Smoke - JohnnieB

Lyrics

( Johnnie B On The Beat ) They tried to put me out, but I rose from the flame, Ash on my shoes with the truth in my name. You can’t hold smoke, you can’t box up pain, You can only watch it rise when it leaves that stain. I’m the gray in the air when the black meets white, The cloud in the room after wrong meets right. The calm little drift after two sides fight, The proof something burned in the middle of night. They call me hard to read, bitch, that’s the point, I move through the cracks with a half-lit voice. One side says peace, one side says destroy, JohnnieB stands there with a dangerous poise. I ain’t smoke and mirrors, I’m the mirror in smoke, You can’t see me clear, but you feel what I wrote. Every line that I breathe got a grip on the throat, Not killing your life, just killing your hope. Hope that I fold, hope that I quit, Hope that my name disappears in the mist. But I’m still in the air every time that you spit, Talking down on me while you breathe my shit. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire, but I’m more than the heat, I’m the warning you missed when it rolled through the street. I’m the signal in the sky when the lost can’t speak, I’m the gray little ghost with a heart that beats. Big John burns clean like a holy spark, Little Johnnie floods rooms when the mood gets dark. JohnnieB is the smoke leaving truth in the marks, Rising from the war where the two sides start. I’m not easy to grab, not easy to tame, Not easy to label with a one-word claim. I’m a cigarette thought in a wildfire brain, A chimney of pain turning into a name. You can wave me away, but I come right back, Like a blunt little truth in a beat gone black. Like a fog machine hiding the whole damn track, Till the bass hits hard and the room reacts. Hook I’m Smoke, I’m Smoke, I’m Smoke, I rise when they choke, yeah, You can throw water on my name, but I still won’t go. I’m Smoke, I’m Smoke, I’m Smoke, too gray to control, I’m the fire and the flood when they both explode. I’m Smoke, I’m Smoke, I’m Smoke, watch me drift through the room, Can’t clear me out, bitch, I still leave fumes. I’m Smoke, I’m Smoke, I’m Smoke, from the ash I grow, JohnnieB in the middle where the hot meets cold. Verse 2 See, I don’t need a scoreboard just to know what I scored, I don’t need a trophy from a fake-ass court. I don’t need a coach telling me what I’m good for, I already found my lane when they closed that door. I used to feel invisible standing in plain sight, Like a cloud in the room under fluorescent lights. They looked right through me till I learned how to write, Now I darken the ceiling when I step to the mic. I’m the thought you ignored till it filled up the room, The name you dismissed till it stuck like fumes. The quiet little spark that became a monsoon, The man who made pressure look good in the gloom. I don’t move like water, I don’t burn like flame, I drift through both and still leave my claim. I can be soft as breath, then hard as shame, A whole damn paradox wearing one name. They tried to clear the air, but I’m still right there, In the hook, in the verse, in the pause, in the snare. In the doubt they breathe when they act like they don’t care, In the way my name hangs when I’m not even there. Call me secondhand smoke from the shit I survived, They didn’t light the match, but they still felt the vibe. I came from the heat where old versions died, Now I float through the room with my truth untied. I’m the exhale after holding too much, The gray little prayer when the night gets rough. The curse in my mouth with a heart still touched, The proof that broken things can still rise up. They want me crystal clear, but I’m built like weather, Storm in my chest with my soul held together. You can’t separate ash from the burned-up letter, And you can’t separate me from both sides forever. Big John got heaven in the palm of his hand, Little Johnnie got hell in the way that he stands. JohnnieB is the smoke over all that land, The middle where the fire and the flood both dance. I’m not Mr. Misunderstood, I’m the whole damn fog, The one you keep chasing but can’t pin at all. The hallway haze when the lights go off, The last thing rising when the whole thing falls. So breathe me in careful, this truth got bite, I can blur your vision but sharpen your sight. I can cover the room and still bring light, JohnnieB is the smoke when the world ignites. Hook I’m Smoke, I’m Smoke, I’m Smoke, I rise when they choke, yeah, You can throw water on my name, but I still won’t go. I’m Smoke, I’m Smoke, I’m Smoke, too gray to control, I’m the fire and the flood when they both explode. I’m Smoke, I’m Smoke, I’m Smoke, watch me drift through the room, Can’t clear me out, bitch, I still leave fumes. I’m Smoke, I’m Smoke, I’m Smoke, from the ash I grow, JohnnieB in the middle where the hot meets cold.