September 8, 2016

VIDEO: Open Mike Eagle & Paul White – “Smiling (Quirky Race Doc)”

New video from Open Mike Eagle’s great Paul White produced LP, Hella Personal Film Festival.

iTunes http://tinyurl.com/ha26hj6
Spotify http://tinyurl.com/z2zfr5m
CD http://tinyurl.com/jh8awyk
Vinyl http://tinyurl.com/zxfguza

Lyrics:
it’s all fine and dandy when the show starts
before then avoided like a ghost fart
I gets what ups and nods but for the most part,
nobody smiles at me cause I’m a Black man
Until the show starts
before then avoided like a ghost fart
I gets what ups and nods but for the most part,
nobody smiles at me cause I’m a Black man

I know full well every white’s not a racist
but every Black man’s not a sex-crazed rapist
I was good in the hood, in college I was ruined
When walking I assumed you acknowledged the other humans
I tried to walk big with my chin bone lifted up
over compensating like I really don’t give a fuck
Today I saw a lady say hi to a stranger then avoid my eyes
like I’m a white person strangler
Walking past voters in the democratic blocks
that hit the windows and the automatic locks
If not reparations give me free Black therapy
And tell people you’re scared of them it makes them act scarily
I don’t want you, your purse or your pocket book,
them dumb yoga pants, boots or fur with the octopus
trust
I’m not trying to polish your toes, take your wallet and phone
or follow you home

It’s all fine and dandy when the show starts
before then avoided like a ghost fart
I gets what ups and nods but for the most part,
nobody smiles at me cause I’m a Black man
Until the show starts
before then avoided like a ghost fart
I gets what ups and nods but for the most part,
nobody smiles at me cause I’m a Black man

And to the guys in the flip flop squad
nobody needs your patronizing hip hop nod
just be a person, that’s the bottom line, be a person
and fuck the rhyme scheme this time, just be a person
then I can be a person too and we can be people
skip the validation and the need to feel equal
the dominating culture gets to choose from many modes
of expression and reflection of the path that they done chose
And my perception is froze, like a caveman lawyer advocating for myself
while trying to seem dumber than I is
I’m tired of thinking of this biz
I’m just trying to build a bridge for my goddamn kid
So the first time if ever his reputation slid
it could actually be for something that he did

It’s all fine and dandy when the show starts
before then avoided like a ghost fart
I gets what ups and nods but for the most part,
nobody smiles at me cause I’m a Black man
Until the show starts
before then avoided like a ghost fart
I gets what ups and nods but for the most part,
nobody smiles at me cause I’m a Black man

A hundred police want to sing one song, but only one gets the key
When a hundred police want to sing one song, somebody’s got to intervene
Now I’m not running for congress
I’ve got no platform or a plan
But when a hundred police wanna sing one song, all the people stop giving a damn