Black

[00:21.04] Look, black is beautiful, black is excellent

[00:25.54] Black is pain, black is joy, black is evident

[00:28.54] It's workin' twice as hard as the people you know you're better than

[00:31.54] 'Cause you need to do double what they do so you can level them

[00:34.29] Black is so much deeper than just African-American

[00:37.04] Our heritage been severed, you never got to experiment

[00:39.79] With family trees, 'cause they teach you 'bout famine and greed

[00:43.29] And show you pictures of our fam on their knees

[00:45.29] Tell us we used to be barbaric, we had actual queens

[00:48.04] Black is watchin' child soldiers gettin' killed by other children

[00:51.04] Feelin' sick, like, "Oh shit, this could have happened to me"

[00:53.54] Your mummy watchin' tellin' stories 'bout your dad and your niece

[00:56.79] The blacker the berry the sweeter the juice

[00:59.78] A kid dies, the blacker the killer, the sweeter the news

[01:02.29] And if he's white you give him a chance, he's ill and confused

[01:05.29] If he's black he's probably armed, you see him and shoot

[01:08.54] Look, black is growin' up around the barbershop

[01:11.30] Mummy sayin', "Stay away from trouble, you're in yard a lot"

[01:14.04] Studying for ages, appreciatin' the chance you got

[01:17.05] 'Cause black is in your blood, and you ain't even got the heart to stop

[01:19.79] Black is steppin' in for your mother because your father's gone

[01:23.04] And standin' by your children when you haven't proven karma wrong

[01:25.54] Black is doin' all of the above then goin' corner shoppin'

[01:28.78] Tryna help a lady cross the road to have her walkin' off

[01:31.54] Black is growin' up around your family and makin' it

[01:34.29] Then being forced to leave the place you love because there's hate in it

[01:37.05] People say you fake the shit, never stayed to change the shit

[01:40.04] But black is bein' jealous, you'd be dead if you had stayed in it

[01:42.79] Black is strugglin' to find your history or trace the shit

[01:45.54] You don't know the truth about your race 'cause they erasin' it

[01:48.54] Black has got a sour fuckin' flavour, here's a taste of it

[01:51.29] But black is all I know, there ain't a thing that I would change in it

[02:00.88] Look, black ain't just a single fuckin' colour, man there's shades to it

[02:08.63] Her hair's straight and thick but mine's got waves in it

[02:11.13] Black is not divisive, they been lyin' and I hate the shit

[02:14.13] Black has never been a competition, we don't make this shit

[02:17.13] Black is deadly

[02:18.39] Black is when you're freezin' in your home and you can't get sleep but never feelin' empty

[02:22.88] 'Cause you got 20 cousins in your country living stress-free

[02:25.88] Walkin' for their water, daughter wrapped inside a bed sheet

[02:28.63] Black is distant

[02:29.88] It's representin' countries that never even existed while your grandmother was livin'

[02:33.88] Black is my Ghanaian brother readin' into scriptures

[02:37.13] Doin' research on his lineage, findin' out that he's Egyptian

[02:39.88] Black is people namin' your countries on what they trade most

[02:42.63] Coast of Ivory, Gold Coast, and the Grain Coast

[02:45.39] But most importantly to show how deep all this pain goes

[02:48.62] West Africa, Benin, they called it slave coast

[02:51.38] Black is so confusin', 'cause the culture? They're in love with it

[02:54.38] They take our features when they want and have their fun with it

[02:57.13] Never seem to help with all the things we know would come with it

[02:59.87] Loud in our laughter, silent in our sufferin'

[03:02.63] Black is bein' strong inside and facing defeat

[03:05.38] Poverty made me a beast, I battled the law in the streets

[03:07.88] We all struggled, but your struggle ain't a struggle like me

[03:10.90] Well how could it be when your people gave us the odds that we beat?

[03:13.88] I mean, fuckin' hell, what about our brothers that are stuck in jail?

[03:16.63] That couldn't bust a bell, they held a bird and gotta live with it

[03:19.88] Black is bein' guilty until proven that you're innocent

[03:22.89] Black is sayin', "Free my fucking niggas stuck inside in prison cells"

[03:25.88] They think it's funny, we ain't got nothin' to say to them

[03:28.38] Unconditional love is strange to them; it's amazin' 'em

[03:31.38] Black is like the sweetest fuckin' flavour, here's a taste of it

[03:34.38] But black is all I know, there ain't a thing that I would change in it