Kali Storm - Coded Trauma Lyrics

[Intro]
Walking through these marble halls
Like a ghost they can't recall
Ivy growing on these walls
While my spirit starts to fall

[Verse 1]
Private school, they thought they knew me
Trust fund babies tried to school me
Code-switching got me feeling loopy
Playing roles just to get through, see
Harvard yard, but I'm still dark
These white kids treating life like art
While I'm living torn apart
Playing smart but breaking hearts

[Chorus]
Privileged pain, they can't explain
How it feels to live this game
Looking through a broken frame
Success and shame, they look the same
Yeah, they look the same

[Verse 2]
Lecture halls after midnight
Shooting videos, ain't nothing right
Security called, they got frightened
By a black man burning bright
Got the grades, got the praise
Still feel lost in this maze
Every day's a masquerade
Till this mask starts to fade

[Bridge]
They want my story packaged clean
Want my pain up on their screen
Want me broken, want me seen
But only pieces they can glean
F*ck their rules, f*ck their schools
Using me as their damn tools
Got me feeling like a fool
In this institutional pool

[Verse 3]
Now I'm back here speaking facts
To these rooms filled with artifacts
Of a system built to trap
Brown bodies in academic wraps
But I'm flipping all these scripts
Taking power through these rifts
Watch me break these institutions
With these bars and elocutions

[Outro]
Still a ghost in these halls
Still a voice in these walls
But I'm rising through it all
Watch this whole system fall
Watch it fall