Love Letter - Black Thought

Lyrics by：Tarik Trotter

Composed by：Tarik Trotter

Beneath the flickering lamp post we dance

Managing to keep the kick of the amp closer than

What some refer to as the Spirito Santos

That spanned days of Dapper Dan through June Ambrose

The band made us clap our hands

What came after was the scratch from the

Grand wizards and grand masters

One topic of discussion was whose hands were faster

Than a six train where the illest tags were plastered

The pillars of a village at the origin of it

Came to occupy the space of our eternal beloved

This culture we constructed was determined to thug it

And kept it rugged while the proverbial gates got flooded

Cold-blooded no budget but we became

Raw to end the gang war is

What we started this thing for

So were we kings or pursuing visions of grandeur

When through the rhythm it was true religion we came towards

When Sylvia Robinson became a hip hop mogul

Who could've known we'd ever reach the tip top total

Or how one common 'cause could become so noble

That we be going exit through the gift shop global

That gift that kept givin' us light and keeps givin' advice

Took on a life of it's own and keeps livin'

We found strength in numbers many

Of whom were women like

Sha-Rock and them who were there

From the beginnin' is all rocks

They could never be kept in a vault

There'd be no Kim or Nicki

Minaj without Pepa-N-Salt

I hope Cardi B and Megan thank

Latifah and Light and L Boogie

Super heroes who were eager to fight

Before out entire lives became computerized

We were back spinnin' in shell

Toes and Puma Clydes as we watched

Some of our stars continue

To rise up to Jupiter and Mars

We learned to utilize our credentials

And how to maximize the potential to build brands

Laying a proper ground work's essential to go

From Public Enemy to Tribe Called Quest

To JAY-Z Diddy Pharrell Drake or Kanye West

To where our world could be as free as Ron Artest

In a place where no one else

Has got to sign our checks

We made fortunes out of fame like run and DMC

When we came in the door like Ra and Eric B

To make somethin' outta nothin'

And it's come to define a legacy

More meaningful than just a moment in time

The kind of brilliance we reveal instead of holdin' inside

Ordained by God's the only way we know to describe

If you rollin' let's ride you're welcome to get in the car

Be whoever you need to be but don't forget who you are

You are a north star as black as my thoughts are

It's true that back in the day they used to report

How you were too black or too Latin

Too tapped in too from the hood

But ever since we conquered Hollywood

It's been all good

And it don't even really feel like it

Take long to get from a pay phone to Twitter

You stay strong and diligent

Great songs created the safe zone

That Diddy's citizens rep

In the name of they place zone

They fit a set it ain't where you ain't from

It ain't where you was headed it's where you at

From here lookin' back I say we did it

We made it they hate it

And said we were over and gone

I feel it's the move to say

We proved all of them wrong

You got your money right mind right

We been in the limelight

It's the joint till you on point all the time

Fight thug life fan life jet life tramp life

Do it for the 'gram sound cloud bandcamp life

Can't stop won't stop body rock

Don't knock us bolt lock

Clock hangin' 'round the neck

Show shot tour stop next joint to drop

Gonna be more hot pure pot

Walk me to see if the corner

Store got the boogie down

Break down face down take down

H Brown H Town bass

Harlem shake down Cape Town

Till the details of our escape down

We was hungry but it's more

Than enough on the plate now

8 mile Rosecrans Ten Toes both hands

Peach Tree to Ninth Ward

In and out the psych ward

COs and POs and OGs and GOs

The rights of passage that's passed down from the Greoles

In search of caption hear in the absence of egos

Extraordinary ethos take off from the Migos

We rose to become entire ecosystems

It's wild to think about how long the people

Have listened now

Fifty years down the line we could spark this

My eternal beloved hip hop is where our hearts live

And that's word I'm not the herb

Understand what I'm saying saying

Saying saying saying