Painted Black
[Verse I]
Recently painted my heart same color as my pigment
On my pallet, see colors that can't be
One shade but still tryna' paint the grass green
It might be the side of the frame time placed me on
Am free but mind more chained than past peeps
All I wanna (be) is what I see inside of me
But my mirror is telling a different thing
From the time that I landed in native lands
My posture and glance was resentful
Everybody couldn't fathom my mental
The roots in me need to be set free
And  the missionary's the visionary to plague me
Cause I'm lost
Deep rooted in poison fruit
Cause these people of my kind are not mine
Tongue the speak
Is something I can't preach
I hate pup, sadza, or whatever bugs they eat
I can't finish the anthem and overall be like them
My mind doesn't wanna mix with them
They hate me? (mxm)
I hate their minds, I hate them fine
But with my design
Does it really mean I'm hating I, (I)
Cause what am I
If I'm not Shona then what am I
I pose the figure the school system defined, me
The dictionary cannot find
Cause my mind, still rages the heart
Of a young American
But my blood and veins that of an African
How can I preach freeing prisons when I am doomed
And help you find you when I'm lost too
But I didn't place me here
They look at me with a similar fear
When complexation's the bottom line for placement
In a world where chains are meant for those black as me
I ask, "how white do you want me to be
To be free"
[Chorus: Lincoln WaMambo]
Free from the shade that painted me
Free from the chains that bind my dreams
All I can be
All I can be
Is as black as they see

[Verse II]
A suit and tie is the truest lie, right?
A black man's always meant to die, (ha)
Telling me that I'm meant to fly, where
A lighter man can easily climb
But you look me in the eyes
Defining the truest meaning of white lies
But I find vision in no sight
Tryna' speak love and hold on to all the hopes that time
Brings equality to human kind
Put that aside
A white friend of mine defined
The definition of slave trading in one's mind
I asked him what he planned after High School
He said, "Imma' be a manger dude
Imma' fly to the UK and meet all of my brothers and mates
And they can easily push open some gates
I don't need college
I can easily get a mansion friend, you know
You could do the same I guess"
But he knows what even I know
It's impossible forget logical
And if you're  listening here goes your answer back
With a mother like mine, my skin tone plus where I reside
That reality will never be mine
But after three years in this beautiful land of Zim'
I love pup, sadza and our national hymn
I love Shona, I love you, I love us
So the story of YP can start
Cause I'm free
[Chorus: Lincoln WaMambo]
Free from the shade that painted me
Free from the chains that bind my dreams
All I can be
All I can be
Is as black as they see
Is as black as they see
Is as black as they see
Is as black as they see