*Officially released today in honor of the renowned American poet, singer, memoirist and civil rights activist Maya Angelou who was born on April 4, 1928 – “The Color of My Skin” is an original song that was inspired by Angelou’s famous poem, “Still I Rise.” (Watch it via the player above.)
Composed and produced by Adamah Cole, Founder of the Brooklyn, New York-based independent production company Lingua Frankha, “The Color of My Skin” pays homage to those who have fought with their words and pen for racial equality and encourages black people to love and be proud of the skin they’re in.
Black is the color of my skin
Painted with sun-loving melanin
Honoring those who have lived and died
Giving my all so I stand with pride
RELATED NEWS: Maya Angelou Would’ve Been 90 Today … But Didn’t Celebrate Birthday for Years Because of MLK Jr.’s Death
“The song was originally created for the launch of my friend’s dance company in February,” said Cole. “After the performance, a woman asked me where she could get a copy because she wanted to remind her young daughter of her own beautiful, black skin. The same challenges Maya Angelou discussed in her work are still relevant today, so I wanted to share ‘The Color of My Skin’ with that woman and the world.”
“The Color of My Skin,” featuring artists Adamah Cole, Jarrett C. and Amaris Jones, is available YouTube and SoundCloud.
Credits:
Music, Lyrics, Vocals: Adamah Cole
Vocals: Amaris Jones
Vocals & Audio Editing: Jarrett C.
Videography: Stephen Schaffer
2nd Camera: Anna Sian
“The Color of My Skin,” by Adamah Cole
Black is the color of my skin, so beautiful
Black is the color of my skin, such beauty
Black is the color of my skin
Painted with sun-loving melanin
Honoring those who have lived and died
Giving my all so I stand with pride
Black is the color of my skin, so beautiful
Black is the color of my skin, such beauty
Strong is the beating of my heart
Nimble my dancing and high my art
Artfully gifted with intellect
Great is my talent and my self-respect
Black is the color of my skin
Black is the color of my skin
Deep are the waters I was made to cross
Bleak was the chapter of so much loss
My enemies, they came to destroy
Yet through it all I still found joy
Black people, Black people of my skin
Black people, Black people of my skin
I fought the battles with blood & bone
Eviction notice in my own home, I built it too
They tried to cut me with knife & pen
But like Maya told me, I rise again
Black is the color of my skin, so beautiful
Black is the color of my skin, so beautiful
Black is the color of my skin
Painted with sun-loving melanin
Honoring those who have lived and died
Giving my all so I stand with pride
Black is the color of my skin, so beautiful
Black is the color of my skin, so beautiful
“Still I Rise,” by Maya Angelou
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
’Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries?
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don’t you take it awful hard
’Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own backyard.
You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.
Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?
Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.
source:
Amaris Jones
[email protected]
We Publish News 24/7. Don’t Miss A Story. Click HERE to SUBSCRIBE to Our Newsletter Now!
