[Esoteric]

Yo Friday night, feelin right, fuckin with this bad chick

Gats click, now I'm hit, shit, watch the blood spit

I fall face down, background is H-Town

Needle drag, music stops, people call the cops

For a rap cat, shot dead in the back

Over a dame, for some reason of which I cannot explain

My name was little known at this time

'less we use the Boston, Mass. as the measuring line

My crime bein waxed, redirects, people's TV's set

Maybe you're seein the checks, or see 'em as threats

My fam cries at the wake, some guys do steaks

With their eyes on my tape, realizin my surprisin fate

Ten-to-five covered, then from five-to-eight

Now the average rap fan starts to gravitate

to the Ese-Esoteric, to see if they were sleepin

on a dope MC whose skills need peepin


[Chorus: Esoteric (7L)]

It's tough stayin underground when you're six feet deep

And major labels profit off of that, but then there's freak

("It's Esoteric"), ("Rest in peace")

And now everybody's checkin for my posthumous release

[scratched twice: RZA] "Death is a final step!"

[Jadakiss] "You know dead rappers get better promotion"

"Death is a final step!"


[Esoteric]

Check.. now as I look down, it's kinda tough swallowin

the fact that I'm a dead rapper with a cult followin

Legions of fans got their hands on my old jams

And new fans, they were sayin "Oh damn!"

at every punchline, and now the rumors break and hit

Cause everybody knew that I was workin on some new shit

Cats askin, "Who's on it? Who produced it?"

Straight up, just ask deceased, let the man {"rest in peace"}

All my old friends are now sayin that's a spiritual

My mother wants my material

Girlfriends sayin that I'm lyrical, fightin over rights

Sellin R.I.P. t-shirts at open mics

Fans thought the East/West was comin to South

Got the Source van in front of my house

XXL and Elemental runnin their mouth

Got my dad depressed, he's bout to flip, put a gun in his mouth


[Chorus]


[Esoteric]

Now majors havin bidding wars, and deals on the table

Labels unstable cause my face is on cable

Even underground critics say that I'm the best that did it

Even though they shitted on my last hit-it

I don't get it, Sony pimped me up in a week

And now my acapella's flowin over wack commercial beats

They shot my video, with an Esoteric stunt double

in a Lex bubble, sayin it was footage from the night before the trouble

No red tape, just sample clearances and mad guest appearances

(Like who?) A lot of guys whom I never authorized

As my mother looks into the skies to apologize

Although I'm dead mom, my soul remains undaunted

Now you can actually afford the things you wish you flaunted

And even though every studio will be haunted

I finally got the major label budget that I wanted