From the recording Dust to Crown: Chapter I - The Hero's Journey
Still I Rise (Rise Again) lives in the Triumph act, where the journey’s scars become proof of survival and rising is no longer a question but a rhythm. Inspired by Maya Angelou’s Still I Rise, it turns personal and historical pain into a communal anthem, lifting voices together instead of leaving anyone to climb alone. The Victory Gold border was chosen to mark this track as a peak of shared triumph, a bright, celebratory gold that feels like a spotlight on a whole crowd rising, not just one hero.
Lyrics
"Still I Rise (Rise Again)
They tried to ghost my story in they crooked little lines
Turned my name to static every time I hit they timelines
Weight on my shoulders but my spirit over skylines
Flip dust into jewels every time that the light shines
You can talk slick about me in a headline
Throw ice with your stare when I slide past the red line
Wish me gone with your hate but it’s check time
For every system that’s been eating off my stressed time
Out the hurt and history shame I step fly
Block halo glowing like a sunrise in the West sky
Every mark on my back like a jet line
Chart out routes for my kids when it’s flex time
City tryna drown me in the concrete rain
But I rise like hope in a hard terrain
From the sleepless midnights and the years of strain
Hear the heartbeat drum say rise again
Watch me rise from the dust in the blue light
Watch me rise like breath in a fist fight
Watch me rise like the moon on a long night
Dropped to my knees but I walk in the dawn bright
We gon' rise again
Every time they push us down we gon' rise again
From the bottom of the block to the skies again
They can hate on the glow but we shine again
Yeah we rise again
I move like I got gold mines past my front room
Rent due pressure but my soul still full bloom
Heavy waves rollin' through the courtroom
Every swell a great great grandmama war wound
They wanna see me folding head low voice quiet
But my laugh too live and my hips start a riot
My flavor unsettle em' yeah they can’t deny it
Try to cage this sun but the rays won’t diet
I’m the echo of the prayers they cried at night
Ink from they tears in the letters of my stage lights
Carrying the seeds that they planted in the same fight
Turn every rope scar into gold chains and stage lights
City tryna drown me in the concrete rain
But I rise like hope in a hard terrain
From the sleepless midnights and the years of strain
Hear the heartbeat drum say rise again
Watch me rise from the dust in the blue light
Watch me rise like breath in a fist fight
Watch me rise like the moon on a long night
Dropped to my knees but I walk in the dawn bright
We gon' rise again
Every time they push us down we gon' rise again
From the bottom of the block to the skies again
They can hate on the glow but we shine again
Yeah we rise again
From the nightmare years and fear I climb
Out the ash of a thousand no’s I climb
From the shadow of the chains and ships I climb
Every ancestor humming through my rhyme I climb
From the corners where they said we die I climb
From the graves they tried to hide I climb
From the pages where they crossed our lives I climb
From the dirt to the throne in they minds I climb
Watch me rise from the dust in the blue light
Watch me rise like breath in a fist fight
Watch me rise like the moon on a long night
Dropped to my knees but I walk in the dawn bright
We gon' rise again
Every time they push us down we gon' rise again
From the bottom of the block to the skies again
They can hate on the glow but we shine again
I’m the living proof they never erased still I rise again"