Lyrics

Hook — Low, Smoky Vocal
I’ve been waiting on a change
Since my feet could touch the pavement
Watching good people lose years
To conditions they ain’t creating
I’ve been waiting on a change
But I ain’t waiting with my hands closed
If tomorrow needs a witness
I’ll be standing where the pain grows
Waiting on a change
Still believing change can come
Verse 1 — Restrained Melodic Rap
I was raised where every morning
Started with somebody leaving
Mama catching two connections
Before the city finished sleeping
Daddy’s hands stayed split from labor
Still the bills arrived undefeated
Every month he made enough
To prove the family barely needed him
That broke something in his spirit
He stopped talking at the table
Started measuring his manhood
By the things he wasn’t able
I watched landlords raise the payment
While the ceiling kept on leaking
Watched the city close our school down
Then accuse the youth of failing
They built luxury across the street
Where our playground used to stand
Called the neighborhood “up-and-coming”
Like we never lived on that land
Then the rent climbed past our wages
And the families disappeared
Change arrived for everybody
Except the people waiting years
Hook — Ghostly Background Harmonies
I’ve been waiting on a change
Since my feet could touch the pavement
Watching good people lose years
To conditions they ain’t creating
I’ve been waiting on a change
But I ain’t waiting with my hands closed
If tomorrow needs a witness
I’ll be standing where the pain grows
Waiting on a change
Still believing change can come
Verse 2 — Conversational Confession
My grandmother kept believing
Even after all she witnessed
Separate doors
Separate counters
Separate versions of forgiveness
She said freedom gets announced
Long before it reaches people
Laws can change inside a building
While the street remains unequal
She remembered men in uniforms
Turning questions into danger
Remembered brothers leaving home
Then returning home as strangers
I asked, “Grandma, how you hopeful
After everything they’ve done?”
She said, “Hope ain’t closing both your eyes
And pretending evil’s gone”
“Hope is seeing every weapon
Every lie and every chain
Then deciding none of them
Will have permission to define you”
That stayed with me through funerals
Through courtrooms and evictions
Through every leader selling promises
Then changing their position
Bridge — Cracked Notes, Deliberate Pauses
How long can a mother pray
Before the answer learns her name?
How long can a child stay hopeful
While the future stays the same?
I don’t know…
But I know surrender
Never opened any gate
So I’m waiting on a change
While becoming part of change
Verse 3 — Weary Singing into Rap
I saw change inside a classroom
When a teacher bought the books
Saw it in a former hustler
Teaching boys to choose another route
Saw it in the nurse who stayed late
When insurance wouldn’t pay
Saw it in the neighbors organizing
To keep families in their place
Change ain’t always on television
Sometimes change is folding chairs
Twenty people in a basement
Building answers from despair
Sometimes change is teaching credit
To a teenager selling snacks
Sometimes change is buying property
Before developers take it back
Sometimes change is telling children
They are more than what they’ve seen
Giving language to their anger
Giving structure to their dreams
I kept waiting for a savior
Till the mirror called me out
Maybe heaven sends the people
Then expects us to stand up
So I’ll march
I’ll vote
I’ll build
I’ll teach
I’ll challenge every lie
I’ll make sure the ones behind me
Don’t inherit all this night
Final Hook — Layered Requiem Harmonies
I’ve been waiting on a change
But the waiting made me stronger
Every generation carried
What the next one pushed farther
I’ve been waiting on a change
Now I see it in our hands
Every time we choose each other
Something broken learns to stand
Waiting on a change
Still believing change can come
Working on a change
Till the change and I become one
Outro — Near Whisper
My grandmother waited.
My father waited.
My mother waited
At bus stops before daylight
To work inside buildings
She could never afford to enter.
I inherited their waiting.
But I also inherited
Their courage.
So I won’t confuse patience
With standing still.
Change may be coming…
But this time,
we’re meeting it
halfway.