So Long

(album: Last Call - 2017)

We gather here today to pay our last respects amid a sad but fond farewell
We are also here in our own way to honor and celebrate your life

When I first met you, it was back in '95
When I used to battle other rappers at the football game
In the crowd you would always stand out
8th grader big as hell but you ain't' never look your age
In 9th grade you were killin seniors on the field
People talking bout the records that they watch you break
Popular as hell, everbody knew Charles
Bondin with you on the night we slap boxed and blazed
We was up in Breckeridge Crest we were just kids
Smokin blunts in front of your apartment place
You introduced me to my best friend who was your best friend
I remember when he called that day
He told me that they shot you in the back you was winnin in a fight
And ever since it ain't been quite the same
So much personality and talent why they had to take your life away
I'm screamin hold on

I'm screaming hold on
Here one day and the next they gone
But they way too young to have to tell 'em so long...
So long
Have to tell 'em so long

You was a new kid at school from New Jersey
Used to rock the Timbaland boots with the camo suit
Used to go inside the kids' pockets in the parking lot before school
They were scared of you
Me and you were cool
We had mutual friends bumping DJ Clue up in RJ's crib
You had a reputation for playing no games
Hitting licks and making people take off all they shit
As time went on, you became a good friend, let your guard down
We would smoke and talk 'bout rap
When Slick was in jail you would check up on me
Told me call you if I had a problem 'cause you got my back
When I was outta work, selling herb, you would front me QP's
Chill and listen to the verse I dropped
Me and you was laughing saying it's ironic that my mama was your nurse when you first got shot
In your shoulder but you took it like a soldier
Had somebody watching over you for you to take a shotgun blast
We were growing older I was broke and always working
All the homies in the circle sort of lost contact
Until the person came into my job
I thought I overheard him saying that somebody murdered One-Arm Black
I ain't believe it til my homie told me that you're gone and you won't come back

I'm screaming hold on
Here one day and the next they gone
But they way too young to have to tell 'em so long...
So long
Have to tell 'em so long

It's kinda hard for me to write
I been missing you from the day
That we moved back in Summer '88
When we come to visit you, we always wanna stay
You would wake us up to a plate of scrambled eggs
You taught me how to cook, taught us how to fish
You and Dave hoping that the Steelers win the game
We would all laugh
We knew when they screwed up a play
Cause you would start yelling at the screen
Taught me to enjoy simple things
It would mean the world
Sitting on the porch with you when you feed the squirrels
Whistle with the birds
Full from the meal that you made us
Chill, watch Vanna on the Wheel
Come and spend Christmas with you every year
Summers too, when I'm home wishing I was there
Next to you and Ma-maw sitting in your chair
I could never fit into the slippers that you wear
Tell a joke here and there
You ain't really say much, giving your opinion or a comment
You drove a tank in the second World War
Was in combat, you ain't ever brag about your time in
You had open heart surgery when you were in your sixties
Never thought you would see ninety
Saw us go through phases, you would never judge us
All you did was love us, blindly, when finally
I had a day off right before a show in Pittsburgh
I was happy I could spend it with you
The rest of the family come and visit you a lot last five years
I don't really get to
Mom said you were really sick too
Had a big bruise on you 'cause you fell in the shower
And now all you wanna talk about all the plans
What Ma-maw s'posed to do without you
Having trouble getting in and out your chair
Nodding out in the middle of a sentence while you're talking
I can tell that your frail and you fought death off for so long
Now you finally feel exhausted
Time to go, I don't really wanna leave
Said I love you Pat like it's gonna be my last
Five days later, I was told that you passed
And you finally let go of your grasp

Hold on
Still we mourn can't believe that you're gone
But your spirit lives on [?] and us for so long...
So long
Have to tell 'em so long
...