Yo I don't even know what the vibe is kid   All these different things seperatin us   It got me walkin this fence man   and I don't even know what side I'ma fall on B   Can't see it      Well I'm a zebra y'all   ("Half Puerto Rican, half black, but you don't speak Spanish")   Don't call me zebra y'all   ("Half Puerto Rican, half black...")      Now how old are you?      About six, on my BMX, doin tricks   Back to Middlesex with a couple of poor white trashy brats   Everything was coochie crunch till it was time for lunch   They said to wait in the back, they said that Pops ain't like black   See where I was the population's mostly white   Ain't it?   They wanna see you jiggaboo with your   face painted   Be brought home by one of their daughters and their fathers   fainted   They want to see you a failure so I never   became it   Light-skinned, showed them lead, curly-headed   Called me names, I was different, I was gifted, they made me ashamed   Found out that I'm a different shade when I'm in the second grade   Abe Lincoln's play, they want me to portray a slave   My momma's face went pale she looked like she wanted to puke   Now that I know the truth I'd rather play John Wilkes Booth   Although my family came and bitched and in the play my role was switched   My grandma told me I was fixed my problems wasn't fixed   My family seen my views of the world distort   Moms last resort, she decided we would move to Newark   I took a deep breath leaving everything I knew behind   The country air the green grass and my piece of mind   Harassed by white cops on our way we're pulled out our car   Mistook my mom for Joanne Chesimard now I'm really scarred            What am I, I'm confused, can't decide   What am I who am I what am I   Black or white, I can't identify   What am I who am I what am I   I'm confused, can't decide   What am I who am I what am I   Black or white, I can't identify   What am I who am I what am I      Culture shock, Newark's a far cry from Middlesex   Broadly called projects, black eyes, regrets   Torn lives, I've never seen so many people depressed   My mental gets molested, physical takes violent threats   Stress, walkin home from school's like a terrorist test   I learned blacks could be racist too, somehow still I felt I was blessed   Even my teachers called me half-breeds and all of that   I was scared of livin here but also scared of movin back   See where I was before I was the darkest thing they ever saw   They figured that I'm black, white around   They kick me like a soccer ball   White people didn't accept me   Fuck you   Black people didn't accept me   Fuck you   Puerto Ricans didn't accept me   Fuck you   Diggin researchin my identity it gots me goin cuckoo      "I'm the yellow nigga right?   I'm tired of that. I am not passing, I am black!   I was born black, I live black,   and I will die, proud to be called black!"      So now I'm goin "Hey niggaz" at niggaz that say Chino's not black   They come to my house and tell my African mother that   In fact causin crackup they said no sister would attract to me   These same brothers got perms to get their hair like mine was naturally   Descrimination, affects a brother's education   Hands up in black history class, they never called on my ass   But wait, growin at a rapid rate   I digest their hate, it's family   Found out my father left me when I'm three   Dealt with felt if I knew my Spanish family they'd help   Every mixed person I met they mostly just kept to themself   We moved to East Orange I set it off talent shows staring   A high yellow nigga's progression, my flavor's pouring            Now how old are you?      About nineteen lettin off my steam   Used to be a punchin bag, but now I stomps, in hip-hop fiend   Now I get the goya jokes, Menudo jokes, Rico Suave jokes   But females rush me and the MC's steal up all my quotes   See what I lacks in melanin I makes up wit adrenalin   Your weak attempts at blemishin my mixed heritage I'm treasurin   Don't need caucausian acceptance just that of a human being   Laughed and spit at I don't represent cause I am not Spanish speaking   Now how many dues must I pay to win   You're angry and you're stressin that opression   but you judge me by the skin I'm in when   Adam Clayton Powell's, light-skinned and   Farrakhan the brother's, light-skinned and   Elijah Muhammad's also, light-skinned   Discrimination from my own peoples is making my temper go thin so   So stop playing me slight saying my song's aight instead of hype   Don't called me red-boned, or light and bright and damn they're white   I ain't no zebra, ain't no half of original either   Don't call me mulatto I stab you with a broken bottle   Callin your brother oreo get off it yo, now Tom consider   He could be like Chino XL, a yellow ass nigga