Lyrics Open Mike Eagle – Smiling (Quirky Race Doc)

It’s all fine and dandy when the show starts
Before then, avoided like a ghost fart
I get «what up»s and nods but for the most part
Nobody smiles at me cause I’m a black man

I know full well every white’s not a racist
But every black man’s not a sex-crazed rapist
I was good in the hood
In college I was ruined
While walking I assumed you acknowledge the other humans
Try to walk big with my chin bone lifted up
Overcompensating like I really don’t give a fuck
Today I saw a lady say hi to a stranger
Then avoid my eyes like I’m a white-person strangler
Walking past voters in a democratic blocks that hit
The windows and the automatic locks if not
Reparations give me free black therapy
And tell people you’re scared of them it makes them act scarily
I don’t want you, your purse or you pocket book
Them dumb yoga pants, boots or fur with the octopus
Trust, I’m not trying to polish your toes
Take your wallet and phone, or follow you home

It’s all fine and dandy when the show starts
Before then, avoided like a ghost fart
I get «what up»s and nods but for the most part
Nobody smiles at me cause I’m a black man
Until the show starts

And to the guys in the flip-flop squad
Nobody needs your patronizing hip-hop nod
Just be a person
That’s the bottom line be a person
And fuck the rhyme scheme this time just be a person
And I can be a person too
And we can be people
Skip the validation and the need to feel equal
The dominating culture gets to choose from many
Modes of expression and reflection of the path that they done chose
And my perception is froze
Like a caveman lawyer advocating for myself
While trying to seem dumber than I is
Tired of thinking about this biz
I’m just trying to build a bridge for my goddamn kid
So the first time if ever his reputation slid
It could actually be for something that he did

It’s all fine and dandy when the show starts
Before then, avoided like a ghost fart
I get «what up»s and nods but for the most part
Nobody smiles at me cause I’m a black man
Until the show starts
Before then, avoided like a ghost fart
I get «what up»s and nods but for the most part
Nobody smiles at me cause I’m a black man

A hundred police wanna sing one song
But only one gets the key
When a hundred police wanna sing one song
Somebody’s gotta intervene
Now I’m not running for congress
I got no platform or a plan
But when a hundred police wanna sing one song
All the people stop giving a damn