Expansion Outro

Reflection... (x6) [Talib Kweli] Yeah... so we got this tune called "Four Women" right Originally it was by Nina Simone, and uh She said it was inspired by, uh, you know, down South Down South they used to call her Mother Auntie You know, she said no "Mrs.", you know, just Auntie, y'know what I'm sayin' And uh, she said if anybody ever called her Auntie she'd burn The whole God damned place down, y'know what I'm sayin' But you know, we're moving past that, y'know what I'm sayin' Coming into a new millenium, can't forget our elders I got off the Two train in Brooklyn, on my way to a session Said "Let me help this woman up the stairs" before I get to steppin' We got in a conversation, she said she a hundred and seven Just her presence was a blessing, and her essence was a lesson She had her head wrapped and long dreads that peeked out the back Like antenna to help her to get a sense of where she was at Imagine that, living a century, the strength of her memories Felt like an angel Heaven sent to me She lived from nigger to colored to negro to black to afro Then African-American then right back to nigga You'd figure she'd be bitter in a twilight, be she aight Cause she done seen the circle of life Yo, my skin is black like it's packed with melanin Back in the days of slaves she'd be packin' like Harriet Tubman And, my arms are long like she moves like a song Feet with corns, hands with calluses but the heart is warm And, my hair is wooly and attract a lot of energy Even negative she gotta dead that the head wrap is a remedy (and) My back is strong she far from a vagabond This is the back the master's whip used to crack upon Strong enough to take all the pain that's been inflicted Again and again and again and again and then flip it To the love for her children, nothing else matters What do they call her, they call her Aunt Sarah [Hook: Nina Simone] *Harmonizing* [Talib Kweli] I know a girl with a name as beautiful as the rain Her face is the same but she suffers in unusual pain Seems she only deal with losers who be using them games Chasing the real brothers away like she confused in the brain She try to get in where she fit in on that American Dream mission Paid tuition for that receipt to find out her history was missing And started flippin', seeing the world through very different eyes People asking her what she'll do when it come time to choose sides Yo, my skin is yellow it's like the face is blonde Word is bond, and my hair long and straight, it's like Sleeping Beauty See she truly feel like she belong in two worlds And now she can't relate to other girls Her father is rich and white, still living with his wife But he forced himself on her mother late one night They call it rape, that's right And now she take flight from life with hate and spite inside her mind To keep her up to the break of light a lot of times I gotta find myself, I gotta find myself I gotta find myself, she had to remind herself They call her Siffronia, the unwanted seed Blood still blue in her veins, and still red when she bleeds [Young Woman] Don't, don't, don't hurt me again (x8) [Talib Kweli] Teenage lovers sit on the stoops of a Harlem Holdin' hands under the Apollo marquee dreamin' of stardom Cause they were born the streets is watching and schemin' And now they got them generations facing diseases That don't kill you they just got problems and complications To get you first, yo it's getting worse When children hide the fact that they pregnant Cause they scared of givin' birth How will I feed this baby, how will I survive, how will this baby shine Daddy dead from crack in '85, mommy dead from AIDS in '89 At 14 the baby hit the same streets they became a master The children of the enslaved, they grow a little faster They bodies become adult while they keep the thoughts of a child Her arrival into womanhood was hemmed up for her survival Now she 25, barely grown, now on her own Doing whatever it takes, strippin', working out on the block Up on the phone talkin' about "My skin is tan like the front of your hand And my hair, well my hair is alright, whatever I wear when I fix it It's alright, it's fine, but my hips these sway hips of mine Invite you daddy when I fix my lips my mouth is like wine Take a sip, don't be shy, tonight I wanna be your lady I ain't too good for your Mercedes, but first you gotta pay me Quit with all them questions, sugar, whose little girl am I Why, I'm yours if you got enough money to buy You better stop with them compliments, we running out of time You wanna talk, whatever, we can do that it's your dime From Harlem is where I came, don't worry about my name Up on 125 they call me Sweet Thing" [Hook: Nina Simone] *Harmonizing* Say what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what What, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what Say what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what What, what, what, what... oooo~ [Talib Kweli] A daughter come up in Georgia ripe and ready to plant seed Left her plantation when she saw a sign even though she can't read It came from God (praise him!), when life get hard she always speak to Him She'd rather kill her babies than let the master get to him She on the run up North to get across to Mason-Dixie In church she learned how to be patient and keep wishin' The promise of eternal life after death for those who God bless She swear the next baby she have will breathe a free breath And get milk from a free breast and love being alive Otherwise they'll have to give up being themself to survive Being maids, cleanin' ladies, maybe teachers, and college graduates Nurses and housewives, prostitutes and drug addicts Some will grow to be old women, some will die before they're born There'll be mothers and lovers who inspire and make songs But me, my skin is brown and my manner is tough Like the love I give my babies when the rainbow's enough I'll kill the first muhfucker to mess with me, I never bluff I ain't got time to lie, my life's been much too rough Still runnin' with bare feet, I ain't got nothin' but my sole Freedom is the ultimate goal Life and death is small in a hole in many ways I'm awfully bitter these days Cause the only parents God gave me; they were slaves And they crippled me, I got the destiny of a casualty But I'll live through my babies and I'll change my reality Maybe one day I'll ride back to Georgia on a train Folks 'round there call me Peaches; guess that's my name