B.o.B - New Black Lyrics

Tell me what it means
To be black, someone tell me what it means
Who I gotta vote for, who am I to be
What car I gotta drive, where I gotta buy my jeans, black man
If you ain't really hood, you can't be a black man
Is it cause I'm proper when I speak, black man
Should I be a chain and gold teeth black man
Or a Martin Luther King had a dream black man, a dream black man
You really gotta practice what you preach, black man
How you gonna talk about peace, black man
When I got death threats on my screen
I am not the enemy, black man
So who draws the first straw
Everybody hurt, who caused the first scar
'Cause as soon as you see niggas get to fighting
You be the first mother fucker wanna yell out World Star
Can't nobody else touch a nigga
But it's cool for a brother just to bust a nigga
Guns sold in every hood, he'll slay a dozen niggas
Gon' kill yourself, while you're at it, take a couple with you
And that don't justify the cop shit, I'm just on some black mob shit
The best way to protest, hit 'em where it hurts, their pockets
It's time to boycott shit
We need less rappers and more doctrines
We need less ballers and more prophets
We need more unity, less gossip
But who am I to speak, I never went to college
I hate to be the bearer of bad news
But all of this double standard thinking is taboo
If black hate is a myth, the term new black wouldn't even exist
I pray for tomorrow, I pray for the sorrow
I pray for the truth and I pray for Chicago
I pray for Detroit and I pray for Oakland
I pray for Port Au Prince and I pray for New Orleans
Somebody let me know, how can I be a better African American
Like I ain't grow up being black in America
Like I ain't grow up around crack, AIDS and heroin
Damn

They don't really know, black man
They don't really know, ugh, they don't really
They don't really know, black man, black man, black man

They don't really know, ugh, they don't really
They don't really know, black man, black man, black man

They don't really know, ugh, they don't really
They don't really know, black man, black man, black man

They don't really know, ugh, they don't really know, ugh

Sim simmer sim simmer, ugh
Pour some liquor, for my niggas, ugh
Bust a swisher, roll a cigar
Hitta another strip club, throw my income
Well, I guess it's all we know
Hate is all we been taught, so that's all we show
Just a nigga from Decatur, white as all our doors
Even though the days of dark, still we all got hope
So what's the motive
We don't control shit, cause we don't own shit
Even in our own hoods, we ain't votin'
And not just for Obama, but locally voting, that's power
Rome wasn't built in just an hour
Can you hear me, do I need to speak louder
Christopher Columbus ain't the only one founder
They don't mention niggas that was on the Mayflower
Wait a second, let it soak, mind blown
Bobby Ray from a different timezone
I dare to speak my mind, and I'm wrong
Well shove it up your ass with a pinecone
I'm tryna paint the bigger picture
You looking for the enemy, then stare into the mirror
I said I'm trying to paint a bigger picture
You looking for the answer, then look into the mirror, black man

They don't really know, black man
They don't really know, ugh, they don't really
They don't really know, black man, black man, black man

They don't really know, ugh, they don't really
They don't really know, black man, black man, black man

They don't really know, ugh, they don't really
They don't really know, black man, black man, black man

They don't really know, ugh, they don't really know, ugh

I'm not even against the whole movement
Like I'm not even hating on it
It's just, if we put that energy into ourselves
And into our community
And not so much into complaining about how we've been done wrong
And, and we have been done wrong, but it's like
We gotta stop just saying the same thing and do something different
All this energy that we're putting into protesting
We should put it into our community
Put it into start up businesses, put it into your kids
Put it into your community
Start our own businesses
So we don't have to support all these other businesses
Feed the, fuck, feed the homeless all year
Do this all year, don't just stop
Don't just stop after this case is over
Don't just stop after this topic, keep it going