King's Wake

I hear the choir moan through the limousine glass

Tinted black, twenty deep, but I'm alone in the back

Hail Mary, full of grace, can you save a sinner?

Or do the prayers just bounce off the roof of the Beamer?

I got the .44 cocked by the thigh, uh

But the steel don't stop the spirits when they fly by, uh

See, I done made more graves than I made hits

And the ghosts of my past keep rattlin' the kits

However, the show must proceed to the stage

Another twenty thousand screamin' out my name in a rage

Of adoration, but I see assassination

In every face in the crowd, no hesitation

They love you when you breathin', forget you when you leakin'

I learned that from the pavement, not from preachin'

So I clutch the rosary and the Mac-10

Hail Mary, tell me if the end is a friend

I used to sell death by the vial on the corner

Now I sell hope on the vinyl, I'm a goner

Either way, the reaper get his commission

I just changed the currency, not the condition

Listen — I got enemies I never met

Got bodyguards for bodyguards, deeper debt

Of fear I owe to the night, it collects

Every evening at sunset with no respect

For my status, for my platinum plaques

The bullet don't discriminate, it just cracks

Through the vest, through the chest, through the myth

That money make a mortal man exempt from the scythe

But I'm exempt from nothin', I know the truth now

Every smile in my direction got a tooth out

For my throat, so I float in the bulletproof

Hail Mary, is the roof really bulletproof?

Last night I dreamt I was at my own wake

Dressed in Versace, but my eyes wouldn't stay

Open, the casket was open, the public was hopin'

For one last photo, one last token

Of the king, but the king was cold in the ring

No bell to save him, no rope, no thing

Just silence, and Puff cryin' in the front row

Ma screamin' "Why they have to take my son, though?"

I woke up sweatin' in the silk sheets, shakin'

The Glock under the pillow, safety breakin'

Under my thumb, I ain't slept in a week

'Cause sleep is when they come for the weak

However, the world spin regardless

So I pour the Cristal for the dearly departed

Drink to the livin', pray for the dead

Hail Mary, protect the king's head

They say Biggie got it all, but all I got is pressure

Every blessing wrapped in a bullet, that's the measure

Of success on the coast where the coast ain't clear

Every friend is a potential end of the year

Obituary column, I read 'em for sport

'Til I seen my own name, now the laughter is short

See, I been ready to die since I was twenty

But now that death is real, the bravado is empty

I stand at the mirror, who the f*** is this?

Just a fat kid from Fulton who wanted a kiss

From the world, now the world want a piece of my soul

And the devil want the rest when the story is told

So I load the clip with my left, bless with my right

Hail Mary, full of grace, through the night

If I don't see the morning, let the record show

Biggie Smalls died with his eyes closed