Acknowledge Your Own History

You don't know
Who you are
Look back into your past, brother
Look back into your past, sister
You don't know (adventures in negro history)
Who you are
Look back into your past, sister
Look back into your past, brother

My forefather was a King
He wore fat gold chains and fat ruby rings
Nobody believes this to be true
Maybe it's because my eyes ain't blue
You ain't gonna find it in your history book
Come here, young blood, and take a look
And dig down deep inside this hard cover
Don't you know that you was bought, brother?

All you read about is slavery
Never 'bout the Black man's bravery
You look at the pictures and all they show is
African people with bones in they noses
That ain't true, that's a lie
You didn't get that from my lemon pie

Yeah, I cut class, I got a D
'Cause History meant nothing to me
Except a definite nap
That's why I often sat in the back
I'd talk to girls or write a rhyme
'Cause I didn't know all times are Black man's times

When I was young, my mama told me stories
Of Black peoples' fight to bring us glory
I used to think these were stories to put me to sleep
But now I know mama's talk wasn't cheap
I know Africa's for Africans
And history's the blood of every woman and man

Now I begin another search
The incredibly involved
The incredibly difficult and incredibly frustrating search-
The incredibly involved
The incredibly difficult and incredibly frustrating search
Trying to pull together the history of a people

Page one, page two, page three
And still no signs of me
Yeah, so I looked into the table of the contents (uh)
They wrote a little thing about us in the projects (what?)
The only history we make is if we kill somebody
Rape somebody, but other than that, we're nobody
Speaking like a brother living in the jungle
I know I was here first, but I remain humble
Now it's time to rekindle the fire
A tribe of young brothers with the eye of the tiger

Acknowledge your own, we have a home
Put on this earth to live and roam
Christopher chose to explore
Discovered America! Yeah, sure
He thought the planet was square
Traveled many places, but we already had been there
We left tracks, backtracked back
First civilization, you know where that was found at
Looking for the true Black days of glory
But you're reading history, that's his story

The red's for the blood and the black's for the man
The green is the color that stands for the land
The red's for the blood and the black's for the man
The green is the color that stands for the land
The red's for the blood and the black's for the man (the suffering, the original people)
The green is the color that stands for the land (all the riches of the earth)
The red's for the blood and the black's for the man (the suffering, the original people)
The green is the color that stands for the land (all the riches of the earth)

Africa
Talkin' 'bout mother Africa
Talkin' 'bout father Africa
Africa is the mother of civilization on the planet Earth
Africa, where science, cosmetic, knowledge, wisdom and understanding all comes from
In Africa (Africa)
Africa (Africa)

My mother say Africa (he say Africa)
Africa (Africa)
Jungle Brothers say Africa (we say Africa)
Africa (Africa)
All the people say Africa (Africa)
Africa, hahahaha (Africa)