Yo I don't even know what the vibe is kid
|
All these different things seperatin us
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It got me walkin this fence man
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and I don't even know what side I'ma fall on B
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Can't see it
|
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Well I'm a zebra y'all
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("Half Puerto Rican, half black, but you don't speak Spanish")
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Don't call me zebra y'all
|
("Half Puerto Rican, half black...")
|
|
Now how old are you?
|
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About six, on my BMX, doin tricks
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Back to Middlesex with a couple of poor white trashy brats
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Everything was coochie crunch till it was time for lunch
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They said to wait in the back, they said that Pops ain't like black
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See where I was the population's mostly white
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Ain't it?
|
They wanna see you jiggaboo with your
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face painted
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Be brought home by one of their daughters and their fathers
|
fainted
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They want to see you a failure so I never
|
became it
|
Light-skinned, showed them lead, curly-headed
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Called me names, I was different, I was gifted, they made me ashamed
|
Found out that I'm a different shade when I'm in the second grade
|
Abe Lincoln's play, they want me to portray a slave
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My momma's face went pale she looked like she wanted to puke
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Now that I know the truth I'd rather play John Wilkes Booth
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Although my family came and bitched and in the play my role was switched
|
My grandma told me I was fixed my problems wasn't fixed
|
My family seen my views of the world distort
|
Moms last resort, she decided we would move to Newark
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I took a deep breath leaving everything I knew behind
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The country air the green grass and my piece of mind
|
Harassed by white cops on our way we're pulled out our car
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Mistook my mom for Joanne Chesimard now I'm really scarred
|
|
<<Chorus>>
|
|
What am I, I'm confused, can't decide
|
What am I who am I what am I
|
Black or white, I can't identify
|
What am I who am I what am I
|
I'm confused, can't decide
|
What am I who am I what am I
|
Black or white, I can't identify
|
What am I who am I what am I
|
|
Culture shock, Newark's a far cry from Middlesex
|
Broadly called projects, black eyes, regrets
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Torn lives, I've never seen so many people depressed
|
My mental gets molested, physical takes violent threats
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Stress, walkin home from school's like a terrorist test
|
I learned blacks could be racist too, somehow still I felt I was blessed
|
Even my teachers called me half-breeds and all of that
|
I was scared of livin here but also scared of movin back
|
See where I was before I was the darkest thing they ever saw
|
They figured that I'm black, white around
|
They kick me like a soccer ball
|
White people didn't accept me
|
Fuck you
|
Black people didn't accept me
|
Fuck you
|
Puerto Ricans didn't accept me
|
Fuck you
|
Diggin researchin my identity it gots me goin cuckoo
|
|
"I'm the yellow nigga right?
|
I'm tired of that. I am not passing, I am black!
|
I was born black, I live black,
|
and I will die, proud to be called black!"
|
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So now I'm goin "Hey niggaz" at niggaz that say Chino's not black
|
They come to my house and tell my African mother that
|
In fact causin crackup they said no sister would attract to me
|
These same brothers got perms to get their hair like mine was naturally
|
Descrimination, affects a brother's education
|
Hands up in black history class, they never called on my ass
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But wait, growin at a rapid rate
|
I digest their hate, it's family
|
Found out my father left me when I'm three
|
Dealt with felt if I knew my Spanish family they'd help
|
Every mixed person I met they mostly just kept to themself
|
We moved to East Orange I set it off talent shows staring
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A high yellow nigga's progression, my flavor's pouring
|
|
<<Chorus>>
|
|
Now how old are you?
|
|
About nineteen lettin off my steam
|
Used to be a punchin bag, but now I stomps, in hip-hop fiend
|
Now I get the goya jokes, Menudo jokes, Rico Suave jokes
|
But females rush me and the MC's steal up all my quotes
|
See what I lacks in melanin I makes up wit adrenalin
|
Your weak attempts at blemishin my mixed heritage I'm treasurin
|
Don't need caucausian acceptance just that of a human being
|
| Laughed and spit at I don't represent cause I a |
