Conversation Civilized - Baba Brinkman

Okay, let’s open up this can of worms

What’s a Caucasian from Canada doin' rapping?

That’s damn absurd!

Maybe we should rephrase the question

And switch up the races and see if it even changes the message

It’s all stereotypes but hey, maybe you’re right

And maybe Asian people shouldn’t play the bagpipes

And Scandinavians shouldn’t Salsa dance

Foreign flavours should be banned from the South of France

Let’s keep the art forms and groups of humans separate

What’s up with all these Eastern Europeans Sumo wrestlin'?

But at the risk of offering a simple solution

Let’s just skip the racial prejudice and stick to basic execution

‘Cause Caucasians accomplished at rappin'

Isn’t half as impressive as half the shit you never thought would’ve happened

So can we please rock the mic now?

Or is it still an issue even with Barack in the White House?

Right

So if a black kid with a book isn’t acting white

Then what’s a white kid acting like every time he grabs the mic?

I’ll tell it the same to every person I meet

Hip-hop was birthed in the streets, but it’s just words and beat

It’s a game we all get to play just like politics

Just like science, or like sports, or like arguments

And integration is breakin' the racial barriers down

With innovations from different areas split to various styles

But only the South Bronx really invented the game

And then when the fame spread that’s when the benefits came

But every CD sold was a seed bein' sowed

From MCs speakin' Creole to Swedes with the sweetest flows

And racial prejudice is just narrow hypocrisy

It has no place in a modern state of meritocracy

At least that’s the belief by which we live our lives

Just keepin' our minds open and the conversation civilized