Cool

Yeah
Cool
What's cool

Our cool is something we don't lose
Cool is our mask
Cool is our badge
Cool is our revenge
The libation at the war council
For the think tank of a people who refuse to be kept down
Cool is how we create no matter the war raging around us
Cool is how we keep the road of our destiny
From warping under the intensity
Of that hard life

I's cool
Regardless of the things they do to break us

I's cool
No matter how much heat they heap upon us

I's cool
When squares attack
Cool is our shield
We walk through flame but still
Covered by ash and soot
We make it by hook or crook
Because

We's cool
Walking down the street to our own rhythm
Listening to my uncles kick some ism

We's cool
Like jazz in June
A Jasmine bloom
Our attitude when we sing this tune

We's cool
Like Fela Kuti
And Miles Davis
Jimi Hendrix
And Ossie Davis

We's cool
Like Betty Davis
And Zora Neale Hurston
Lena Horne
And Abbey Lincoln

We's cool
Don't apologize
For being ourselves
We icy like the frozen food
On grandmas freezer shelf

We's cool
Like deep conversations with herb libations
In formation like the constellations
Doctor Clarke when he's contemplating
My baby girl when she's meditating
800 plus on a credit rating
Shahrazad Ali when she's educating

We's cool
When my fathers band did Grandmas hands

I's cool
When Yusef Lateef
When he gave me my name
I's cool