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lyrics

LYRICS:

Chorus:
No back door I’m tryna get it from the front
Respect for my people we shoulda had it from the jump
Loving the culture we always give you what you want
Honor the history we ain’t waiting for a month

Temperature rising think it’s about time,
Name an element melanin couldn’t outshine
We see the video ‘fore the body is outlined
The trauma is real no time to appeal
Couldn’t care less bout how you feel
You don’t see it then you never will,
When you know you under fire you could never chill
Which sound like violence? The taking of a building or a body
Murder for vacation it’s like killin is a hobby
I’m just tryna have a normal day, it’s exhausting
But I’m proud of my people and I feel it so often
Caught between ropes I ain’t talking bout boxing
But but we fighting like a bunch of Jack Johnsons
Ali is his prime with the rhymes I’m too pretty
Little Tupac in his prime don’t push me
Latifah Jamie Foxx do a little of everything
Welcome to the cookout and we playing Frankie Beverly
I’m about my biz like it’s Greenwood Tulsa in 1920
Or Madame CJ Walker with product across the country
You see the figures no longer hidden I’m Katherine Johnson
We master rocket science like it’s nothing

(Chorus)

Touch hearts like Daniel Hale Williams
With words like Morrison Hurston my pen working
Fly as Tuskegee, the airmen not the experiment
But know there’s always been a healthy fear of this
If Hov handle the roc like Van Exel
I, coach the team like McLendon on a fast break,
Tenn State three-peating before Wooden
This time around there be no overlooking
Like you better not Coretta Scott or Betty Shabazz
Can’t get this in class no, but you gon get in rap
This like Howard U and Spelman mixed with Grambling State,
Academics and athletics and forever great
You see the legacy, we all enjoy it on daily basis
Even if we don’t truly recognize the depth of greatness
Since day one and it’s infinite
From style to culture to product we invented
Nothing move without us, control traffic like Garrett Morgan
If earth was a person then Black folk is a vital organ
That means you play us then you play yourself, think about it
Check the history you ever start to doubt it let us breathe

(Chorus)

credits

from Bona Fide, released March 3, 2022
Production/Arrangement: Michael Leonhart.
Lyrics: JSWISS.
Drums: Homer Steinweiss.
Guitar: Bill Frisell.
All other instruments: Michael Leonhart.

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Michael Leonhart & JSWISS image

Michael Leonhart & JSWISS New York, New York

Grammy Award-winning trumpeter, producer, and orchestra leader Michael Leonhart, and versatile rapper JSWISS make for a dynamic pairing.

The union formed after a spark of creative chemistry during a monthly residency at NYC venue Jazz Standard, during which JSWISS guested with the Michael Leonhart Orchestra for performances broadcast on NPR & WBGO. ... more

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