I'M STILL HERE

Built it from nothing in a city that eats people whole
Learned every rule they never wrote down
Played the long game, paid the price
Did everything they told me just to get around

Watched it grow slow
The way real things grow
Two years of blood in every chord
Two weeks from the moment I'd been living for

Then the ones who own the gates
Decided I was in the way
Didn't ask me any questions
Just erased me in a day

But I'm still here
Still making noise in a city full of silence
I'm still here
They can take what's mine, they can't take what I know
I built it once
I'll build it again from zero
I'm still here
And I'm louder than before

Twenty-something in Los Angeles
Learning that the ones on top
Write the rules and change the rules
And never have to watch themselves get dropped

They called it policy
Like power needs a name
Like the people who built nothing
Get to decide who gets to stay

But I know what I put in
I know every sleepless night
I know the difference between
Building something real and playing by their lights

I'm still here
Still making noise in a city full of silence
I'm still here
They can take what's mine, they can't take what I know
I built it once
I'll build it again from zero
I'm still here
And I'm louder than before

You want to know what they didn't count on?
The ones who own the gates
Don't own what's behind them
You can shut the door
You can change the locks
You can rewrite every rule
That was supposed to keep me out

But the music already happened
The work already exists
And I remember every word
Of everything they tried to erase

I'm still here
Still making noise in a city full of silence
I'm still here
You can take what's mine, you can't take what I know
I built it once
I'll build it again from zero
Watch me build it again from zero
I'm still here
I'm still here

Los Angeles doesn't owe me anything
I know that now
But I'm not leaving
And I'm not going quiet
The ones who own the gates
Don't own me