[Verse 1] Melanin in the skin, but the message run deeper Sun put pressure on the flesh, made the pigment a keeper They told you dark was a curse, now they tan for the feature Funny how they hated the shade ’til the shade got expensive Same lips they made jokes on getting bought by injection Same curves they rejected getting built by correction Took the source out the caption, then sold the aesthetic Cut the roots from the picture, now the fruit look genetic That’s a bar and a barcode, both tell you what it cost They can copy every feature, still can’t calculate the loss DNA keep receipts even surnames get lost Borders can change, but the blood still remember the cross Race ain’t a gene, don’t confuse the equation But ancestry leave tracks through human migration Whole continent reduced to a color designation When the roots got more branches than the boxes on applications They never forgot who we are, memory was targeted Change the name, change the page, make the origin anonymous Buried history still breathe, archaeology talking Cover every footprint up—the lineage keep walking [Hook] They never forgot— They just taught us amnesia Tried to bleach out the page But the Black ink read deeper Throw shade at the skin Then go lay in the sun Funny how they hated the color But keep chasing the one Roots underground Still branching through the system Code in the blood But no barcode could list ’em They studied the dark Then sold the light back to us— If we were never worth nothing, why they took so much from us? [Verse 2] Watch the setup when they blame the sequence Bad water, bad air, then call sickness a weakness Put stress in the system, then study the treatment Create the condition, then blame the ingredients That’s cooking the books and the people at once Numbers tell the truth, still lie ’bout where they come from Measure the wound, never mention the weapon Then genetics take the stand while environment leave impressions Put bias in a lab coat, prejudice in charts Then call it objective ’cause the hatred had parts That ain’t research, that’s an alibi with citations Answer came first, then they engineered validation They ain’t gotta change your genes if they edit perception Make you hate the reflection, now the mirror need correction Surgery with no scalpel, identity reconstruction Break the link to the source, monetize the disruption Roots got two meanings, both survive being moved Shade got two meanings, both get thrown when they choose Whitewash ain’t just paint when they renovating truth And a chain can hold you down—or reconnect you to your roots They studied every layer, turned the culture into paper Body, rhythm, labor—then repackaged every flavor Said there wasn’t nothing there, while taking everything they could— Funny thing about forgetting: they remembered enough for both of us. [Hook] They never forgot— They just taught us amnesia Tried to bleach out the page But the Black ink read deeper Throw shade at the skin Then go lay in the sun Funny how they hated the color But keep chasing the one Roots underground Still branching through the system Code in the blood But no barcode could list ’em They studied the dark Then sold the light back to us— If we were never worth nothing, why they took so much from us?
