U, Black Maybe (Feat. Bilal)

Hook: 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 Hook: 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 Hook: 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 Black maybe... Hook: 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