[Verse 1: Input]

Good morning, April 20th in this here year of '99

I'm alive and well at fourteen minding my own place in line

So here I go, walking into my daily institution

With a lot on my plate for a fairly normal teen that's feeling foolish

Had a hard time going into public school for what it's worth

Unnoticed most of days distinguished by my place of birth

I'm a Denver native, but I grew up in that Catholic church

With a uniform on and a suit of broken armor for a shirt

These kids were different here, they made you feel like an alien

But I went on my own, and I took what I know to a place that appeared to be safe for me

To change that frame of thought wasn't hard to do to a kid like me

Drugs were the answer, drugs made a difference, drugs made me someone they could see

On my way to class, science hall, room number five

It was all about to change, it was time to approach that light

There I was in the back of the room when the fire alarms were set into motion

11:19 was burnt in my memory now it's time to go

We stood right up and got prepared and we formed a single line

As I made my way on out, I looked right back just to check the time

With one foot down in the hallway, I was thinking that class was done

And that's when I heard those screams, "There's kids with guns"

[Hook: Nikkiya]

Bombs come down, bullets fly

Could this be, will I die?

I heard he asked her, "Do you believe in God?"

She said "yes", then she was gone

Screaming out, I hear the cries

Bombs come down, spirits fly

Out the fire, the aftermath

It changed this boy into a man

[Verse 2: Input]

Do you really know what it's like

To feel a pipe bomb under your feet?

Those marble tables slid across the room like they sat on wheels

In a frantic state, I was all too young just to grasp this moment

It became a reality then and I thought that my life was over

And I laid on the floor in the corner just in case they wandered by

At the angle that we had bundled up, we couldn't see their eyes

And there came that second that we couldn't move 'cause they stood outside

And I taught myself to stop breathing like it was time to die

Pop, was my first impression; pop, was the second intention

Pop, pop, pop, pop, throw another in for good measure

It didn't even make much sense to be inside of a horror film

At the end of this awful day, we were all just kids

That look of fear on faces would make a growing angel cry

And there's no hope for us, it's time to depart from life

And if I don't blink again, I'm leaving in pain and suffering

So tell my family I love 'em, just tell my family I love 'em

[Hook: Nikkiya]

Bombs come down, bullets fly

Could this be, will I die?

I heard he asked her, "Do you believe in God?"

She said "yes", then she was gone

Screaming out, I hear the cries

Bombs come down, spirits fly

Out the fire, the aftermath

It changed this boy into a man

[Verse 3: Input]

Now it's hour four, still confined to a box collapsing

My lungs could relate to that feeling, I could feel the whole room gasping

And the S.W.A.T. team came in and that door broke in like a pipe bomb just exploded

And they looked in my eyes and they patted me down and they simply said "go"

Running like I never ran, stuck inside a maze, they looked like superheroes, but their guns said different

Nothing came across my mind except the fact that I need to get the fuck out of this here building

Every corner was a heart drop, blind spot, nevermore could I exist with gunshots self [?]

And the memory will make me remember how that day turned a kid into a man, that's fine now

When the lights came on, and that door swung open

I cried cause I knew that I left my fourteen year old self on that floor

As I stand here now, I have my story to tell

And I thank you all for joining me in this journey through hell

This is for my city, my state, my life at Columbine

I'm not gonna be that humble, nobody's got this heart like mine

And I made this life from a tile floor in a science class

And I'm proud of the person I am today, and you can't fire back

[Hook: Nikkiya]

Bombs come down, bullets fly

Could this be, will I die?

I heard he asked her, "Do you believe in God?"

She said "yes", then she was gone

Screaming out, I hear the cries

Bombs come down, spirits fly

Out the fire, the aftermath

It changed this boy into a man