The skin I'm in is not a sin
As a matter of fact it's beautiful
Paint a grim picture of all my folks
But all of that's gon blow up in smoke

How long will it take us to see
We're not savages but royalty
Stolen a nation's identity
Still tellin me that I'm free, I look in the mirror and see

I am Black and Beautiful, I am Black and Beautiful
I am Black and Beautiful, I am Black and Beautiful
I am Black and Beautiful!


Zion-I Verse

Uhn!
Sun kissed skin In my element
Ether wired send vibe thru My melanin-Feel it
7 seals cracked When I'm kneeling
Nappy Ol hair Don't care In my feelings

Mocha vanilla To caramel complexion
Ebony brown, Blue black The perfection
Complex dred Help me sense the direction
Blessings rain down Tears fall for protection

Dirt stained hands In a prayer a projection
Ritual contact Renders the flesh and- Blood
flooding down The blocks of processions
Generations rise up Thru suggestion

Ancestors bless the children
Brick by brick- Resurrecting the building
Healing-know who u are- It's appealing-
Knowledge and wisdom God is revealing-The ceiling-

Moving on up-
Prayers in the air Stay fillin my cup-
Feel what I'm sayin We the creators-
Original longtime imitate us-

Tried to take us- Never break us-
It's just us- On a daily basis-
Innovators- They wanna trace us
Dna strand map it down And cake up-

But we got the leg up- When we keep it most high
Energy change but it's Never gone die-
On my shoulders got sky Under foot I got Earth-
God is so good On the vibe I'm gone surf-

Mama got love Daddy got strength
Children got breath- Now it start to make sense-
Letting go a that stress
We all represent
Balance so dense in these Africans Pure elegance-I-

I am Black and Beautiful, I am Black and Beautiful
I am Black and....

Kev Choice Verse

King Choice!
Descendant of royalty king queens and rulers
Tribes of the Zulu the Igbo Yoruba
Don't know your past then you're doomed for the future
You are a diamond no need for a jeweler

Lions of the tribe of Judah conquer
The power within this what we must discover young sisters young brothers
Can't fall victim to the image that's presented
Nothin less than perfection should ever be accepted

Not a blemish or a premise that our pigment is anything else but God's reflection
They used to call me piss colored, high yellow, I used to feel a certain way about it
Til I started gettin a lil knowledge of self
And understood that I am beautiful
In and out and ain't nuttin they can say about it

It's mental conditioning belief
What is the origin if beauty is skin deep
The more we explore our inner corridors
To the pore it's gorgeous

The more we adore under our pores is so important
Deeper than the physical
Ego is the criminal love is the principle

Look into my iris see the rise of the solar
Beauty's in the eye of the beholder
Who are we to judge only father or Jehovah
The devil is a lie tell the truth and it's gon hurt

Until we accept and manifest our essence
The wretched maintain control of the whole earth
LOVE BEAUTIFUL!


The skin I'm in is not a sin
As a matter of fact it's beautiful
Paint a grim picture of all my folks
But all of that's gon blow up in smoke

How long will it take us to see
We're not savages but royalty
Stolen a nation's identity
Still tellin me that I'm free, I look in the mirror and see

OneTruthThePoet Verse

Being Black is an obstacle

A circumstance that makes progress or success difficult

Being Black is a burden

A demand on the strength, ridding of resources and suppression of the abilities of a people

This has been heavy

This Hester Prynne scarlet letter

Permanent tattoo etched into my skin

Being black has never been better

And the lime light has been a tanning bed

Every 28 hrs being black gets you shot by the "authorities"

We scream don't shoot with church pew hands

So can you blame us that every time we see a cop it reminds us of Nazi Germany

Black boys are burnt Jews

Ghettos concentration camps

A police state

Either Hitler wasn't all that bad

Or genocide is a learned behavior

Being black is never being asked to be born

Surviving the system

Get rich; die trying

Live poor, die young, floss, turn up, blow up

Being black is a moment in time

A reckoning

Being black is not a poem

In fact

There are no words to describe being black

No school

No university

No church

No think tank

No community group

No website

Can provide the understanding; the knowing - to feel how heavy this burden is

No one can replicate the beauty

The connections

The eyes

The smiles

The jive

The grandmas

The Sundays

The music - we are the music

Music...

Being black is the hope

The desperation

Having the will to feel that one day

We can lay this burden down

Being black is not a metaphor

Being Black!