Understanding / Understanding Reprise

[Intro: Georgia Anne Muldrow]
I got to be understanding you, understanding me
I want, I need, I got to to be
Understanding you, understanding me
I want, I need, I got to be
Understanding you, understanding me
I want, I need, I got to be
Understanding you, understanding me

[Verse: eLZhi]
Aye, never sleep on the king with the lost crown
My neighborhood was different from the ones across town
Blocks flooded with packets containing yay's or liquor stores
Pray you celebrate, or drink your pain away, and guzzle endlessly
For weak minds drawing hustle imagery
That made it hard to pull our strength from outta muscle memory
Wе only thought we were sold and bought
Thеy never taught the teachers how Jesus Christ has our features
Before they brought us here to fail we were royalty
Back then they would've rubbed my black skin while they oil me
That's why the schools was fucked up from the jump
Where they used to stomp you out, now they wanna grab the plump
And I felt it was appealin', killin' left somebody slump
In the same dump, I learned to shoot dice and dry hump
Was young and misguided, smokin' a mixed hybrid
My peoples fed me pork, if there was ever fish, fried it
Not puttin' poisons in my body takes discipline
Meditating, readin' books 'bout nutrition, when
You only can afford to get you a 4 for 4
And can't order more from off the menu, the corner store
Venue, or the gas station robbery probably seem doable
That nightmare right there makes the dream beautiful
But quite rare what is lost hope, understand
Some of us crack babies 'cause our moms came across dope
But never got a fair shot
Understand most conspiracy theorists think that the system put it there
It was their plot to break up the homes, to break up our spirits
They broke our English up, we turned it to slang
But that's just a dialect that I select when I hang
It's not meant to be understood, especially if you join a gang
And for the family, you let off every shell and casing
Tryna turn a pity party to a celebration
The energy from the cotton field
Subconsciously is why my folks get shot and killed
Think about it, when I finally have my seed
I'll show him how to succeed
Since he bleed the same blood of ancestors that couldn't read
Before they got freed on paper
And trickin' us to thinking that we were free 'cause of paper
I'm 'bout to own some land and build a couple skyscrapers
A few hospitals and some houses for my neighbors
Understand me?

[Chorus: Georgia Anne Muldrow]
I want, I need, I got to be
Understanding you, understanding me
I want, I need, I got to be
Understanding you, understanding me
I want (I want), I need (I need), I got to be (I got to be)
Understanding you (Understanding you), understanding me (Understanding me)
I want (I want), I need (I need), I got to be (I got to be)
Understanding you (Understanding you), understanding me (Understanding me)
I want, I need (I need), I got to be
Understanding you (Oh-oh), understanding me (Yeah)
I want, I need (I need), I got to be (I got to be)
Understanding you (Understanding), understanding me (You and me)

[Outro: Georgia Anne Muldrow]
You know I got to be
Understanding you, and understanding me
I got to be
Understanding you, understanding me
I want, I need, I got to be
Understanding you, understanding me