20 of the Best Lyrics From Shawty Lo’s ‘R.I.C.O.’ Album
2016 was a bittersweet year for the city of Atlanta, with a string of untimely deaths putting a damper on the city’s dominant 12 months within the rap game. One of the more tragic deaths to rock the Atlanta hip-hop community last year was that of Shawty Lo, who passed away on Sept. 21, 2016, at age 40 as a result of injuries suffered in a deadly car crash in his hometown of Atlanta. From Future to 50 Cent and more, hip-hop was in shock at the news of this death.
A veteran in the Atlanta rap scene, Shawty Lo, born Carlos Rico Walker, was a founding member of rap group D4L. The rapper would break out as a solo act with the release of his 2007 single, “Dey Know,” which peaked at No. 3 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Rap Songs chart, leading to the release of his debut album, Units in the City, which would establish him as a name to know out of the South.
Although Shawty Lo would not release a sophomore album to capitalize on the momentum of his debut, he would release several mixtapes and partner with heavyweights like 50 Cent, whom Shawty inked a deal with to bring his own D4L Records under the G-Unit umbrella. His untimely death may have been a major blow to fans of the Bowen Homes legend, but his music lives on with his posthumous album, R.I.C.O., which consists of material recorded prior to his death, as well as more recent contributions from the likes of Ralo, Boosie BadAzz, Lyfe Jennings, Stuntman and Yung Ralph, as well as his own children, Quando and Keke.
With R.I.C.O. having been in heavy rotation since it was released, we’ve decided to highlight 20 of the best lyrics from the album in celebration of the occasion. R.I.P. Shawty Lo.
“Known to do my thing nigga, no lie/Keep ‘em wrapped up and pretty like a bowtie/And I ain’t got a crossover/But all the shit I talk, I just might cross over/I see ya bang but you can’t chew it/Do it big nigga, or don’t do it”
“Drugz”
Shawty Lo Featuring Ralo
“Play with snow in the summer/YSL cost a bundle
We did kill ‘em this summer/And I don’t believe in karma/I believe in commas/Big dog like roof/West side of the jungle” – Shawty Lo
“Drugz”
Shawty Lo Faturing Ralo
“Remember them shots, we used to shoot for them/You popped a lot, but you used to root for them/You had them shaking that laffy taffy/You used to make all them niggas happy/You was the man before you started rapping/You made all of your kids proud of their daddy” – Ralo
“Forty dancing them thirties, water pierce, that’s dirty/Mama said I ain’t worth it, tell me what’s my purpose?/Couldn’t sing or dance, raise my right hand/Hope god understand, understood, understand”
“Pull up in that foreign, red coupe two seater/You leave no pussy, red bitch, I ate her/Smell like that water running like that faucet/Red bottoms, I bought ‘em, sweating all this sauce”
“Thirty”
Shawty Lo Featuring O.T. Genesis
“Wrapping but a nigga still hands on/Never hit the trap without my handgun/Never take a rap without my Samsung/Never trust these niggas ’cause they tampons/Cooking that curry, gettin’ Steph Curry/Whip it up now, you can get a McFlurry” – O.T. Genesis
“Mud”
Shawty Lo Featuring Stuntman and Lynn Tate
“Pull up in this bitch like Frank White/Straight up off that water, got great white/And I remember on them late nights/Grandma want me in before the streetlights/Rest in peace to grandma, I really miss you shawty/Now I’m doing good, all they do is talk about me” – Shawty Lo
“Mud”
Shawty Lo Featuring Stuntman and Lynn Tate
“Lemme say this where I’m at it/Got my own money now, a nigga fronted me/Niggas hating ain’t nothing to me/Mad ‘cause they still up under me/I’m getting money, yeah abundantly/In my coat where that thunder be” – Stuntman
“B.I.G.”
Featuring Boosie Badazz and Alexis Branch
“My mama died of cancer when I was seventeen/Hell happened to the American dream?/Bankhead hero, ’bout the dinero/I always want to be bigger than Nino/Cash started casting, and now it’s plastic/Y’all keep hating but I made it you faggots/High off the M’s, I am an addict/You married to the white girl, she so attractive” – Shawty Lo
“B.I.G.”
Shawty Lo Featuring Boosie BadAzz and Alexis Branch
“All my albums are classics, underrated though/People asking why you keep having them babies/When you ain’t even really made it though?/The college girl, the crazy ho/The times when the money low/The pain Bankhead feel the day they lost Shawty Lo” – Boosie BadAzz
“Cookin’”
Shawty Lo Featuring Yung Ralph
“Need some extra hands, all the money that we counting/All these diamonds on me, you can call me water fountain/Nigga cop a coupe, same day going mounting/Good with them digits, I don’t need no accountant/And they know a nigga represent the three like Curry/OG money, whip it in a circle like skerr” – Yung Ralph
“Trap House Love”
Shawty Lo
“I want you to feel comfortable until I’m up under you/I toss you ‘round for a bit, we sucking and fucking too/I’ma fuck you on a milly, with that molly right next to you/Don’t worry ‘bout them twenties, I got fifties and hundreds too”
“My Love”
Shawty Lo Featuring Lyfe Jennings
“My love, long as I’m breathing/You’re what I’m feeling ‘til the end of time/Even when I touch the sky/You’ll be my love, my guardian angel/Just wanna thank you for holding me down/Nobody else was around” – Lyfe Jennings
“My Love”
Shawty Lo Featuring Lyfe Jennings
“I’m from the hood, shawty from the suburbs/She in my nest getting rest, that’s my love bird/Shawty got that good love/I swear to god she remind me of my first plug/She remind me of that white girl/They make moves, I make movies” – Shawty Lo
“Tell Em That”
Shawty Lo
“I like my girl, she like girls/Anything said behind my back considered fightin’ words/I got your lady, turned you to a hater nigga/You can start a war, it won’t end in your favor nigga/On my bullshit, Rosé by the cases/She might be bad to you, but to me she basic”
“Ten years, ten reasons/Wanna hear the rest? served one year in prison/I couldn’t sleep, I was steady fighting my demons/I gotta thank god that the kid still breathing”
“Champion”
Shawty Lo Featuring Quando
“Do it with a passion and that’s to the last breath of me/Sixteen summers and you still ain’t learned the recipe/Thirty-six five, my nigga still play piano keys/Bowen Homes forever, nigga still play them backstreets/Floyd Mayweather fly, Yeah I got them racks on me/Built Not Bought, we an empire, not a faculty” – Quando
“Letter to My Father”
Shawty Lo
“Red in my eyes, tears on my cheek/It’s not a dream, thought I was sleep, don’t know what to think/My mama was screaming, we came from the beach/My daddy gone, I know he at home, I know he at peace”
“Why You Leave”
Shawty Lo Featuring Quando and KeKe
“But for my mothers, for my sisters, gotta make it through/Never switch sides on ’em, never turn my back on ’em/These other suckers tryna square I got your back homie/Grandma miss you dearly, know you’re smiling down on me/Never turned your back on me, always held me down homie/Even in the deepest ocean, know that I would drown for ya’” – Quando
“Why You Leave”
Shawty Lo Featuring Quando and KeKe
“How the fuck should I feel?/I get a call that my dad just went down the hill/How the fuck should I feel?/Man is it real? won’t y’all tell me ’bout that/Everybody screaming that they fuck with my dad/When he was here where was everybody at?” – KeKe
