip on your shoulder, girl, let it cut a little bit.
It's the only damn compass you got, so don't you ever quit on it.

[Chorus]
Look at you, all brand new, with that saccharine coating,
Hope you ain't forget the hunger, the reason you started floating.
Look at you, clean suit, smiling wide for the cameras,
Just tell me the Bodega Princess ain't die from bad manners.

[Outro]
That afterimage in the glass...
Better look like me, you hear?