Black Diamond (feat. Zomkhonto Gabadela)

Black diamonds and pearls; black diamonds, black diamonds Black diamonds and pearls; black diamonds, black diamonds Her name was Carbonado; black, tough and resilient Diamond merchants said she was worth millions Most that they knew were red, yellow and blue But she had a rare form of hue Out of this world, something about her extraterrestrial Birthed from a supernova in the heart of Africa Her strong luminescence could light up any room Soaked in dark aura but she didn't take the gloom She was beautiful and stood out from the rest Poured out her heart, more pourous than the rest Her lustre adamantine and so was her spirit Whatever the surface, she could drill it Shy and reserved, her nature was opaque Quite the enigma how she shone in all black She emerged from an interstellar crash site And made effulgence out of sulphide and graphite Black diamond Black diamonds and pearls; black diamonds, black diamonds Black diamonds and pearls; black diamonds, black diamonds Black diamonds and pearls; black diamonds, black diamonds Black diamonds and pearls; black diamonds, black diamonds But she ain't content with her content She desires more of the pink, yellow and orange That she observes in the vitrine next door Everything looks more pristine next door The diamonds on TV are all clear and white And fluoresce better under the UV light She disregards that she's a solitaire from meteorite And feels out of place amongst the gems from Kimberlite She's not a fan of her unique coloration Her crystal structure is not on mainstream foundation But she can't change her chemical makeup Purity is not perfection; she doesn't get that Her lust for assimilation remains stubborn She opts to alter the very fabric of her carbon And go synthetic; her value nosedives for it The very same pressure that made her; she dies from it Black diamond Black diamonds and pearls; black diamonds, black diamonds Black diamonds and pearls; black diamonds, black diamonds Black diamonds and pearls; black diamonds, black diamonds Black diamonds and pearls; black diamonds, black diamonds Black diamonds and pearls; black diamonds, black diamonds Black diamonds and pearls; black diamonds, black diamonds Black diamonds and pearls; black diamonds, black diamonds Black diamonds and pearls; black diamonds, black diamonds Black diamonds and pearls; black diamonds, black diamonds Black diamonds and pearls; black diamonds, black diamonds Black diamonds and pearls; black diamonds, black diamonds Black diamonds and pearls; black diamonds, black diamonds She cuts herself Forgetting that a black diamond is the hardest to cut So her skin resists her. And the more she cuts wanting to bleed, the more her skin becomes rock and sharpens itself to shining. Black diamond, meteorite stone; she does not know that her skin was formed from an asteroid's impact upon the first human's bone, that it is the toughest gemstone. That it began as hot lava upon the body and as it cooled and blackened, becoming coal in essence, it transformed into a resplendent coat of armor. That the boundaries of her melanin are good karma. That the soil underneath which it is extracted is itself made of tiny specks of diamond filings. I will tell my daughter she is a black diamond whose clarity cannot be graded, carats cannot be weighted Who absorbs light than refract it so when she is forced to take in the aftershocks of a world distracted, in disbelief at the rawness of her spirit, she will let it hit her skin without cutting, without putting her under the knife, without bleaching. Black diamond that cannot be rated, that is perfect as it is. Black diamond that cannot be rated, that is perfect as it is, as it is, as it is.