In The Heights (Radio Edit)

Lights up on Washington Heights
Up at the break of day
I wake up and I got this little punk I gotta chase away
Pop the grate at the crack of dawn
Sing while I wipe down the awning
Hey y'all good morning
I am Usnavi and you prob'ly never heard my name
Reports of my fame are greatly exaggerated
Exacerbated by the fact that my syntax is highly complicated cause
I emigrated from the single greatest little place in the Caribbean
Dominican
Republic
I love it
Jesus, I'm jealous of it
And beyond that
Ever since my folks passed on I haven't gone back
Goddamn,
I gotta get home then
I'm gonna test ya later
I'm getting tested times are tough on this bodega
Two months ago somebody bought Ortega's Our
neighbors started packin' up and pickin' up
And ever since the rent's went up
It's gotten mad expensive
But we live with just enough
In the heights
I can't survive without café
I serve café
Cuz tonight seems like a million years away!
En Washington—
Me and my cousin runnin' just another
dime-a-dozen
Mom-and-pop stop-and-shop
And, oh my god,
it's gotten too darn hot like my man Cole Porter said
People come
through for a few cold waters and
A lottery ticket,
just a part of the routine
Everybody's got a job;
Everybody's got a dream
They gossip,
as I sip my coffee and smirk
The first stop as people hop to work
Bust it— I'm like— One dollar, two
dollars, one fifty, one sixty-nine I got it
You want a box of condoms what kind?
That's two quarters Two quarter waters
The New York Times
You need a bag for that?
The tax is added
Once you get some practice at it
You do rapid
mathematics automatically
Sellin' maxipads and fuzzy dice for taxicabs and practically
Everybody's stressed, yes,
but they press through the mess
Bounce checks and wonder what's next
In the heights I buy my coffee and I go
I buy my coffee and—
Set my sights
On only what I need to know
What I need to know—
In the heights Money is tight
But even so—
Even so—
When the lights go down I blast my radio!
En Washington
Yeah, I'm a streetlight,
choking on the heat The world spins around while I'm frozen to my
seat The people that I know all keep on rolling down the street But
every day is different so I'm switchin' up the beat Cuz my parents
came with nothing They got a little more And sure, we're poor, but yo
at least we got the store And it's all about the legacy they left
with me, it's destiny And one day I'll be on a beach with Sonny
writing checks to me In the heights I hang my flag up on display We
came to work and to live and we got a lot in
common It reminds me that I came from miles away D
R., P
R., we are not stoppin'
In the heights
Every day, paciencia ye fe
Until the day we go from poverty to stock options
In the heights I've got today
And today's all we got,
so we cannot stop This is our block In the heights I
hang my flag up on display Lo le lo le lo lai lai lo le!
It reminds me that I came from miles away!
My family came from miles away— In the heights It gets more expensive
every day Every day And tonight is so far away—
But as for mañana, mi pana Ya gotta just keep watchin'
You'll see the Late nights You'll taste Beans and rice The syrups and
Shaved ice I ain't gonna Say it twice So turn up the stage lights
We're takin' a flight To a couple
of days In the life of what it's like
En Washington Heights!