| (feat. Jean Grae) 
 [Verse 1]
 She was on her way to becoming a college graduate
 Wouldn't even stop to talk to the average kid
 The type of latina I'd sit and contemplate marriage with
 Fuck the horse and carriage shit, her love was never for hire
 Disciplined, intellectual beauty's what I desire
 Flyer than Salma Hayek or Jennifer Lopez
 Everyone told me, kickin' it to her was hopeless
 At first I just thought, she didn't mess with broke kids
 The thug niggas always talking about, how they smoke kids
 But the rich-sniff-coke kids got no play
 "I'm not even interested" is what her body language would say
 Everyone around the way, gave up trying to get in it
 It didn't matter how good your game was, she wasn't with it
 On the block, bitches was jealous, but wouldn't admit it
 Talk shit, and deny to everyone that they did it
 'Cause they regretted the long list of niggas that they let hit it
 And no one ever gave them shit except McDonald's and did-dick
 Smoking weed with thoughts of envy, whenever they lit it
 She smoked intelligently and they bit it, always trying to copy
 But when they tried to use her vocab, they sounded sloppy
 She had a style, all her own, respectful and pure
 I was sick in the head for her, and there wasn't a cure
 
 [Hook - Jean Grae]
 Don't you know that, time waits for no man
 Not fate, it's all planned
 I'm blessed just to know you
 I've loved and I've lost just to hold you all night
 Can't find, a reason why
 God came, between you and I
 If I had the chance again, I'd never let you go
 Hold tight to your love, 'cause you never know
 
 [Verse 2]
 Her eyes are brown and beautiful, yet empty and sad
 I used to talk to her occasionally, and she was glad
 That I wasn't just another nigga trying to get in it
 So every now and then we'd stop and talk for a minute
 I didn't have a gimmick so the minutes turned to hours
 On her birthday, I gave her a poem with flowers
 Then I took her out to dinner after her cousin's baby shower
 We talked about, power to the people and such
 We spent more time together but it was never enough
 I never tried to sneak a touch, or even cop a feel
 I was too interested, in keeping it real
 Perfectly honest and complete, she would always call me "carino",
 And never Technique, bought me a new book to read every 2 or 3 weeks
 Forever changing the expression of my thoughts when I speak
 It was because of her, I even deaded all of my freaks
 She convinced me, to stop hangin' out on the streets
 To stop robbin' and stealin', from people like you
 Instead I took her out to the Apollo and the Bronx Zoo
 We sailed del Barrio and the Metropolitan too
 Got to the point when I was either with her or my crew
 So I decided one day, to tell her my feelings was true
 I couldn't live without her so I told her, facing my fears
 But honey's only response, was a face full of tears
 She could only sob hysterically, holding me tight
 I tried to speak, but she wouldn't stop until I left sight
 I felt like a moth who got himself too close to the light
 Except I didn't burn, I turned cold after that night
 
 [Hook]
 
 [Verse 3]
 I went on with my life, college and my career
 Ended up locked up like an animal for a year
 Where the C.O.'s talk to you like they were the overseer
 Then I got sent to the hole, when my exit was near
 At night in my cell, I'd close my eyes and I'd see her
 Hold her close in my dreams, but when I woke she disappeared
 Just an empty cell until the state gave me parole in the summer
 came back, in tact and on track
 But the fact of the matter, is I still felt cold
 Even after my mother, hugged me, cryin' at home
 My real niggas would catch me thinkin', out of my zone
 Fuckin' lots of different women, but I still felt alone
 Relatively well-known around the New York underground
 But I kept thinking of her and how we used to be down
 The sound of her voice, and the beautiful smell of her hair
 Though gone physically, somehow it was still there
 I had to do something, because the shit was too much to bear
 So I went and visited the building where she used to live
 The world looks a lot different after you do a bid
 The way your life done changed
 While primitive minds (are) still stuck in the same game
 Like her cousin who was on the corner slangin' cocaine
 Stepped in the lobby and tapped the button next to her last name
 Her mom buzzed me up and hugged me up, like a mother ought to
 But her facial expression changed, when I asked about her daughter
 
 [Hook]
 
 [Verse 4]
 She told me that there was a note for me, that was left behind
 She had left it there waiting, for such a long time
 I was inclined to ask about it but she brought it up first
 I saw a tear swelling up in her eye, and then she cursed
 She told me where the letter was and I started thinking the worst
 Reversed my position, stepped over and opened the door
 And sure enough there was an envelope with my name on the floor
 "Nobody loves you more than me carino" is what the letter said
 
 "By the time you get to read this, I'll probably be dead
 But when you left in '97 a part of me went to Heaven
 I thank God at least I got to know what love really was
 But it hurt me, to see what true love really does
 'Cause even though we never made love, you were all that there was
 It was because I loved you so much that I had to make you leave
 You made me doubt the way I thought, you made me want to believe
 And then I slipped up, and I let you get close to me
 It was hard to not be openly when people spoke to me
 This was not the way I thought my life was supposed to be
 Baby don't you see, I had a blood transfusion that left me with HIV
 Hoped the end exists for me since late in 1993
 I died a virgin, I wish I could've given myself to you
 I cried in the hospital because there was no one else but you
 Promise that you'll meet me in paradise inevitably
 No matter what, I'll keep your love forever with me"
 
 What happened for the rest of the day is still a blur
 But I remember wishing that I was dead, instead of her
 She was buried on August 3rd
 The story ends without a sequel
 And now you know why Technique, don't fucking fall in love with people
 Hold the person that you love closely if they're next to you
 The one you love, not the person that'll simply have sex with you
 Appreciate them to the fullest extent, and then beyond
 'Cause you never really know what you got, until it's gone
 
 
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