"To Whom It May Concern" lyrics

Such a long way down in the vortex
Where there's no way out of that black hole
Pressured in the pounding in your chest
And you couldn't shake free once it got hold
Spent so many days back in that road
I was throwing rocks at my past while I crackled
Now I got a crack at coming back
'Cause when you cheat death, it feels like everybody's lookin' at you
Each deep breath that I take, I feel that God is in me
So you mock me and hate me, it does not offend me
I'm back from the pits of the beast
Where the dopebags stick to the streets
Where the toe tags mass-produced in Massachusetts, 'cause way too many kids deceased
And I coulda been one
Woulda been me, and I shoulda been dumb
That's where I'm from, yeah, that's where I'm from
No not my cousin, please spare my son, you know I love him
Make one false move, it'll choose you
With a chalk outline and a cruiser
With the ambulance van and the news truck
Somebody's gonna die today, I wonder who's up
So I took a walk over methadone mile
'Cause I can't turn my backs on the facts
A dope fiend lean, said I kept my own style
Spitting all my lyrics to me clacks on the tracks
That I was writing to ten years ago, wow
Wish I knew then what I came to know now
I was once young, I was wild, I was foul
Wanted to get out but I didn't know how
So full of rage in a shroud made of pain, and a cloud full of rain always followed me around
Trapped in a cage that I made with the pilot on my plane that would always steer me straight into the ground
Now, I'm post-crash, I'm alive and well
It's been a long hard ride through Hell
I didn't want to make this record but I owe it, it's a story I survived to tell
Armed with the truth, here's a full clip
One last time for my pulpit
If I can give hope to the hopeless
Then everything else is bullshit