Pray For Me

[Hook]

Somebody pray for me

(Bless his, bless his heart)

Somebody please pray for me

(Bless his, bless his heart)

Somebody pray for me

(Bless his, bless his heart)

What more could you say to me?

(Bless his, bless his heart)

[Verse 1]

The first day of third grade

Topic of discussion at the kick ball game

Is who's the new student why he look that way?

A eight-year-old expert determined I've got AIDS

A vote must've been taken, it became my name

I mean literally AIDS is my name okay

It made its way around the school and eventually

I heard a teacher try to catch herself as she yelled it to me

I tried to be invisible honestly

Wishing that the ground would just open up, swallow me

What kind of crime did I commit for this mockery?

Guess I must've lost some kind of cosmic lottery

How am I processing this at a baby's age?

It felt like I had a gut full of razor blades

I fantasized someone else would come take my place

Because they taught me to hate my face

[Hook]

Somebody please pray for me

(Bless his, bless his heart)

Somebody pray for me

(Bless his, bless his heart)

Somebody please pray for me

(Bless his, bless his heart)

What more could you say to me?

(Bless his, bless his heart)

[Verse 2]

Imagine how my mama felt

Obviously she want to offer me some kind of help

Pretty white lady never probably dealt

With this particular type of hell

If she dyed my hair blonde maybe I can blend

Get a better response maybe even a friend

She took me to the salon, put chemicals in my head

When they took the towel off, it was purple in the end

Lot of money spent just to get me presentable

Message that it sent, the real you ain't acceptable

I knew what she meant, what else could she expect to do?

That was just the lens that she viewed protection though

And so eventually I began to see that

What grows out of me is my dirty little secret

Had to go back every few weeks to keep it

I think that part depressed me the deepest

[Hook]

Somebody please pray for me

(Bless his, bless his heart)

Somebody pray for me

(Bless his, bless his heart)

Somebody please pray for me

(Bless his, bless his heart)

What more could you say to me?

(Bless his, bless his heart)

[Verse 3]

Thank God for the grown ups

That roll up when they know it's time to hold us

The elder queen showed so much homegrown love

She said "hair doesn't die but your soul does"

She said "Elvis wore his hair in a pompadour

So he could try to look like Muddy Waters more"

But he would fry his crown so that he could lay it down

Like a white boy they called it a conk before

Until James Brown came kicked down the door

Say it loud, I'm black and I'm proud my boy

That's the meaning behind the afros and all

Get free being what it is that you know you are

She said "Beauty's the splendor of truth

You will never cut loose 'til you're suitable to you

And your living is the proof just let it do what it do

Now watch them follow suit and try to catch up to you"

[Hook]

Somebody musta prayed for me

(Bless his, bless his heart)

Somebody prayed for me

(Bless his, bless his heart)

Somebody musta prayed for me

(Bless his, bless his heart)

What more could you say to me?

(Bless his, bless his heart)