Troy

It's always dark before the dawn The night is black, the streets are steamin' The air is cracked with the sound of screamin' Two gangs are out to even the score In the alley with the raps and burned-out store With bricks and chains and a taste for pain Every man falls prey to the war on his vein But the leader called Blade still standin' tall His shadow cast big on the bloody wall His face is etched with the life he chose And the sweat ran thick to drench his clothes He rules the street with an iron claw And everybody knows that his word is law Twenty-four seven he felt deprived And every day was a new way to survive His dreams of gettin' out seemed far away But he believed they'd still come true one day It's always dark before the dawn But it's gonna take guts to keep pushin' on Might break your back, might make you cry But nothin' beats a failure except to try Another night, another fight And Blade's old man wanna argue 'til the daylight "Get out the gang if you wanna grow old Or you'll wind up in the alley with a shotgun hole" The tears burned his daddy's face As Blade jumped up and stormed out the place In the middle of the night tryin' to clear his mind He walks to where the city and the dump combine A car flies past and a gun explodes And the leader called Blade lies in the road With one last breath to end his years He wakes up from the nightmare sweatin' fear He wants to laugh but he aches to cry Because the dream seems real and he knows why With a big wet arm he wipes his face Just to be sure, checks out the place The whole room's dark but the TV's bright With the videos rockin' on Friday night And on the TV screen are breakdancin' mean Are two fellas not more than seventeen They flip, spin, stop on a dime And make you wanna think about the big time "Well, I can break like that, there ain't no doubt This here is gonna be my ticket out" It's always dark before the dawn But it's gonna take guts to keep pushin' on Might break your back, might make you cry But nothin' beats a failure except to try Blade tried hard to become a breakdancer Just couldn't cut it so it couldn't be the answer He thought about quittin', givin' up all hope Goin' back to the streets with guns and the dope But the thought grew hot and turned his guts To try to go back now, I've got to be nuts So he kept on pushin' and didn't look back And didn't even blink if bones were cracked He was bustin' up shop, puttin' brothers to shame Because the best on the blocks were what he became Then the big break came right on time The first big step out of the grind A radio station had advertised A breakdance competition with a fresh first prize To be on stage the next Friday night With the gang, the glamour and all the bright lights Blade went strong to prove he's the best So we made him our special guest The stage was lit, showtime was here This was the moment he'd come to fear His heart started pumpin' like never before When the lights went down and the people roared He hit the stage, went to work And then the whole damn place just went berserk It's always dark before the dawn But it's gonna take guts to keep pushin' on Might break your back, might make you cry But nothin' beats a failure except to try Ah yeah, woo! Alright now, I want everybody in the house tonight, come on Everybody in the house tonight to put your hands together Come on, help me out now, yeah, let's do it Yeah, yeah, come on, baby Get up, girl, show your stuff Check it out now, woo, come on Yeah, come on now Check it out, y'all Get this, huh Get, get, get, get on up, y'all And clap your hands, come on Get, get, get, get on up, y'all And clap your hands to the beat, come on Get, get, get, get on up, y'all And clap your hands, oh baby Get, get, get, get on up, y'all And clap your hands, don't you know? It's always dark before the dawn But you gotta keep, keep pushin' on It's always dark before the dawn But you, but you, but you, but you Gotta keep, keep, keep, keep pushin' on Yeah, alright, everybody, we love you Goodnight, everybody