"The album as a whole is about gentrification and cultural appropriation, from cover to cover. It starts with my neighborhood with the way that it once was and ends with what it’s currently turned into. With “St. James Liquors”, it’s a story of what my neighborhood used to be like, and it uses 13 year old me as a catalyst of these two types of individuals that my friends and I were in awe of: the guys outside and the musicians who represented them. As a young kid writing rhymes and growing up a block away from the late great Notorious BIG, inspiration was easy to get, as it was literally footsteps away. The tug of war of the guys on the block who were stars and the guys who represented them who were stars, and the irony of them going hand in hand, was something that had my head on a swivel as a teenager. This song breaks down the dichotomy of the two. Kenny Keys created the beautiful backdrop, my long time collaborator Sean Taylor added the trumpets, and rising songstress Aaria took the vision I had harmonically and brought it all home. The title was the name of the liquor store in my hood that’s now turned into a pharmacy. Sums it all up perfectly." - Skyzoo
lyrics
Bridge::
With all this money that we can make,
Why donʼt yʼall just lead the way,
Do you wanna get money or not, do you,
Do you wanna get money or not, do you
Verse 1:
My first view of what it do was with my crew posted on the stoop,
gold chain, small rope but bitches peeped the cool,
wore mine, all the time, inspired by the corner kind,
foreign ride, tints on 35, trap door inside
for the stick, 95ʼs for the kicks,
neon green, I had ‘em too but was married to Penny 1ʼs,
where habits could get you done and the addicts was on the run,
Biggie shit was the Bible and the Magic had almost won,
And it all made sense but the pattern it would become
when youʼre watching a BMW advocate all them jums,
it seemed, more or less like the havoc that could be done is relieved,
As long as you got a bag and a muffled tongue and I seen,
How it be when it comes to Idolatry,
we just wanted to cop an Aviʼ and see what Idalis need,
you know, pop bottles, chicks that favor Idalis,
you jump off the stoop like “I got us”,
It only takes one,
be it a vision on how to get it or a kid who can picture it when the dayʼs done,
growing up outta pocket while being shown how to make one,
my mans followed the flute of whoever played one,
Theme songs recorded until the tape done,
I heard ‘em all but was juggling how my tapes run,
13 with a view of how good a crown fits,
word to everyone I was floating around with
Hook:
Caught a vision and saw it like there it go,
There it go!
Tryna fly off the stoop to where it go,
Where it go!
Celebrate with a bottle like here it go,
Here it go!
Like “pour me mine”, yo fuck if I wasnʼt grown
There you go!
(Repeat 2x)
Verse 2:
My first view of what it do was with my crew posted on the stoop,
dope name, all the OGs would call me Zoo,
first rhyme, I was 9, but rhymed like I was corner tied,
kicking what I saw from off the line, I was fortified
With a pen, what a Stuy corner did,
turned me out to follow my neighbor
when Luigiʼs wouldnʼt pay us,
we was too young, still went everyday as soon as school done,
he used to float by in the black Lex, the new one,
I knew son, from right up the block, they called him B.I.,
rolled around with D-Roc, posted up by the C line,
biggest in the hood while, all black with his hood down,
St. James Liquor shooting dice like “who nice”?,
Fast forward overnight and a video shoot is on,
Iʼm watching from ‘cross the street, Iʼm picturing me involved,
Iʼm only in junior high but fuck if I wasnʼt grown,
and I had 100 verses that hit like 100 zones,
Fast forward even more to a throne
with BIG sitting inside of, mafia in tow,
and Iʼm tryna get a role,
and as far as 18 and unders, not a soul could follow me off the go,
whole hood know, but I was just tryna be him in time,
he wrote an album about my block, The Source shouldʼve gave it 5,
right? 13 with a view of how good a crown fit,
word to everyone I was floating around with
