She Is

[Verse]
She is the Jaliyaa
She did not leave us to die in the burning and ransacked
Villages. The Mandinka and Fula
She did not leave our souls to rot in the bellies of sharks
The Tiliboo & Tiligi
She picked us up and out of the bile and vomit and the blood of our prayers
Streaming profusely down the sides of our faith
She landed us gently on our
New beginning while clothing our nakedness in the shadows of her smile, she
Was our death and resurrection of Jesus began
A strange and difficult existence in the crack of the whip in the rage of the overseer
In the lashes shredding and cutting into his Virgin birth
The primitive, The primitive and crudely crafted
Drums throbbing and pulsating, and contradictions dancing
And she is chanting whose children are these?
Moving and feeling through the high register and
Subtle words of New Orleans
And the Red, and the Green, and the Yellow
Bandanas flowing and strolling High in the Wind
Some called it Spanish. Some called it Creole. Some called it French
She called out Bamboulal
Congo. Calindal. Ju Jun
The Ring shout. The Circle dance. A free day
Some free time, Some free time to call on our science
To call on our Mathematics. To construct our Cipher to genius
To self-image. To memories. Moving in and out of this counter clockwise motion
Swaying in Rhythm. Feet stomping the earth. Swaying in time
Feet stomping the earth
Answers back: in the voices of our choirs
Our Churches, Our Gospel is where she baptised us in the harmony
In the melody of Field songs, work songs
And secret songs of the Mississippi Delta and the blues
Striking a familiar chord in the
Clickety clack. Clickety clack. Clickety clack of the train wheels moving
Us up North to Memphis and the honky tonks
To Kansas and the boogie woogie
To St Louis and the rag time
And to Chicago and the funky sound
Of our circular breathing that taught us how to swing
And to sing in the scat of jazz and the Razz matazz
Of be bop and the developing magic of Hip Hop
And the Blood of Biggie. And the tears of Tupac forever resting in her sound
She is our Music. She is
She is our Dance
She is our Art
She is our Freedom
She is
She is
She is