[Produced by André 3000]
[Verse]
I met you in a club in Atlanta Georgia
Said me and my homeboy were coming out with an album
You looked at me like "yeah, n***a, right"
But you gave me your number anyway, you were on the talcum
Powder, how's about them oranges?
Moved away from home to school with big plans
By day, studied the history of music
By night, just to pay for that sh**, you'd dance
To get your pants was a Mission Impossible
We were both the same age, but I
Suppose wasn't on the same page, but in
The same book of life, so I'd paged you when
I felt you that were getting off of work
Or either when you're on your way to school
We started hanging like Ernie and Bert
And in my idle head I'm thinking: "cool"
Just when I think I'm going down your shirt
You're hiking up your skirt now
The events that followed had me volley if your hometown would be
Heaven or hell
The angelic nastiness you possessed made you by far the best
Therefore hard to tell
You'd dropped me off by the dungeon
Never came in, but I knew that you were wondering
Now are these n***as in this house up to something
Selling crack sack by sacks so they could function?
Well, yes and no
Yes we were selling it
But no it wasn't blow
Cook it in the basement then move it at a show
Then grab the microphone and everybody yelled "ho!"
Meanwhile the video starts playing
BET college radio and a van
Packed full of n***as with a blunt in their hand
And one in their ear
You know what I'm saying
But, I kept your number in my old phone
Got a new chip flip with the roam roam
So it took me a minute to retrieve 7 digits
But I promised I would call you when I got home
But, when I got home I never did
By the time I did, heard that you had a kid
By some n***a in Decatur
Who replied see you later when he got the good news, that's life sh**
Now, I'm 19 with a Cadillac
My n***a had a Lex with the gold pack
Got a plaque but I'm living with my pop pop
So I got Glock and a low jack
You kinda fast for that fella in cla** who used to draw
And never said much cause half of what he saw
Was so far from that place you wanna be
That words only f**ed it up more follow me
Are you starting to gather what I'm getting at?
Now if I'm losing you tell me then I'll double back
But keep in mind, at the time "keep it real" was the phrase
Silly once said now, but those were the days
When Spring Break, and Daytona, and Freakniks
Made you want to drop out of college and never go back
Move to the south, but that ain't a Kodak
Moment, on went myself and Big Boi
Well you knew him as Twan
That's right, you were around before this sh** begun
When Twan had a daughter and
Sort of was made to mature before the first tour
We hit the road like jack
Laughed and cried and drived it back with some Yak
Girls used to say, y'all talk funny, y'all from the islands?
And I'd laugh and they'd just keep smiling
No, I'm from Atlanta baby
He from Savannah, maybe
We should hook up and get tore up and then lay down, hey we
Got to go because the bus is pulling out in 30 minutes
She's playing tennis disturbing the tenants
15-love fit like glove
Description is like 15 doves
In a Jacuzzi catching the Holy Ghost
Making one woozy in the head and comatose, agree?
Enough about me, how's about you?
How's the lil' kid?
She was about 2 the last time we spoke
I hadn't smoked or took a shot of drink
Cause I'd start the 2nd album off on another note
Now, that note threw some n***as in the hood off
But see I'd balled out, and before I fall out
I'd Slow my Lac down to a nice speed
The brain is that fried egg I might need
New direction was apparent
I was a child looking at the floor staring
So changing my style was like release for the primitive beast
Yes I was on the rise, yeast was the street
To make bread - never primary concern
Just to hop on these beats and wait my turn
I'd meet m**ms, gangstas, b**hes, rastas, and macaroni n***as, imposters
So on a trip to New York on some beeswax
I get invited to a club where emcees at
And on stage is a singer with some thing on her head
Similar to the turban that I covered up my dreads with
Which I was rocking at the time
When I was going through them phases trying to find
Anything that seemed real in the world
Still searching, but I started liking this girl
Now you know her as Erykah "On and On" Badu
Call Tyrone on the phone why you
Do that girl like that boy you ought to be ashamed
The song wasn't about me and that ain't my name
We're young, in love, in short we had fun
No regrets no abortion, had a son
By the name of "7" and he's 5
By the time I do this mix, he'll probably be 6
You do the arithmetic
We do the language arts
Y'all stand against the wall blindfolded, we throw the darts
To poke you in the heart
And take you from the start
To when luxury transportation meant a Marta card
Or either when your girlfriend that went to Mays
Momma or her daddy let her borrow the Benz because she's smart
Or maybe if your neighbor does you a huge favor
And he sells you that Rabbit that's been sitting in his yard
You fix it up, you trick it out, you give it rims, you give it bump
You give it all your time because that's all you can think about
And that's as far as I got
(music fades)
[Radio Interview]
And that's as far as I got, and where I wanted to go
Knowing the whole time that's all you could think about
Even though if you cut it off and start that b**h up
You need a jump like you'll need and you'll want to grow
And you change all the time so that Rabbit that you thought about
That whole summer, the next summer you didn't want that Rabbit no more
You wanted something bigger and better
(Interviewer)
So the summer past and now the Rabbit's old?
(Andre)
Right...right, so now you want a Cadillac...