Mama say be careful, world don't love you like that, but the streets raise sons, put the pain on they back.

 Taxi cab, halos, neon drippin' like rain, every face got a story, every smile got a stain.

 I'm countin' crack pavements, tryin' to balance my name, in a city where the hunger and the hope feel the same.

 Radio preachin' Marvin, Curtis on my mind, love heavy in the air, but it's hard to find.

 They're sellin' futures cheap, yeah, three, four dimes, so I wait, watch the seconds do time.

 I've been waitin' round the city, where the nights feel long.

 Sirens sing me lullabies to an old soul song.

 I've been waitin' round the city, for a sign, for a sound.

 If love don't find me soon, I'll just stay waitin' round.

 Yeah.

 If love don't find me soon, I'll just stay waitin' round.

 Broken bottles tell stories politicians never could.

 Billboards line to the children like it's all good.

 They say work hard, keep your head real low, but the man upstairs still controlin' the flow.

 Pay phone confessions, nickels for a prayer.

 Everybody tryin' to make it, but nobody play fair.

 I see brothers turn cold, sisters cuttin' their hair.

 Tryin' to fit in a system that don't really care.

 Revolution in the alleys, graffiti got a voice.

 Every wall screamin' loud like we still got a choice.

 So I'm waitin', but I'm ready, I'm patient, not still.

 Ninety-second D-9, yeah, we hungry and real.

 I've been waitin' round the city, where the nights feel long.

 Heartbeats hit like drum breaks to a vinyl song.

 I've been waitin' round the city, feet stuck to the ground.

 If love don't save me now, I'll just stay waitin' round.

 Waitin' on the bus, waitin' on the truth.

 Waitin' on a break that don't come through.

 Hands in the air, if you stuck like me.

 Tryin' to find freedom in the land of the free.

 Say oh, say yeah.

 We've been waitin' too long, but we still right here.

 Yeah.

 Lipstick dreams in a crack compact.

 Heart full of love, but the world push back.

 They say smile more, keep quiet and hey.

 But my voice stay loud like a runaway train.

 I don't wait for permission, I wait for the beat.

 Platform shoes tappin' hope in the street.

 If tomorrow don't love me, tonight I'll survive.

 Cause a woman with truth always stay alive.

 We've been waitin' around the city.

 Through the tears and sound.

 Still believe in love gon' find us.

 While we waitin' round.

 Yeah, we waitin' round the city.

 But we stand in pride.

 If the world don't hear us now, we'll hear us loud.

 From the corner to the rooftop.

 From the needle to the groove.

 1979.

 We weren't lost.

 We were way.

 We were way.