Wednesday Word: "Truth Is an Angry Black Woman"

We had a crazy night in the studio and I woke up feeling great. It felt like months of hardship had came to a culminating and spectacular close. Wired off of coffee, I was seeing things through different lenses, thinking of the life lessons learned in the past year, and a line popped in my head. “Truth is an angry black woman. Loud.” And from there, thoughts flooded my brain on ideas of everything I believed truth to be and everything black women have been in my life. The two seemed inseparable. I tore through the studio looking for a pen (I found a green marker) and a paper (I found backs of documents) and I wrote like I never have in my life. Channeled. Tears bordered my eyelids. I read my piece to Nico and Drizz and then went in the booth and recorded a beloved verse of mine in a couple of takes.

Now I’ll admit that it might not be one of my best poems but it is definitely one of the most special. The way it came about. The way it came out. I hope you feel it. I hope you listen. I hope you hear truth. I hope you see beauty.

Truth is an angry black woman
LOUD
And straight forward
Blunted on reality
And unapologetic of who she offends

If she’s speaking to you,
You should listen
If you eavesdrop, you are responsible as well
Don’t let her catch you,

She is truth

And she ain’t concerned about being nice or easy
Or accommodating
Her only obligation is to be real
So it might take you a while to realize she’s beautiful.
If you smart, you would listen
You would hear her
Try to understand
It may hurt
Might sting
Might make you cry
Might make you question yourself
Maybe you need to
‘Cuz she ain’t stopping
can’t object,
reason or plead
no excuses
She’ll tell you she ain’t got enough room in her pants
For anymore Bu- Butts
No rebuttle will do

I mean, you could walk away
She won’t chase you
She’s used to being ignored
But you better run
Far.

May your legs be quicker than her tongue
May your destination be direct as her word
May your haste be as timely as her message

She is truth

And she don’t need to convince anyone
She don’t need to convert you.
‘Cuz real ain’t a religion
It’s breath
Straight from God, not man
And she ain’t crusading
Crucify you only to make a symbol of the answers for generations to come
She is the one
And the way
The answer not to be questioned

And she may hurt you
Only to make you better
And the more you shrug her off
The stronger she becomes

She is truth

She is my mother
Adia
Chinaka
Amara
Lauren
Suzan Lori
Toni Morrison
Son you, son you better humble yourself to her motherly nature

She is you, Yvie.
Amazingly wise beyond her years
Shockingly soulful

Oh, if we were smart, we would listen to you
And believe in you
Trust that you know what you’re talking about
Speak that shit baby girl
Lil’ big mama
I wanna hear you

I know you been told not to speak for so long
Quoted out of context
Distorted and misrepresented
Used for the wrong reason
Abused and taken advantage of
Made to believe you were stupid,
But embraced it
And told us “My truth don’t speak proper English”
I just speak it how is see it
And truth has no translation
Made to believe you were not beautiful
And embraced it
And told us what you think is beautiful
Is fucked up
Is Paris Hilton
Is plastic
surgery
Weave
And bulima to fit in
But truth can’t fit into gap jeans

I’m so sorry I’ve ignored you for so long
I’m sorry I never understood your beauty
Oh, truth speak!
I wanna hear you
I wanna know you
Speak truth baby
What no one wants, and everyone needs
Speak truth
Truth speak
Speak truth
Truth speak
Speak, truth
Truth, speak
‘Cuz I’m listening now
everybody’s listening now.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 at 12:30 am. It is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.