So Long - Rittz

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 talkin' 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 bumpin' 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

Noddin' 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 on, through us for so long

So long

Have to tell 'em so long