Track 2: "Little Leslie"

2Pac "Brenda's Got a Baby" Style — Witness Account

Verse 1: There was a girl in St. Louis Who thought she had to be grown before she was ready Dropped out of school Not because she was stupid But because nobody told her she was worth staying for Her mama's house was chaos The kind you don't talk about The kind that teaches you To scan every room before you sit down To read every face before you speak

Pre-Chorus: She didn't know she was smart She didn't know she was worth it She just knew how to survive And she called that enough

Chorus: Little Leslie She didn't know She didn't know what she was carrying Little Leslie Running before she learned to walk Building before she learned to stand She didn't know That everything she was running from Was everything she'd need To build what came next

Verse 2: She found California like a hiding place Changed her name and called it freedom But freedom and running Wear the same shoes She was twenty years old Calling destruction ambition Calling survival success Two years of living like tomorrow Would never catch up to yesterday

Pre-Chorus: Then the marshals came And she sat handcuffed on an airplane The girl who thought she was free Cargo on a federal transport And a stranger leaned in and said This isn't the end of your story

Chorus: Little Leslie She didn't know She didn't know what she was carrying Little Leslie Running before she learned to walk Building before she learned to stand She didn't know That everything she was running from Was everything she'd need To build what came next

Bridge: Marianna, Florida September 19, 1995 She stopped running And something strange happened She started to come alive They gave her a tool room And a bed to make with precision And for the first time in her life Someone trusted her Even after everything she'd done Someone trusted her And that was the beginning

Final Chorus (Slower, building): Little Leslie wasn't lost She was just waiting underneath She had to stop running To finally find herself Shame doesn't disappear It transforms when you face it She laid down every alias And picked up her real name Leslie She came back to Leslie

Outro (Spoken): If you're that girl right now The one who thinks her worst decision Is her final destination It's not I'm living proof That the girl who fell the hardest Can build the highest Little Leslie made it And so can you