Dm
Look, black is beautiful, black is excellent
Gm
Black is pain, black is joy, black is evident
C
It's workin' twice as hard as the people you know you're better than
C#m                                     A
'Cause you need to do double what they do so you can level them
Dm
Black is so much deeper than just African-American
Am
Our heritage been severed, you never got to experiment
Gm                             F
With family trees, 'cause they teach you 'bout famine and greed
A
And show you pictures of our fam on their knees
Dm
Tell us we used to be barbaric, we had actual queens
C
Black is watchin' child soldiers gettin' killed by other children
A#
Feelin' sick, like, "Oh shit, this could have happened to me"
A
Your mummy watchin' tellin' stories 'bout your dad and your niece
A#
The blacker the berry the sweeter the juice
F
A kid dies, the blacker the killer, the sweeter the news
A
And if he's white you give him a chance, he's ill and confused
Dm
If he's black he's probably armed, you see him and shoot


[Verse 2]

Dm
Look, black is growin' up around the barbershop
Am
Mummy sayin', "Stay away from trouble, you’re in yard a lot"
Gm                 F
Studying for ages, appreciatin' the chance you got
A
'Cause black is in your blood, and you ain't even got the heart to stop
Dm
Black is steppin' in for your mother because your father's gone
C
And standin' by your children when you haven't proven karma wrong
A#
Black is doin' all of the above then goin' corner shoppin'
F
Tryna help a lady cross the road to have her walkin' off
Dm
Black is growin' up around your family and makin' it
C
Then being forced to leave the place you love because there's hate in it
A#
People say you fake the shit, never stayed to change the shit
A
But black is bein' jealous, you'd be dead if you had stayed in it
A#
Black is strugglin' to find your history or trace the shit
F
You don't know the truth about your race 'cause they erasin' it
A
Black has got a sour fuckin' flavour, here's a taste of it
Dm
But black is all I know, there ain't a thing that I would change in it


[Verse 3]

Dm
Look, black ain't just a single fuckin' colour, man there's shades to it
Dm
Her hair's straight and thick but mine's got waves in it
A
Black is not divisive, they been lyin' and I hate the shit
A#
Black has never been a competition, we don't make this shit
D
Black is deadly
D                                     A
Black is when you're freezin' in your home and you can't get sleep but never feelin' empty
       Em
'Cause you got 20 cousins in your country living stress-free
A
Walkin' for their water, daughter wrapped inside a bed sheet
Dm
Black is distant, it's representin' countries that never even existed while your grandmother was livin'
A
Black is my Ghanaian brother readin' into scriptures
A#
Doin' research on his lineage, findin' out that he's Egyptian
Dm
Black is people namin' your countries on what they trade most
A
Coast of Ivory, Gold Coast, and the Grain Coast
Em
But most importantly to show how deep all this pain goes
A
West Africa, Benin, they called it slave coast
Dm
Black is so confusin', 'cause the culture? They're in love with it
A#
They take our features when they want and have their fun with it
Em
Never seem to help with all the things we know would come with it
F                     E
Loud in our laughter, silent in our sufferin'
A#
Black is bein' strong inside and facing defeat
Gm
Poverty made me a beast, I battled the law in the streets
A
We all struggled, but your struggle ain't a struggle like me

Well how could it be when your people gave us the odds that we beat?
Dm
I mean, fuckin' hell, what about our brothers that are stuck in jail?
C
That couldn't bust a bell, they held a bird and gotta live with it
A#
Black is bein' guilty until proven that you're innocent
A
Black is sayin', "Free my fucking niggas stuck inside in prison cells"
A#
They think it's funny, we ain't got nothin' to say to them
F
Unconditional love is strange to them; it's amazin' 'em
Em
Black is like the sweetest fuckin' flavour, here's a taste of it
Dm
But black is all I know, there ain't a thing that I would change in it