[00:36.97]She was on her way to becoming a college graduate
[00:39.17]
[00:40.09]Wouldn't even stop to talk to the average kid
[00:42.23]
[00:42.97]The type of latina I'd sit and contemplate marriage with
[00:45.09]
[00:46.09]Fuck the horse and carriage shit  her love was never for hire
[00:48.77]
[00:49.40]Disciplined  intellectual beauty's what I desire
[00:52.26]Flyer than Salma Hayek or Jennifer Lopez
[00:54.39]
[00:55.44]Everyone told me  kickin' it to her was hopeless
[00:57.70]
[00:58.56]At first I just thought  she didn't mess with broke kids
[01:01.37]The thug niggas always talking about  how they smoke kids
[01:04.18]
[01:04.75]But the rich-sniff-coke kids got no play
[01:07.53]"I'm not even interested" is what her body language would say
[01:10.90]Everyone around the way  gave up trying to get in it
[01:13.71]It didn't matter how good your game was  she wasn't with it
[01:16.83]On the block  bitches was jealous  but wouldn't admit it
[01:19.13]
[01:19.70]Talk shit  and deny to everyone that they did it
[01:22.19]
[01:22.70]'Cause they regretted the long list of niggas that they let hit it
[01:26.11]And no one ever gave them shit except McDonald's and did-dick
[01:29.09]Smoking weed with thoughts of envy  whenever they lit it
[01:32.09]She spoke intelligently and they bit it  always trying to copy
[01:35.58]But when they tried to use her vocab  they sounded sloppy
[01:38.70]She had a style  all her own  respectful and pure
[01:41.40]I was sick in the head for her  and there wasn't a cure
[01:44.99]
[01:46.30][Hook - Jean Grae]
[01:48.80]
[01:51.61]Don't you know that  time waits for no man
[01:53.54]Not fate  it's all planned
[01:55.23]
[01:56.54]I'm blessed just to know you
[01:59.10]
[02:00.23]I've loved and I've lost just to hold you all night
[02:02.66]
[02:03.85]Can't find  a reason why
[02:05.40]
[02:06.02]God came  between you and I
[02:08.27]If I had the chance again  I'd never let you go
[02:12.08]Hold tight to your love  'cause you never know
[02:15.03][Verse 2]
[02:15.58]Her eyes are brown and beautiful  yet empty and sad
[02:17.71]
[02:18.27]I used to talk to her occasionally  and she was glad
[02:20.89]
[02:21.64]That I wasn't just another nigga trying to get in it
[02:23.88]
[02:24.70]So every now and then we'd stop and talk for a minute
[02:27.06]
[02:27.88]I didn't have a gimmick so the minutes turned to hours
[02:30.56]On her birthday  I gave her a poem with flowers
[02:33.86]Then I took her out to dinner after her cousin's baby shower
[02:37.04]We talked about  power to the people and such
[02:38.98]
[02:39.79]We spent more time together but it was never enough
[02:42.16]
[02:42.79]I never tried to sneak a touch  or even cop a feel
[02:46.16]I was too interested  in keeping it real
[02:48.21]
[02:48.97]Perfectly honest and complete  she would always call me "carino"
[02:52.58]And never Technique  bought me a new book to read every 2 or 3 weeks
[02:56.71]Forever changing the expression of my thoughts when I speak
[02:59.33]It was because of her  I even deaded all of my freaks
[03:02.63]She convinced me  to stop hangin' out on the streets
[03:05.81]To stop robbin' and stealin'  from people like you
[03:08.75]Instead I took her out to the Apollo and the Bronx Zoo
[03:12.12]We sailed del Barrio and the Metropolitan too
[03:13.93]
[03:14.74]Got to the point when I was either with her or my crew
[03:18.17]So I decided one day  to tell her my feelings was true
[03:21.41]I couldn't live without her so I told her  facing my fears
[03:24.59]But honey's only response  was a face full of tears
[03:27.59]She could only sob hysterically  holding me tight
[03:29.77]
[03:30.53]I tried to speak  but she wouldn't stop until I left sight
[03:32.89]
[03:33.58]I felt like a moth who got himself too close to the light
[03:36.46]Except I didn't burn  I turned cold after that night
[03:38.69]
[03:40.24][Hook - Jean Grae]
[03:40.99]Don't you know that  time waits for no man
[03:43.43]
[03:44.11]Not fate  it's all planned
[03:45.98]
[03:46.81]I'm blessed just to know you
[03:49.79]
[03:50.91]I've loved and I've lost just to hold you all night
[03:53.30]
[03:54.54]Can't find  a reason why
[03:56.04]
[03:56.84]God came  between you and I
[03:58.97]If I had the chance again  I'd never let you go
[04:02.08]
[04:02.91]Hold tight to your love  'cause you never know
[04:05.76][Verse 3]
[04:06.08]I went on with my life  college and my career
[04:08.58]
[04:09.20]Ended up locked up like an animal for a year
[04:11.01]
[04:12.19]Where the C O 's talk to you like they were the overseer
[04:14.62]
[04:15.37]Then I got sent to the hole  when my exit was near
[04:18.07]
[04:18.70]At night in my cell  I'd close my eyes and I'd see her
[04:21.58]Hold her close in my dreams  but when I woke she disappeared
[04:24.01]
[04:24.57]Just an empty cell until the state gave me parole in the summer
[04:28.44]Came back  in tact and on track
[04:30.31]But the fact of the matter  is I still felt cold
[04:33.42]Even after my mother  hugged me  cryin' at home
[04:36.74]My real niggas would catch me thinkin'  out of my zone
[04:39.66]Fuckin' lots of different women  but I still felt alone
[04:42.41]
[04:43.17]Relatively well-known around the New York underground
[04:45.35]
[04:46.15]But I kept thinking of her and how we used to be down
[04:48.97]The sound of her voice  and the beautiful smell of her hair
[04:51.89]Though gone physically  somehow it was still there
[04:55.27]I had to do something  because the shit was too much to bear
[04:58.34]So I went and visited the building where she used to live
[05:01.46]The world looks a lot different after you do a bid
[05:04.45]The way your life done changed
[05:06.06]While primitive minds (are) still stuck in the same game
[05:08.26]
[05:09.19]Like her cousin who was on the corner slangin' cocaine
[05:11.44]
[05:12.05]Stepped in the lobby and tapped the button next to her last name
[05:15.37]Her mom buzzed me up and hugged me up  like a mother ought to
[05:18.90]But her facial expression changed  when I asked about her daughter
[05:21.44][Hook - Jean Grae]
[05:22.19]Don't you know that  time waits for no man
[05:23.74]Not fate  it's all planned
[05:25.06]I'm blessed just to know you
[05:28.24]
[05:29.42]I've loved and I've lost just to hold you all night
[05:31.80]
[05:32.86]Can't find  a reason why
[05:34.60]
[05:35.30]God came  between you and I
[05:36.86]
[05:37.78]If I had the chance again  I'd never let you go
[05:40.84]
[05:41.35]Hold tight to your love  'cause you never know
[05:43.52]
[05:44.21][Verse 4]
[05:44.47]She told me that there was a note for me  that was left behind
[05:47.72]She had left it there waiting  for such a long time
[05:50.51]I was inclined to ask about it but she brought it up first
[05:52.96]
[05:53.63]I saw a tear swelling up in her eye  and then she cursed
[05:56.76]She told me where the letter was and I started thinking the worst
[05:59.76]Reversed my position  stepped over and opened the door
[06:01.94]
[06:02.82]And sure enough there was an envelope with my name on the floor
[06:06.06]"Nobody loves you more than me carino" is what the letter said
[06:09.11]"By the time you get to read this  I'll probably be dead
[06:11.49]
[06:12.18]But when you left in '97 a part of me went to Heaven
[06:15.36]I thank God at least I got to know what love really was
[06:18.29]But it hurt me  to see what true love really does
[06:21.28]'Cause even though we never made love  you were all that there was
[06:24.46]It was because I loved you so much that I had to make you leave
[06:27.31]
[06:28.06]You made me doubt the way I thought  you made me want to believe
[06:31.06]And then I slipped up  and I let you get close to me
[06:33.74]It was hard to not be openly when people spoke to me
[06:36.74]This was not the way I thought my life was supposed to be
[06:39.72]Baby don't you see  I had a blood transfusion that left me with HIV
[06:43.47]
[06:44.54]Hoped the end exists for me since late in 1993
[06:47.57]I died a virgin  I wish I could've given myself to you
[06:50.57]I cried in the hospital because there was no one else but you
[06:53.77]Promise that you'll meet me in paradise inevitably
[06:55.45]
[06:56.89]No matter what  I'll keep your love forever with me"
[06:59.18]
[07:00.19]What happened for the rest of the day is still a blur
[07:03.05]But I remember wishing that I was dead  instead of her
[07:05.93]She was buried on August 3rd
[07:07.48]The story ends without a sequel
[07:08.99]And now you know why Technique  don't fucking fall in love with people
[07:12.17]Hold the person that you love closely if they're next to you
[07:14.47]
[07:15.03]The one you love  not the person that'll simply have sex with you
[07:18.28]Appreciate them to the fullest extent  and then beyond
[07:20.96]
[07:21.72]'Cause you never really know what you got  until it's gone