Black Kings, Bigger Picture

Yeah

Look

This bigger than me, man

This for the kings

Started from a name they never meant as praise

Turned it to a crown we carry through the days

Grandma in the kitchen, saying “baby, you’re a king”

Even when the news treat my brothers like a sting

Hood on my head, still my head to the sky

Teacher said “be realistic,” mama said “try”

They wrote us in the footnotes, tiny little line

We writing whole chapters, every bar a spine

Black kings, that’s the bigger picture

Frame us right, you see the richer scripture

We ain’t figures in your fear-based fiction

We the future, we the full edition (yeah)

Black queens, black kids, stand with ya

Every shade in the frame, that’s mixture

Hold your head, see yourself clearer

Black kings, that’s the bigger picture (uh)

See my lil cousin, hoodie on, wide eyes

Asking why they clutch they bag when he ride by

How I tell him he a legend in a raw world

Gold in his soul, they just focus on his curls

System got us boxed in, streets as a cage

Still we break chains, still we break stage

From the cotton to the campus, tassel on the side

We the story that they tried so hard to hide (facts)

Fist in the air, that’s love, not hate

It’s “we deserve life,” not “switch our place”

You see rage, I see hurt, I see history

You see threat, I see God, I see victory (yeah)

Black kings, that’s the bigger picture

Frame us right, you see the richer scripture

We ain’t figures in your fear-based fiction

We the future, we the full edition (hey)

Black queens, black kids, stand with ya

Every shade in the frame, that’s mixture

Hold your head, see yourself clearer

Black kings, that’s the bigger picture

We more than a stat or a clip on the screen

We the ones who built, who dreamed, who dreamed

Say it for the ones that ain’t here to sing

Every time we rise, the whole world wins (yeah, yeah)

Black kings, that’s the bigger picture

Frame us right, you see the richer scripture

We ain’t figures in your fear-based fiction

We the future, we the full edition

Black queens, black kids, stand with ya

Every shade in the frame, that’s mixture

Hold your head, see yourself clearer

Black kings, that’s the bigger picture (black kings)