Code Switching

As a black kid you gotta learn this handy trick
Of social self-defense
You switch up your speak and give your manner a tweak
Depending on the audience

I'll be Will Smith witty or cool like Diddy
Or affable as you please
'Cause when you're young and black, you develop a knack
For putting the world at ease

It's called code-switchin'
And I'm a master of the dial
I've got a different me for every situation
No matter black, white old or young
I can tune in to your tongue
And nobody can tell which one's the real me, yeah

For those timid white suburban moms
I'm humble, saccharine-sweet
Just a skinny Kenan Thompson ma'am
No need to cross the street

For older blacks, I'll dial it back
Play the respectful grandson role
They don't care for rap or hip-hoppity crap
So I'm warm as Motown soul

And I can charm the old-school Italian cats
With a smile like Sammy Davis
But I always know that as soon as I go
They go straight back to stone cold racist

Code-switchin'
Got the whole world on my dial
And it's anybody's guess which one is me