The Sharecropper's Daughter

[Intro: Ledisi]

Do you know who you are?

Do you know where you been?

My friends

We belong to the stars

And we blow with the wind

Amen

I've seen the mountains

I've counted the raindrops

And they all sing the same old song

It can't be long

Joy comes in the morning

So please stay strong

They tried to choke us, ah

But baby, we still breathe

They thought that they could bury us

But they forgot that we were seeds

But they forgot that we were seeds

[Verse: Sa-Roc]

They forgot that we were seeds, y'all

They say that I just should get over it

But I'm openly emotional 'cause closed mouths don't ever get fed

And I been starving for some help for all this arbitrary sadness circling the patterns of my heavy head

And this shit ain't new

Waves of blue been aimed at these genes since way before Wranglers

Anger's raged through generations

And it seem like angels don't sang with us anymore

So we've been forced to wait out storms that love to delay our celebration

Don't you ever tell me to be calm

I'm the spawn of tobacco sharecroppers, prisoners of Virginia farms

Who worked their arms, backs, and fingers to the gristle

While the landowners paid a pittance for all the heavy lifting done

We come from places, man

Where twelve-year-old little Black girls can't even name her rapist, fam

And if she ever did, they'd throw her family off the acres and

Send a burning cross from a mob of hooded faces, damn

That must have been when Nana's mind had a nervous break

And Granddad passed in church after passing collection plates

This story comes through me like second nature

'Cause I been hearing 'bout our pain and glory since I was a youngin, seven or eight

Despite that, we knew love more deeply than any other feeling

That's why I keep on bustin' through when I reach and touch the ceiling

When I say I'm the best, I'm not expecting approval or clearance

I'm just hoping the rest of you see the connection 'tween truthful and healing

I'm just hoping the rest of you see the connection 'tween truthful and healing

I'm just hoping the rest of you see the connection 'tween truthful and healing