[Verse One]
I'm floatin' down this road
I'm driftin' through time. Times long ago
I think I realized (4)
The shortest truth in life is that life is finite
Sometimes I think of my mothers eyes
And all her sacrifice. (4)
She told me about her brother. Told me how he died
Told me about her mother. Told me how she cried (4)
Sounds of gunshots collide in her mind like a metal bucket of frozen tears tappin'
Out the syllables for the word homicide (4)
Call me Number Two-Seven plenty of years I count these blessins'
When I was just One-Seven my notebook would hold confessions
I wrote and 2Pac spoke about a life so wrestles on the brink of d**h and
Tonight my sense of self so breathless
Call me Number Two-Seven. Plenty of years I count these blessins
Number Two-Seven same year that claimed Amy Janis, Curt and Hendrix
Twenty-six years and forty-five weeks ago
I was an infant hanging on to life because wasn't no blood
Running through my legs and toes (oh no)
My artery was stitched and sowed, re-stitched, I lived I was a miracle
Que Milagro Paso?
Fate dances like un tiraso
Seventeen years ago I learn to spit chingasos
Que hubo vato?
Just a snot nose
Speaking slanglish with my big primo, Kegan
Chillin' in the sun bakin'
Con mi abuela contemplatin'
My Tio Ricky's d**h and the man who slayed him
[Chorus]
I say a prayer for you. I say a prayer for you
With my abuelita
Say a prayer for me
Say a prayer for me
Cuz you know I need ya
In this game of life ain't nobody ever-ever get-get out alive
Forever twenty-seven, Forever twenty-nine
Sam Cooke was the sh** man I think that dude saved my life
Forever twenty-three Forever twenty-five
2Pac was the sh** man I know that dude saved my life!
[Verse Two]
In 67' Otis was 26. He just recorded a song about the Frisco Bay
Ain't nothin' colder than a crashed plane on the banks of a snowy lake
Huey P was twenty-four years of age when the panther party started
Same age as Christopher Wallace when his soul departed
Young Biggie just one year older than my Tio Ricky
When the gunman got shifty and blast my Uncle in the back
Cuz Ricky was about 6'3”
Gunman just a buck fifty
It's tragedy when something as small as a bullet
Can tear through your whole family
And my Momma, my Momma, my Momma weep
She thinks of her brother as forever, forever, forever twenty three
[Chorus]
I say a prayer for you. I say a prayer for you
With my abuelita
Say a prayer for me
Say a prayer for me
Cuz you know I need ya
In this game of life ain't nobody ever-ever get-get out alive
Forever twenty-seven, Forever twenty-nine
I'm bumpin' Amy Winehouse until I reach the sky
Forever twenty-three Forever twenty-five
My Momma and Joaquin Phoenix wish their brothers were alive
[Verse Three]
Aliyah took that flight on August twenty-five
A day after I turned fifteen. What a young life, she was twenty-two
Same age I was when I was bumpin' Amy in my living room
Feelin' like my body was a mess I bump those grooves to fit my mood
I began to write this tune at twenty-seven
A year later I return just to finish the session
By the time this cross your mind I'll probably be twenty-nine
If I'm blessed with another year of my life
Maybe it's the last thing that I write
Maybe I'm throwin' up peace sign to you from the after life
While you vibe to this in 2099
Picture me wavin' at you, wavin' at you, wavin' at you like, “Hi.”