I first saw my baby on the Subway train   on my way home from a cue in White Plains   A pretty young thing, brown eyes and skin clean   with the poise of a queen though she was only 15   And I was 16, my mind was in a swirl,    and by the looks of this girl    I was a peasant   who did not have a chance or a prayer in the world   Just another nigga with them rasta curls   so she on the train did avoid me    Sick to her brain assumin' I would most likely be   a hustler, I said fuck it, she could never like me   or much less love   I knew she was special, never all of the above   And then I closed my eyes to envision me and her as one   on a California beach in the sun   When I opened my eyes, yo, the train ride was done   I glanced her way, only to receive nothing in return   knowing that one day I would earn   a chance with this woman trapped in a teen's body   I would play America, you could be John Gotti, I'm sayin...      [You're My Lady]   California, California   You remind me, You remind me   [You're My Lady]   California, Califonia   You remind me, You remind me      A whole year went by without seeing her once   It seemed that every day was as long as a month   And now it seemed days eternally   It's she I want, but also to be an MC is what I wanted   To earn a dollar, every other girl seemed sour   The only thing I pictured in my mind    was my California sunshine   I told my niggas in time, that girl would be mine   They called me crazy, assumin' that I was mad lazy   and lacked the monetary   assets, plus my style was not sanitary   Cuz everybody knew she was fly with fitness   being witness to her once a year was cool   fuck Christmas   When I brought it up my niggas dismissed   ignoring the mockery    I kept it locked in my mind tightly   California you remind me   Yo, I didn't have my niggas behind me   but then, you were taken anyway   forcing me to postpone plan A   Cali-forn-i-ay...      Chorus      >From a distance   Analyzed my prey with persistence   comin' up with a system   it was straight, a phone call around eight   conversate for a while to find   the whole time it was a mutual attraction   and that news was old   I'm in bliss apparently she was watchin' me   and expected we to probably be   As coherent as the East Coast   and West Coast be   A B-Boy's dream, the serene   yin to my yang that was ragin'   I was amazed   this was all happenin' before a nigga got paid   And after the storm cleared from his parade   Now, there ain't such a thing as stress   She got my back, and with that   I know how it's blessed   A nigga who figured that the search wouldn't start   for another few years I would just stay apart   In love with the Triple X, Heiny and Hennessy   but now you remind me, California memory...      Chorus