[Intro]
Black and white
Same blank stare
Same old screen
Same thin air (yeah)
[Verse 1]
They told me pick a side
Like there was only two
Like life is chalk and ice
Just empty, simple views
If all you see is shade
You never see the tree
You talk about your freedom
But you never look at me
Coffee skin, copper sun
Earth-tone blood, I’m where you from
If soil is brown and that’s your ground
Why you act like I don’t count?
[Chorus]
I’m brown in a black-and-white world
Color in your static little world
You say “land of the free”
But you don’t see me
I’m brown in a black-and-white world
Loud in your quiet little world
You talk equal rights
But you dim my light
I’m brown in a black-and-white world (hey!)
[Verse 2]
You pledge with your hand
To a flag in the sky
Say “justice for all”
Then you edit my life
Check the box, lock the door
Same script, same score
If freedom got a face
Why it stuck at two tones?
I’m the clay in your bricks
The roots in your field
The beat in your streets
The soul that you feel
This country built on “we”
So why you cut me from the “free”?
[Chorus]
I’m brown in a black-and-white world
Color in your static little world
You say “land of the free”
But you don’t see me
I’m brown in a black-and-white world
Loud in your quiet little world
You talk equal rights
But you dim my light
I’m brown in a black-and-white world (oh yeah)
[Bridge]
This or that, that or this
You keep missing what you miss
Every shade that you erase
Is a piece of our grace
So I bounce, I shout
I won’t fade, I stand out
If your freedom’s really true
It got room for every hue
[Chorus]
I’m brown in a black-and-white world
Color in your static little world
You say “land of the free”
Then stand here with me
I’m brown in a black-and-white world
Loud in your quiet little world
Equal rights on sight
Till we all shine bright
Brown, black, every stripe in this world