[Intro]
Been studying the walls 
Paintings in rusted blood, 
Claims carved in ink 
Lampblack mixed with tears, 
A dream made of stolen dreams.

Whole surface stained yellow from tobacco smoke. 
Pinned pieces of torn love letters, 
Some unopened, still in their envelope 
those that never made it home 
Keeping them sealed felt like hope, 
Might just make it back home.

[Verse 1] 
Taped newspaper clippings, 
fading photographs, paintings on canvas What am I still missing? 
Scrolls in papyrus, ancient tablets made out of clay, 
Still paying for the debt, 
been compounding for longer than we know.. 
I see the shape of cities and nations, 
But deeper than the walls I see

[Hook] 
Cracks in the foundation, 
I unearthed the skeletons you buried so deep 
they became stone, rather than decay 
their bones now speak.

[Verse 2] 
Casting lots, betting on bones 
Meanwhile The mummified remains of your ancestors remain brittle, a single touch they return to dust will never be known.
strange, what you deny and will not face, will not die. 
Living nor returned to life. 
Death is not death; to live means you will die. 
Don't mistake the temple 
For what it holds inside. 
Don't mistake the sight for the eyes 
Your vision did not make the horrors you see. 
Let them bear witness, let them grieve.

What if that's not how I speak? 
I'm learning the voice I wield has to come from me— 
Same excavation, different bones. 
I spend most days suspended, 
Insulated in the only place I've ever 
Felt free to be me. 
Survival or burial? 
Can't tell anymore. 
Can't smile when I don't feel happy, 
Feels like betrayal to lose 
The pieces I still love and hold of me.

[Outro]
So I keep studying these walls,
Every mark a choice:
What to bury, what to speak,
What to let turn to stone,
What to bring back to bone.
The foundation cracks were always there—
Just painted over, sealed tight.
Now the walls can't hold
What was never meant to be kept.

Excavated

Too High To Riot • Bas • March 4, 2016

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Too High To Riot

Night Job (feat. J. Cole)

Too High To Riot • Bas • March 4, 2016

 fiends.co/TooHighToRiot

www.FIENDS.nyc // www.dreamville.com

Penthouse

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Co-produced by @dial-1-900 & @kirkknight

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