D.R.I.L.Y. (Arthur Ashe Remix)

(album: Back2Love: Side Bee - 2022)

This is more than just media information
More than a city in a nation
More like a nation within a city
This is hip-hop, I brought my city with me
Dear Richmond, I love you
Yup
Dear Richmond, I love you
Yup (Yo), yup (Uh)

Richmond, here's my love letter
You know how much I love letters
That's why I put your name on them sweaters
I wanted them to rep you how I rep you
'Cause how could they neglect you?
Any out-of-towners better respect you
Don't talk about my city 'cause you ain't walk the strippy
On Main Street before Gaston made it all slippery
That flood changed everything, look at how we bounced back
Caution at an all-time high, we brought the sound back
The art back, the heart back, the history, the hardbacks
Now being rewritten starting with them monuments
They used to have us down bottom, down bottom
But nowadays the future don't look so downtrodden
Full of youth and exuberance, working on some unison
Still a lot of issues, too many hot pistols
Too many shitty cops and pissy politics
But still a lot of love with the people though, how could we not acknowledge it?

This is more than just media information
More than a city in a nation
More like a nation within a city
This is hip-hop, I brought my city with me
Dear Richmond, I love you
Yup
Dear Richmond, I love you
Yup (Yo), yup

They say home is where the hate is
But if you look at my career, I changed that narrative
I done buried both my parents here
I done lost hella friends here
I used to wanna run away and never reappear
'Til I discovered everything that I was seeking near
From that muddy-ass James, now it's crystal clear
Some people gave me flak 'cause I was born out West
I was taught that if you mean it, say it with your chest
My ascension filled with tension, took the wins and stress
Save the profit and we reinvest
Conversations who the best, heard my name dropped
I survived more levels, then the game stopped
It's hard to make it out this mid-sized market
But marketing art can make you a big-sized target
Gentrification, swimming upstream, found ventilation
Learned not to give fair warning, just detonation
Wins found on the path traveled, not destination
Gifts opened every day, present's a celebration
This for Richmond

This is more than just media information
More than a city in a nation
More like a nation within a city
This is hip-hop, I brought my city with me
Dear Richmond, I love you