Gravyn van de Buurt - Rotterdam Nights Lyrics

[Intro]
Lost connections, static on the line
Your number changed again, I'm running out of time
Rotterdam took you away from these streets
Where we used to play, now memories incomplete

[Verse 1]
Yo Marcus, remember when we ruled these blocks?
Before your pops got that job and packed those boxes
Bijlmer nights, dreaming big under stars
Now I'm calling numbers that lead nowhere, shit's bizarre
Speaking Dutch mixed with English, that was our thing
Before distance clipped our brotherhood's wings
Your mom said "We gotta move up, gotta survive"
Left me in these projects while y'all learned to thrive

[Chorus]
Call failed (yeah), dial tone's all I hear
Messages left on read for over a year
We said forever but forever ain't real
When system's got your people moving like a spinning wheel
Damn, I miss you bro, but shit ain't the same
Distance killed what poverty couldn't, that's the game

[Verse 2]
Remember our promise? "We'll talk every day"
Now it's awkward silence when there's something to say
Your accent's different, you're speaking that Rotterdam slang
While I'm still here, same block, same gang
You got new friends, I see them on your 'gram
Living that port city life while I'm in the same jam
Can't blame your family for chasing that bread
But damn, it feels like part of me is dead

[Bridge]
They say phone works both ways, but pride's a wall
Got my own guilt for staying, watching you ball
Economic pressure split us like a knife
Now we're strangers sharing memories of another life

[Chorus]
Call failed (yeah), dial tone's all I hear
Messages left on read for over a year
We said forever but forever ain't real
When system's got your people moving like a spinning wheel
Damn, I miss you bro, but shit ain't the same
Distance killed what poverty couldn't, that's the game

[Outro]
Your number's still saved in my phone
But we both know we're better off alone
This city keeps taking, that's how it goes
Another friendship lost to where the wind blows