Black Boy

[Intro]
But you are more than a descendant of a slave
Tonna, I hate that I have to talk to you about this
You just a boy
When does a boy become a man? How do you know?
I think it's when you can honor the cloud of witnesses who came before you
And respond to hatred with love that transforms

[Verse 1]
Uh, black boy, black boy, did you know that the world is yours?
Your Father built it, presented it to you without a blemish
Your Father's gifted, your Father's gift is a sinless existence
No cause for tears when your eye lid is dripping
Wild up with liquid as your soul cries, water falls from those eyes
Cheek rivers roll by, dropping to the concrete, making a rose rise
Black boy, black boy, did you know that the world is yours?
Your Father built it, and he made it with His hands alone
And then He left you with Emmanuel
How to produce fruit
Engage your culture that can't elope
Let 'em know that the antidote ain't the Pope
How to produce truth
Call 'em like you see 'em like a camera phone
Facetime as a luxury and a loan
You got it but you can't have it, what an anecdote
Black boy, black boy
You can waste it, you can kill it, you can use it, uh
You can spend it on the worthy or the useless
But you'll never get it back like that old thing
Or the Love from that song that En Vogue sings
So what you finna do with these seconds, it's thanksgiving
To the one that's serving blessings
Or you wastin' all this time you got to invest in your stuff and how you dressin', haha
What, you tryna get the yams on the first date?
For your plans 'cause you slammed on your first plate
You ain't notice was a gift in the first place
Why you think he gave grace for you first, ayy
It's all yours, but it's all in time
Some stuff you gotta wait for, so fall in line, uh huh

[Verse 2]
Uh, black boy, black boy, did you know that the world is yours?
And don't let 'em tell you different
Yeah, I know that your father made you different
But not less than the rest 'cause of your shade of pigment
You better light, remember that when the shade is given
You wasn't made to fit in, small expectations given
By the thoughts of baby homo sapiens with jaded memories
Clouded by decades of a racist system
To a child of the Savior risen
Yeah, that's all I got
Uh, black boy, black boy, it's yours

[Interlude]
When you can see the wickedness of the land that you live in and still stand for truth and righteousness, your ancestors, son, they lived and they died, prayin' for you, that you would be free, that you would love, that you would fight, that you would protect, that you would strive, that you would grow. Black man, don't you know the world is yours?

[Verse 3]
Black man, black man, you know it's still yours, right?
Life came, death left, so your birthright
You never really outgrow it but could easily forget it if you're not knowin' history has tried to dumb you down
With whips and chains to keep you from the underground
Give you the runaround
Have you thinkin' what's under your crown
It's not a kings mind and your worth is what you pick up from the ground, it's false
Black man, black man, you forgot you was a king, huh?
And your kingship, it's from the Kinged One
You was a slave, smart, so son, please don't let that change what your free dumb (freedom)
Emancipation was gifted, so each man pay son attention
So he can raise younger generation racin' for image
Imagine a masses of masses making the killing
Then Abraham Lincoln, a modern Moses for most us slaves leaving Egypt, let us go
We dipped, then we meet Jim
Re-lynched on tree limb that belonged to the Crow
From the Crow to ghetto, we still hear the echoes
Of "We Shall Overcome" in Mahalia's strong falsetto
Black man, black man, you know that the world is yours?
Your Father built it with all of these cards against ya
One thing you cannot forget is, you was made in your Father's image: king