[Intro]
Alright, we gather here around the midnight hour
So we can reason, analysis, articulate
And appreciate the Black experience
The history, the legacy, the lineage, so-called progress
And the great cost at which that has come
James Baldwin said
Anyone who was familiar with poverty was also familiar with
How extremely expensive it is to be poor
I think songs like this speak to how extremely expensive it is to be black

[PART 1]
The dark tones of my skin
Only adds colour to my tears
That splash against my hollow bones
And rock my soul
Thinking back at my lost dream that I once knew
Wondering why it never came true
Ooh! Is it because I'm black?
Somebody tell me, what can I do
I said, something's holding me back
Is it because I'm black?

In this world with no pity
I was born in the ghetto of the city
Momma, had to work so hard
To earn every penny
Listen, something's holding me back
Is it because I'm black?
Oh!
[Part 2]
Look, they say payback is a motherfucking n***a
That's why I'm sick of getting treated like a motherfucking step-child
Living like Assata, I'm in exile
Trying to climb out of my skin just like a reptile
Born with a file, them suits and neckties
Born where the feds file, them suits and neckties
Operating under the code, live and let die
I'm tryin to break free of the hole
But five out of ten brothers gon' see a parole
Who this system fail with Mychal Bell, might as well be Sean
Fat cats picnicking on the White House lawn
And it's only ten percent in the hood, where health benefits
Genocide, Jena Six, guilty 'til we innocent
Citizens, listening to government smooth talk
Take, one step forward and do the moonwalk back
Give me the Peace Prize like Al Gore's
I got a mind like Malcolm X, how 'bout yours?
They have a nerve to ask me why I sing so solemn
Y'all know the name, fuckin' up the game, no condoms
Everybody goddamn first world problems
The secret is inconvenient as DACA dreamers
Fearing DACA dreamers instead of FEMA
Bentley, Benz or a Beamer, Fiji or Aquafina
We fuck around and be the next Iwo Jima
The tides risin' at the same time like, they synchronized
For makin' art, for makin' love, for makin' Hajj
The home is where the hatred lies, they takin' lives
But everybody just so saved and sanctified
Then they rely upon, we the few defiant ones
Communicate in the higher forms than Viacom
To dialogue before the raw or the riot horn
I wonder on which side of the line I belong?
Lady Liberty face full of concealer
I'm half Masta Killa, half Hugh Masekela
Latrophobia, that's a fear of the healer
Kaepernick is an activist, y'all in fear of the kneeler
Everything's obtuse, nothin' is obscene
Another young life was lost on live stream
Another great fell from grace in high esteem
Then the clock struck thirteen, we in some kind of dream
First I'm handling first things, decipher what it means
To a planet of earthlings, where the question remains
Am I a journal or journalist? Herbal eternalist
Olympic tournament level genius author, affirmative
Though turnin' back and returnin', I'm not concerned with it
The permanent ink paved the way out the turbulence
My hands against the wall outside a billiards hall
I hear police discussin' whether to try and kill us all
I questioned if that'd matter, life is like a tree that falls
In the woods, even with iPhone footage to see it fall