Talib Kweli - Black Girl Pain Lyrics
[Talib Kweli]I do it for the people, I do it for the loveI do it for the poet, I do it for the thugThis is for victory, and this is for the slaughterI do it for my mother, I do it for my daughterPromise I'll always love ya, I love to kiss and hug yaYou and your brother should be lookin out for one anotherI'm so blessed, man, y'all the reason I got upSomebody put his hands on you I'm gettin locked upI'm not playin, that's the prayer I'm sayin for DianiAnd if I die then she'll be protected by AmaniThat's her bigger brother and I love the way he love herShe a girly-girl, she love to imitate her motherBut she a Gemini, so stay on her friendly sideShe'll put that look on you, it's like somebody' friend just diedMy pretty black princess smell sweet like that incenseThat you buy at the bookstore supporting black businessTeach her what black is; the fact is her parents are thoroughShe four reading Cornrows by Camille YarboroughI keep her hair braided, bought her a black BarbieI keep her mind free; she ain't no black zombieThis is for Aisha, this is for KasheraThis is for Khadijah scared to look up in the mirrorI see the picture clearer thru the stain on the frameShe got a black girl name, she livin black girl painThis is for Makeba, and for my mamacitaWhat's really good, ma? I'll be your promise-keeperI see the picture clearer thru the stain on the frameShe got a black girl name, she livin black girl pain[Hook]My mama said life would be so hardGrowin up days as a black girl scarredIn so many ways though we've come so farThey just know the name they don't know the painSo please hold your heads up highDon't be ashamed of yourself know IWill carry it forth til the day I dieThey just know the name they don't know the pain black girl[Jean Grae]This is for Beatrice Bertha Benjamin who gave birth toTsidi Azeeda for Lavender Hill for KyalishaALTHLONE, Mitchells Plain, Swazi girls I'm reppin for theeMannesburg, Guguletu where you'd just be blessed to get thruFor beauty shinin thru like the sun at the highest noonFrom the top of the cable car at Table Mountain; I am youGirls with the skyest blue of eyes and the darkest skinFor Cape Colored allied for realizing we're AfricanFor all my cousins back home, the strength of mommy's backboneThe length of which she went for raising, sacrificing her ownThe pain of not reflecting the range of our complexionsFor rubber pellet scars on Auntie Elna's back I marchFist raised caramel shinin in all our gloryFor Mauritius, St, Helena; my blood is a million storiesWinnie for Joan and for Edie, for Norma, Leslie, NdidiFor Auntie Betty, for Melanie; all the same familyFiona, Jo Burg, complex of mixed girlsFor surviving thru every lie they put into us nowThe world is yours and I swear I will stand focusedBlack girls, raise up your hands; the world should clap for us[Hook]My mama said life would be so hardGrowin up days as a black girl scarredIn so many ways though we've come so farThey just know the name they don't know the painSo please hold your heads up highDon't be ashamed of yourself know IWill carry it forth til the day I dieThey just know the name they don't know the pain black girl
