AGAINST THE GRAIN/SHINE MEDLEY (NPR MUSIC'S TINY DESK CONCERT) - Tobe Nwigwe, Madeline Edwards

Uh, we just wanted to against the grain a little bit

So Miss Madeline Edwards, if you would

'Cause you were made to

Do what no one’s done

And though they shade you

You shine like the sun

'Cause you were made to

Do what no one’s done

And though they shade you

You shine like the sun

Aight, I feel like the masses on melatonin when it come to melanin

I grew up melancholy 'cause I ain’t realize that the hemoglobin in my skin

Was connected to a lineage that never ever had to penny pinch

Serpent hissing at me, I take the blade to his neck to kill all the hissy fits

Ugh, please don’t try me, I get more than grimey wen it come to Juju

Hence why my name is Tobechukwu and the flow like a tutu

Wrapped around the waist of Misty Copeland

Graceful even though I hail from broken

Places where they say that none are chosen to rise among the raptors

Like DeRozan, ugh

Flow o so, so Jurassic

Tough to find a suitor in my bracket

Where I’m from

My hood was filled with bastards

Not they fault

They daddy had it backwards

Hopefully they don’t adopt the habits

Of the seed that turned them to a savage

'Cause

'Cause you were made to

Do what no one’s done

And though they shade you

You shine like the sun

'Cause you were made to

Do what no one’s done

And though they shade you

You shine like the sun

The atmosphere where I matured

Was less than friendly

Before they’d chase a dime

They’d squeeze the nickel

For a pretty penny

Hey look we had beef on every corner word to Wendy’s

And I wanted to get away, or fly away, word to Lenny, Kravitz

It’s always hella static

When you can’t establish

How to get some cabbage

Or form a habit

To make ya cash a tidbit more acrobatic

Ouu, Ouu

You know flipping cake not hoarding it

Not hoarding it tryna change my mama

Geographical coordinates

'cause, 'cause she made it out the village

She deserves the tropics

And I was raised around them killers

You know, round them rockets

Where they’d put metal to yo mouth

Just like an orthodontist

No gas at all I went from convict

To being a comet

Ouu

'Cause you were made to

Do what no one’s done

And though they shade you

You shine like the sun

'Cause you were made to

Do what no one’s done

And though they shade you

You shine like the sun

Sun, sun, sun

Oh-oh-ooh

Shine

Shine

Shine

Shine

Shine on all of them

Shine on all of them

My umi said to shine your light

So shine on all of them

Oooaayyeee

Shine

Shine

Shine

Shine

Shine on all of them

Shine on all of them

My umi said to shine your light

So shine on all of them

We in the land of milk and honey

But ain’t nothing sweet, these demons hungry

They go bananas for the money

But not me, I’m no circus monkey

It’s crazy, it’s crazy

No Shaitan can drown us, we wavy

Too smooth to be fooled by Fugazies

I guess that’s all part of what made me

Shine

Shine

Shine

Shine

Shine on all of them

Shine on all of them

My umi said to shine your light

So shine on all of them

Oooaayyeee

Climb

Climb

Climb

Climb

You were born to win

You were born to win

Don’t let them make you colorblind and not adore your skin