Black Girl Pain Lyrics - Jean Grae

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 through 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 through the stain on the frame 

She got a black girl name, she livin' black girl pain 

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 

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 through 

For beauty shinin through 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 through 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 

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