Letter to the King

I used to hold the remote of my mother's TV

As a mic and emulate you, rap along to everything

You was the reason I started emceeing, nothing as real as

Instead of homework, I would study your lyrics (Yeah)

'Cause you would hit us with the science and physics and rhymes so descriptive

The image in the mind was so vivid, I closed my eyes and I lived it

That's how you push the mind to its limits and making us feel

Half man, half amazing

, for real, my inspiration

I still remember the first time I heard

It Was Written

"The Message," "I Gave You Power," look, your shit was just different

Illmatic

was like a Bible, that shit gave my life a mission

I was just a kid that had a vision (Yeah)

Fast-forward, it's Nas, the God's son, the greatest of all time

Helped me through depression and the dark times, I'm saying

I used to drive drunk by myself bumping

"Drunk By Myself"

Going wherever instinct takes me

And you might not know me, but where I'm from, I'm the one

See, I'm deep in they lives

In my community, they call me the Armenian Nas

And all I know, you was my childhood hero

So I'm here to salute your legacy, never dispute supremacy, dog

So I chose to reach out like this

Taught us to stay true to what we be about like this

Went from the projects to Harvard

, street profit evolved fast

Peace and love, God, sincerely yours, R Dash[Chorus]

This a letter to the king, a letter to the God

Nothing for me to pen an open letter from the heart

'Cause if only I reach one person how you reached my soul

Then if so, I done reached my goal

So this a letter to the king, a letter to the God

Nothing for me to pen an open letter from the heart

'Cause if only I reach one person how you reached my soul

Then if so, I done reached my goal

(So this a letter to the king)

Headphones on, was rocking for months

"The Way I Am,"

rapping along off the top of my lungs

That was the anthem for every kid that's feeling empty as vacuum (Yeah)

Sitting by myself in the corner, back of the classroom

Hiding inside my hoodie, broken but never crack (Yeah)

'Cause you taught me to be a fucking

soldier 'til I collapse

(Ah)

Infinite

from the brink of it, how this kid even think of it? (Ha)

I would study your patterns like how he spitting so intricate?

All I wanted to be as a teen that was hurt

Was

the meanest emcee on the sea, on this Earth

You're the king of this controversy, from

Shady

to

King Mathers

All the shit you had to go through to get to that king status

You came in this game brutally honest, offending lotta folks (Yeah)

But I could instantly hear the pain that's hiding behind the jokes (Pain)

To say you've been through it all is an understatement

But you wasn't scared to share it with us, so we all related

From your baby mama, your daughters, your moms, to the drugs (Ah)

You single-handedly broke the barriers of this culture

And I know you sacrificed a whole lot and the fame depresses you (We know)

'Cause your level of fame is different, dog, they just obsessed with you (Different)

But I always say the chosen one's supposed to struggle

And you changed so many lives, that's including mines, you know

Where I'm from, I'm the one, ain't no need to pretend

In my community, they call me the Armenian Em

And, yeah, I still hope that one day, me and you can work

Huh, I just put that out in the universe

Rap God, I'm just writing this from the heart

'Cause I'm here to salute your legacy, never dispute supremacy, dog

Nobody could've designed it better (Nobody)

Marshall Mathers, the greatest of all time forever

Thank you for being the inspiration that we all need

Peace and love, God, sincerely yours, R-Mean[Chorus]

This a letter to the king, a letter to the God

Nothing for me to pen an open letter from the heart

'Cause if only I reach one person how you reached my soul

Then if so, I done reached my goal

So this a letter to the king, a letter to the God

Nothing for me to pen an open letter from the heart

'Cause if only I reach one person how you reached my soul

Then if so, I done reached my goal

(So this a letter to the king)