Talib Kweli
"Black Girl Pain"

[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