What is “Baldwin Bus Receipt” about?
"Baldwin Bus Receipt" ties family history to self-education: a mother working two jobs, a grandfather plowing fields, and the image behind the title, reading James Baldwin on the bus. Kairo West insists "every rhyme is a receipt," proof of what was endured, while calling out a system that caught his cousin in a case and keeps people running in circles. The hook pairs knowledge with a crown and gold with staying grounded. It is the title track and closer of Baldwin Bus Receipt, and was also released as a single.
Baldwin Bus Receipt lyrics
Yeah... they told us stay quiet
Truth don't sleep, we up past midnight
Momma worked two jobs just to keep the lights on
Grandpa plowed them fields from the dusk to the dawn
Now I'm in the booth spittin' fire for the ones that got gone
Books on my shelf right next to the gold on my arm, carryin' on
They tried to keep us low but we risin' like a psalm
Readin' Baldwin on the bus, keep my heart and my head calm
Every rhyme is a receipt, every line is a balm
We was born in the storm, so we learned how to dance in the calm
Knowledge is a key and the key is a crown
Gold around my neck, feet still on the ground
I'ma build what they tore down
I'ma speak what they drowned
Kairo from the south, and the south is a sound
Streetlight gospel, sidewalk sermons
Every corner got a story, every block got a version
Cousin caught a case 'cause the system was workin'
Just the way they designed it, keep us runnin' in circles
But I'm rewritin' the script with a pen and a purpose
Payin' rent with my art, feedin' kin, feelin' worth it
Legacy tattoos on my skin, yeah, it's permanent
Generations in my breath every bar that I'm servin'
Knowledge is a key and the key is a crown
Gold around my neck, feet still on the ground
I'ma build what they tore down
I'ma speak what they drowned
Kairo from the south, and the south is a sound
Southside 'til they bury me
Truth is my treasury
Raise the next generation above all this misery