Talib Kweli - Black Girl Pain lyrics
(feat. Jean Grae) [Talib Kweli] I do it for the people, I do it for the love I do it for the poet, I do it for the thug This is for victory, and this is for the slaughter I do it for my mother, I do it for my daughter Promise I'll always love ya, I love to kiss and hug ya You and your brother should be lookin out for one another I'm so blessed, man, y'all the reason I got up Somebody put his hands on you I'm gettin locked up I'm not playin, that's the prayer I'm sayin for Diani And if I die then she'll be protected by Amani That's her bigger brother and I love the way he love her She a girly-girl, she love to imitate her mother But she a Gemini, so stay on her friendly side She'll put that look on you, it's like somebody' friend just died My pretty black princess smell sweet like that incense That you buy at the bookstore supporting black business Teach her what black is; the fact is her parents are thorough She four reading Cornrows by Camille Yarborough I keep her hair braided, bought her a black Barbie I keep her mind free; she ain't no black zombie This is for Aisha, this is for Kashera This is for Khadijah scared to look up in the mirror I see the picture clearer thru the stain on the frame She got a black girl name, she livin black girl pain This is for Makeba, and for my mamacita What's really good, ma? I'll be your promise-keeper I see the picture clearer thru the stain on the frame She got a black girl name, she livin black girl pain [Hook] My mama said life would be so hard Growin up days as a black girl scarred In so many ways though we've come so far They just know the name they don't know the pain So please hold your heads up high Don't be ashamed of yourself know I Will carry it forth til the day I die They just know the name they don't know the pain black girl [Jean Grae] This is for Beatrice Bertha Benjamin who gave birth to Tsidi Azeeda for Lavender Hill for Kyalisha ALTHLONE, Mitchells Plain, Swazi girls I'm reppin for thee Mannesburg, Guguletu where you'd just be blessed to get thru For beauty shinin thru like the sun at the highest noon From the top of the cable car at Table Mountain; I am you Girls with the skyest blue of eyes and the darkest skin For Cape Colored allied for realizing we're African For all my cousins back home, the strength of mommy's backbone The length of which she went for raising, sacrificing her own The pain of not reflecting the range of our complexions For rubber pellet scars on Auntie Elna's back I march Fist raised caramel shinin in all our glory For Mauritius, St, Helena; my blood is a million stories Winnie for Joan and for Edie, for Norma, Leslie, Ndidi For Auntie Betty, for Melanie; all the same family Fiona, Jo Burg, complex of mixed girls For surviving thru every lie they put into us now The world is yours and I swear I will stand focused Black girls, raise up your hands; the world should clap for us [Hook] My mama said life would be so hard Growin up days as a black girl scarred In so many ways though we've come so far They just know the name they don't know the pain So please hold your heads up high Don't be ashamed of yourself know I Will carry it forth til the day I die They just know the name they don't know the pain black girl