Mystery Jets have announced a UK and Ireland tour and shared two new songs from ‘A Hole To See The Sky Through’•

Belinda Carlisle, Kelly Osbourne and Sir Ian McKellen join Scissor Sisters at Mighty Hoopla•

Lily Allen and surprise guest JADE lead Mighty Hoopla's opening day•

Arthur Hill has shared his tongue-in-cheek summer single ‘Hot Sprite’

•

Syd has announced her new album ‘Beard’ and shared lead single ‘Callin’ featuring Blu June•

Cara Delevingne has released a Jessica Lee Gagné-directed short film alongside her debut singles•

Nieve Ella turns humiliation into revenge on new single ‘Bite Back’•

aespa's 'LEMONADE' arrives with guest appearances from Becky G, Ty Dolla $ign and G-DRAGON•

alt-J’s Joe Newman shares ‘Mr Alligator’ as his debut JJerome87 solo album nears•

Keo introduce their debut album 'Put A Smile On For Me' with new single 'That’s Me'•

Blood Orange samples Sky Ferreira’s ‘Everything Is Embarrassing’ on his new song ‘Essex_Honey.mp3’•

Ravyn Lenae says “fuck all of that” on her new album ‘Blue Island’•

Lily Allen has teamed up with JADE for a new version of ‘Beg For Me’•

Skye Newman returns to South East London on her new project ‘SE9 Part 2’•

Perrie’s new single ‘Passenger Princess’ was inspired by wanting someone else to take the wheel•

Audrey Hobert has unveiled a new video for 'Sex and the City' as she begins her headline tour•

The Dork 2025 Readers' Poll nominations are in, featuring CMAT, Turnstile, Wolf Alice, Djo, Hayley Williams and loads more•

flowerovlove has released her first-ever first Christmas track, 'wishlist'•

Mighty Hoopla and Olly Alexander have announced Trans Mission, a concert for trans solidarity•

JADE has announced a deluxe edition of her debut album, 'THAT'S SHOWBIZ BABY! THE ENCORE'•

Mystery Jets have announced a UK and Ireland tour and shared two new songs from ‘A Hole To See The Sky Through’•

Belinda Carlisle, Kelly Osbourne and Sir Ian McKellen join Scissor Sisters at Mighty Hoopla•

Lily Allen and surprise guest JADE lead Mighty Hoopla's opening day•

Arthur Hill has shared his tongue-in-cheek summer single ‘Hot Sprite’•

Syd has announced her new album ‘Beard’ and shared lead single ‘Callin’ featuring Blu June•

Cara Delevingne has released a Jessica Lee Gagné-directed short film alongside her debut singles•

Nieve Ella turns humiliation into revenge on new single ‘Bite Back’•

aespa's 'LEMONADE' arrives with guest appearances from Becky G, Ty Dolla $ign and G-DRAGON•

alt-J’s Joe Newman shares ‘Mr Alligator’ as his debut JJerome87 solo album nears•

Keo introduce their debut album 'Put A Smile On For Me' with new single 'That’s Me'•

Blood Orange samples Sky Ferreira’s ‘Everything Is Embarrassing’ on his new song ‘Essex_Honey.mp3’•

Ravyn Lenae says “fuck all of that” on her new album ‘Blue Island’•

Lily Allen has teamed up with JADE for a new version of ‘Beg For Me’•

Skye Newman returns to South East London on her new project ‘SE9 Part 2’•

Perrie’s new single ‘Passenger Princess’ was inspired by wanting someone else to take the wheel•

Audrey Hobert has unveiled a new video for 'Sex and the City' as she begins her headline tour•

The Dork 2025 Readers' Poll nominations are in, featuring CMAT, Turnstile, Wolf Alice, Djo, Hayley Williams and loads more•

flowerovlove has released her first-ever first Christmas track, 'wishlist'•

Mighty Hoopla and Olly Alexander have announced Trans Mission, a concert for trans solidarity•

JADE has announced a deluxe edition of her debut album, 'THAT'S SHOWBIZ BABY! THE ENCORE'•

Hype-THE BEST NEW NAMES, FIRST

Upset-DORK'S HOME FOR ALL THINGS LOUD

Dork Radio

Live

Live 24/7

Dork Radio

Festival Guides-YOUR ESSENTIAL FESTIVAL COMPANION

Hype-THE BEST NEW NAMES, FIRST

Mixtape-DORK'S BEST NEW TRACKS

Play-DORK'S NEW MUSIC FRIDAY EDIT

Upset-DORK'S HOME FOR ALL THINGS LOUD

Playlist Covers

Playlist Directory

Before Doors-LIVE SESSIONS

Music Video Directory

Down With Boring-THE DORK PODCAST

Chart Attack-UK NUMBER ONES, DISSECTED

Down With Boring

Join thousands of music lovers getting the best new tracks, exclusive interviews, and breaking news delivered straight to your inbox every week.

In print now

June 2026

Latest issue variants

Dork, June 2026 (Bleachers cover)

Bleachers

Dork, June 2026 (Myles Smith cover)

Myles Smith

Dork, June 2026 (Towa Bird cover)

Towa Bird

|

Privacy Policy|

Cookie settings

© 2026 The Bunker Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.

Advertise on this site.

Call It What It Is Lyrics — Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals | Dork

Lyrics
Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals
Call It What It Is Lyrics

Lyrics

Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals

Call It What It Is

From Call It What It Is2016

Lyrics

Call It What It Is

They shot him in the back Now it's a crime to be black So don't act surprised When it gets vandalized There's good cops Bad cops White cops Black cops Trayvon Martin Ezell Ford Michael Brown And so many more Government, policing, hard times Oppression, racism, fear, suffering Ain't easy Gun control Mind control Self-control We've dug ourselves a hole Call it what it is Murder

Lyrics provided by LRCLIB

About this track

"Call It What It Is" is a song by Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals from the album Call It What It Is, released in 2016. The song was written by Ben Harper.

Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals profile →Call It What It Is album →Track profile →

Contributors

Ben Harper— 178 credits as songwriter & producer →

More from this album

Call It What It Is

Finding Our Way

Finding Our Way

When Sex Was Dirty

When Sex Was Dirty

Deeper and Deeper

Deeper and Deeper

More Lyrics

by Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals

Steal My Kisses

Steal My Kisses

Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals

Burn to Shine

Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals

Fight Outta You

Artist

Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals →

Album

Call It What It Is →

Written by Ben Harper

Bones

Bones

Lyrics

All That Has Grown

All That Has Grown

How Dark Is Gone

How Dark Is Gone

Goodbye to You

Pink Balloon

Fight Outta You

Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals

Pink Balloon

Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals

Shine

Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals

The Woman in You

The Woman in You

Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals

Goodbye to You

Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals

Alone

Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals