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Color Blind feat. Oozeela

from Soul Merchant by Arlo Maverick

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about

Around the time of Trayvon Martin’s murder, I was in a relationship with a white woman. One day in a conversation with her about raising kids, she rolled her eyes at something I had said. I was taken aback because up until this moment she had always showed empathy to the black experience. This lead me to talk with friends who we’re in interracial relationships. Many of them - both male and female, shared with me how certain conversations could not be had because they turn explosive. The intention of this song is to encourage interracial couples to have conversations about the complexities of race in a world that their children may live in one day. The lyrics are comprised of various stories from my conversations with friends.

lyrics

VERSE 1
9th Grade
Fell in love for the first time
The type of chick
That you dare not insert lines
A prisoner to her love
What was my crime?
Falling for her love in this lifetime
See sadly the girl that attracts me
Sticks pens in my hair to laugh at me
Makes fun of the food momma packs me
Always saying bloodclot when she pass me
Of all things
Why must love be undercut
She was singing thunderstruck
I was thinking what the fuck
Yet for her heart
I had fallen hard
But where do you start
With no common mark
She called me typical
Often she would ridicule
Asking if rap
Was the only thing I listened to
It’s easy to be critical
But somewhat hypocritical
Especially since
This chick only listened to
Classic rock, grunge and heavy metal
Quoting David Bowie
Cause he on another level
When I’m quoting Stevie Wonder
She’d say that’s nothing special
The man wrote Talking Book
And he never held a pencil

CHORUS
Love me from within
Not the skin that I’m in
Love me from within
Not the skin that I’m in
Love me from within
And not the skin that I’m in

VERSE 2
Tolerance and fetish
Would walk a thin line
Blurred by her desire to know my dick’s size
See there’s something in our skin’s contrast that gives rise
To long fought taboos
But maybe this time
Love could get past the fact my skin’s dyed
Or would it cave to the fears
Dark skin will imply
Sadly some things
Aren’t meant to be
Love had conquered nothing
Cause mentally
She wasn’t ready for the stares that accompanied
Her every time that she’d comfort me
Jeers often came from her closest friends
Disgusted by our love and would not pretend
So what’s a love that you won’t defend
But a penny in your pocket that you cannot spend
Racism,
You know that thing we ignore
Pretend it don’t exist
Like lips with cold sores
Sistas fixed they lips
Like creams at drug stores
Wasn’t on their radar
But now the uproar
But I defended us
Never pretended lust
Yet your heart followed
Those who contested us

CHORUS
Love me from within
Not the skin that I’m in
Love me from within
Not the skin that I’m in
Love me from within
And not the skin that I’m in

VERSE 3
My lady came to me
Said Bae we’re pregnant
Shoulda been on cloud 9
But my high was blended
A conversation that we should’ve had back in year two
Repeatedly delayed because I feared you
Might be offended
Take it out of context
Claim to be color blind
But it’s complex
Love ain’t enough
We’ll pretend though
Like she won’t learn about slavery or Jim Crow
Like she won’t learn about strange fruit that hung from trees
How her ancestors bled for her luxuries
Who are we to act naïve?
Like the child we conceive won’t live to see
A world where her skin would not breed
A fear that will justify their need to squeeze
A world where she won’t be forced to weave
Hanging on by a thread
Cause they fail to see
Natural to be acceptable
What about names?
Something Congolese
Or safe like Jane
Can’t have a conversation bout cops killin black folk
But we can throw on “One Love”
And fuckin dance though
Will we deny her experience
Because we lack backbone?
Tell her just ignore it
Knowing that she can’t though
… knowing that she can’t though

CHORUS X 2
Love me from within
Not the skin that I’m in
Love me from within
Not the skin that I’m in
Love me from within
And not the skin that I’m in

credits

from Soul Merchant, released July 9, 2021
Written by M. Wilson
Produced by Mike Schlosser
Mixed & Mastered by Brad Smith (Velveteen Studios)

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about

Arlo Maverick Edmonton, Alberta

Arlo Maverick is a hip-hop MC whose sound explores Jazz, Electro, and Soul yet identifies itself as hip-hop through fusing nuances of hip-hop’s golden era and Jazz theory. Lyrically Arlo Maverick’s music is a poetic narration of everyday life experiences. For Maverick it is as much about moving his audience physically as it is about moving them emotionally. ... more

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