Out the trenchesNo map, no plug, no nameCame up off the cold, turned the pressure into flameOut the trenchesNobody reached a hand down, so I built a ropeClimbed up out the nothing on a homemade hopeStarted with the lint and a hard-headed dreamMama working doubles, I was plotting on a schemeLegal, lethal focus, put the hours on the boardEvery L was just tuition for the level I was towardNo handouts, never had a leg upBuilt the whole thing ugly, now they wanna say it set upOut the trenchesNo map, no plug, no nameCame up off the cold, turned the pressure into flameOut the trenchesCold floor, no heat, that is where the focus growRamen and a notebook full of moves nobody knowI was studying the exit while they laughing at the cageTurned the rage to a blueprint, turned the page to a stageYou can smell it on the come-up, that the hunger ain't fakeReal ones move in silence, leave the talkers in the wakeOut the trenchesNo map, no plug, no nameCame up off the cold, turned the pressure into flameOut the trenchesEvery winter that I weathered was a lesson in disguiseEvery door that slammed in front me taught me how to improviseI learned the value of a dollar from the days I didn't have oneLearned the meaning of a promise from the ones who said and never doneThe bottom is a classroom if you willing to attendAnd the diploma is the day you turn the corner in the endThe trenches do not break you, they reveal you what you areEither fold into the bottom or you reach up for the starI reached, I climbed, I bled for every floorNow the door I came up out of, I am holding open moreSame block, new chapter, but I never lost the rootCarry where I came from like a medal on the suitThey want the rags to riches but they skip the part that's hardThe midnight, the rejection, and the slow stacking the cardI don't hide the dirt I came from, that's the realest part of meThe trenches built the man, so the man would always beOut the trenchesNo map, no plug, no nameCame up off the cold, turned the pressure into flameOut the trenches
