Lyrics

Cold nights, space heater barely working
Mama in the kitchen crying, bills stacked on the surface
Landlord knocking, yelling, threatening to close us out
I'm in my room pretending I don't hear him in the house

Food stamps stretched thin, noodles for the week
Wearing the same shoes, holes showing through the feet
Kids laughing at me, I just laughed back harder
Learned early how to fight, how to move smarter

Daddy never showed, never called, never wrote
Just an empty chair sitting quiet like a joke
So I stopped asking why, stopped waiting on saviors
Started raising myself — survival was the major

Yeah that pain made me different, made me sharp, made me guarded
Had to grow up quick, childhood got departed
Now when I sing it ain't pretty, it's a scar talking
Every note got blood in it — this the sound of walking

Mirror say "baby you radiant"
But I feel like collateral
Every tear turned mineral
Pressure made me valuable


These pretty scars…
They glitter like medals on me
Every cut cut deep
but it settled on me

Bled nights…
Just to breathe daylight
Yeah this shit left marks
But they fit me right

Pretty scars…
Gold stitched heart
If it damn near broke me
It made me smart

Daddy gone — just a silhouette
Like a myth they sell to children
Empty chair at the table still
Felt louder than the building

Mama loved me but she drowning
Powder dreams and cheap motels
I was twelve learning how to pray
While she bargaining with hell

Food stamps and broken heaters
Cold floors and colder truths
I learned pain got a dialect
And it spoke fluent youth

Teachers said "you so intelligent"
But intelligence don't pay bills
So I weaponized every melody
Turned my trauma into skill

Yeah I sang just to keep sane
Rap just to talk slick
Turn my hurt into a hustle
Now the hurt pay my rent quick

Funny how the same damn wounds
That almost killed my confidence
Now the reason I'm articulate
Resilient and dominant

These pretty scars…
They glitter like medals on me
Every cut cut deep
But it settled on me

Bled nights…
Just to breathe daylight
Yeah this shit left marks
But they fit me right

Pretty scars…
Gold stitched heart
If it damn near broke me
It made me smart


Yeah
Cried in the backseat, prayed in the hallway
Swore I'd never let the world make me small, yeah
Pain wrote poetry all in my DNA
Now every verse feel like therapy, foreplay

Fuck what they told me
I'm more than surviving
Every scar on my body
Proof that I'm thriving