“Ebony’s Flaws:” A Poem by Corey Riotz

Ebony’s Flaws: Spoken-word Performance

Lyrics:

See black is beautiful, I'd never change my color for another 
But sometimes I feel like I can’t trust the others or my brothers
 so it’s hard for me to stand here screaming black lives matter
When genocide became  a cycle since that crack pipe shattered 
And it’s so hard to show the world the proof of black girl magic
When love n hip hop made the world think all the black girls ratchet
Mumbles flooded the culture with pharmaceutical drugs 
And bottle service at clubs
And giving praise to the plug
We’re influenced by these actors who lie and pretend 
As if those gangsters in the movies never died in the end
This drug culture celebrates the one who turns to the scale
As if we don’t have family out here burning in hell 
Each time they burn and inhale 
Handing that money the dealer that he earns from the sell
Just to exchange that for the jumpsuit that he earns in a cell
And he face the moment where he run out of time for repentance.
And the jury tells the judge just how they find the defendant
And he spends the time of his sentence being treated like a pet dog
Subjected to those mess halls, fences and collect calls 
And by the time he wisens up and get tired of prison
Can’t get a decent job because of your prior convictions 
It’s the the cycle in this war of black against black 
Where men cornered by those corners and get trap by the trap
Remember brother malcom tried to warn us right before he past right 
And Plymouth Rock landed and we smoked it through a glass pipe
This slave mentality keeps us in chains with padded locks 
While cops pull automatic weapons out at traffic stops
And as they continue killing these sisters and brothers of ours
We throw up signs and shed blood over the colors of scarves
All these mothers are scarred, all these fathers are absent
All the homies are dead we speak about them in past tense
Shyt if I got shot today and my soul left for departure 
9 out of 10 my killers probably my complexion or darker
You see the way we treat each other it’s kill each other like melanin is completely irrelevant 
This black lives matter movement strikes me as a phase ..
Cuz how these rappers tour the world then lose their life where they were raised
You realize what this industry had come to..in hip hop
We glamorize what leads us to those jump suits and flip flops
He idolized the hustler and since that was the case 
Now all these junkies mumble rap with senseless tats on their face 
And then they step on stage they jump around and lie in your face 
With puppet strings around their necks to keep their diamonds in place
See the agenda’s attached to every word in their bars
And ig models who get Tats to hide the surgery scars
Teaching our women that they need injunctions for their imperfections 
Or Climb the stripper pole until they reach the center fold
It’s like The one who’s made of plastic is the baddest 
And and everything is fake, from their lashes to their asses
How can our ppl focus on the topic of the enemy 
If we haven’t dealt with toxic masculinity 
We don’t deal with the pain, why don’t handle our self hatred 
Brothers posting bail, and sisters posting themselves naked 
See the truth is..we committed crimes that keep us in this mental prison 
Shyt.. we sold drugs to our ghettos and we pimped our women
Like it’s ok to  treat each other like we’re savages but if someone else does it well boycott the whole establishment 
Y’all seen Colin Kapernick 
And that wall that they had his back against 
Due to the peaceful protest demonstrated as an activist 
We act like we’re just waiting for a change to happen  some  day
But everybody still watching the football games on Sunday
I guess The Super Bowl is way to hard to resist 
But will complain when cops kill us and get their charges dismissed 
So Tell me what was worse, was it brothers selling the crack rock
Or the racial injustice that was ignored by black cops
Yea not all cops are bad  that goes without question but I’ve never heard a cop tell his partner to lower his weapon 
Tell me Are you willing to bring to light what they keep in the darkness
Would you stand up for what was right against the whole department
Do you have the heart to take what you’ve learned to prepare
To make a statement on record with internal affairs 
If not then don’t tell me that law enforcements in our favor 
If that’s the case arrest the cops that killed Brionna Taylor
Arrest your partners who are killing our loved ones
Who Empty the clip when all he had to use was a stun gun
...see
Make no mistake ppl oppression is real
“Feared  for my life” is the excuse for an intentional kill
But I’m also aware the media will trigger emotions 
With the intent to spread the hate causing a bigger commotion 
The wall of ignorance divides the public and they love it
The perfect way for them to turn the public into puppets..understand 
This country runs off its bigotry and intolerance 
And yes blk ppl we have played a part in this
But for the sake of argument 
Let’s say this big change did occur 
Tell me blk ppl do we go back to the way we were?
Would we support treat each other like we’re human beings or 
Would we still kill each other and blame it on the Europeans
And I know that black on black crime is not an excuse 
But at some point they taught how to tie the knot on the noose 
And we started hanging each other
Gotta change for your brother 
Gotta change for your sister 
Listen you could march till your feet have started to blister
But if we don’t play out part and take heed to the bigger picture
And start addressing the toxic behavior that’s in the cavalry 
In all reality where just marching to burn the calories 
So understand this isn’t checkers it’s chess
We keep waiting on them to change things we’ll never progress
And in the minds of black ppl we ain’t made it in life
Unless we wake up in a suburb where our neighbors are white 
So how can we come in to terms with unity 
When we’re afraid to raise our children in our own communities 
So if the topic at hand is about our pigment 
We should start with these Flawz and maybe then things would be different 

About Corey Riotz

Corey Riotz is a spoken word artist who likes to use a mixture of vulnerability with raw content to create an overall message to those who are able to receive it.

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