U, Black Maybe

[Intro: Syreeta]

You've seen the way they've done your boy

And your boy's still down—

Down— down—

Down— down—

Black maybe, it's time—

Come around—

[Chorus: Bilal]

Can't come around

They gon' wanna bring you down

No one knows just what's inside

Doing dope and doing time

Why they messing with your mind

Black maybe…

[Verse 1: Common]

I heard a white man's yes is a black maybe

I was delivered in this world as a crack baby

Hard for me to pay attention and I act crazy

Gotta get over from the tip, I watch the fat lady

Sing a song, on how we guerillas in warfare

And I'm the kingest kong

They say we dreaming wrong

Them same strips that them older cats lingered on

Now the Walgreens is gone, hope is killed fiends are born

We leanin on a wall that ain't that ain't stable

It's hard to turn on the hood that made you

To leave we afraid to

The same streets that raised you can age you

With other black birds that's caged too

A rage up in Harlem and the southside

Brothers is starving with their mouth wide open

Floating across state got the workout plans so they can move weight

The fate of the black man, woman, and child: maybe

[Chorus: Bilal]

Can't come around

They gon' wanna bring you down

No one knows just what's inside

Doing dope and doing time

Why they messing with your mind

Black maybe…

Can't come around

They gon' wanna bring you down

No one knows just what's inside

Doing dope and doing time

Why they messing with your mind

Black maybe…

[Verse 2: Common]

He had game since he used to hoop at Chatham

Neither the ghetto nor defenders could trap him

The stones had his back and they'd pat him

He was living a life they couldn't fathom

Colleges getting at him with all type of scholarships

Even if he went they knew he'd leave college quick

For the pros the one from the hood that was chose

The black rose that grew in the jungle

But humble stud still had rumble in his blood

Women all around giving him trouble love

You know the love when you up they down

Cause you wrap a ball they round

Your win is their crown

Dudes in the circle he known for years

Shared beers and cheers but chose different careers

When paper and fame came they ain't know how to react

Them same studs shot him in the back

Now that's black… maybe

[Chorus: Bilal]

Can't come around

They gon' wanna bring you down

No one knows just what's inside

Doing dope and doing time

Why they messing with your mind

Black maybe…

Can't come around

They gon' wanna bring you down

No one knows just what's inside

Doing dope and doing time

Why they messing with your mind

Black maybe…

[Interlude: Common]

When we talk about black maybe

We talk about situations

Of people of color and because you are that color

You endure obstacles and opposition

And not all the time from… from other nationalities

Sometimes it come from your own kind

Or maybe even your own mind

You get judged..you get laughed at... you get looked at wrong

You get sighted for not being strong

The struggle of just being you

The struggle of just being us…

Black maybe…

[Chorus: Bilal]

Black maybe…

Can't come around

They gon' wanna bring you down

No one knows just what's inside

Doing dope and doing time

Why they messing with your mind

Black maybe…