Chorus:
Through the pain through the rain through the gain
I salute you mama Africa
No tears no more just my mama

Verse 1:
Shikamoo (How are you?)
Mama Africa
The only dark daughter of the earth
I write you this pun to release none of your wrath
But to share in your grief
Cause it’s just yesterday
In the 1950s
That you came from the chains of bondage
I pray for your quick relief
After your sis, Europe
Treated you without honor
Your life, your sons
Congo and Sierra Leone
Started to fight for raw materials
And then blood diamonds
Brought mad iron rule
The Mugabes in Zimbabwe
Mobutu and Idi Amin
And I hope you know who gave them guns, mommy
The same people who swallowed Malcolm
And MLK
But that’s gone, anyway
Heard you sayin Barack is on his way
To slave master, USA
To let him know how we live
Ruthlessly
like yesterday
Rwanda nearly shot himself
With an AK
And Jamaica got tired
Packed his bag and went away
So is Mauritania too
These things don’t change…
And oh, I need a new page

(Chorus)

Verse 2:

And that is all it is about now
Getting more paper
Black boys are doing what now?
Getting more paper
When was the last time someone tried to call you mama
Things are getting worse now have I told you mama?
Why you have to summon your son Garang (South Sudanese founder)
Brothers from another mother seem to me so dumb
Did they let you know Mandela’s free?
How young is he
Shit, 93?
Your kids are still slaves
They’re mining for export
Some selling themselves out
They blabbing for passports (?)
Your daughters are still queens
But they’re dyin’ of AIDs
They’re worshiping still things like diamond rings
Still not moving
Still the guns shooting
Still the bloods oozing
Militaries ruling the people
I mean the big bros are bullying the little
I wish the food was as much as the guns

Chorus

Verse 3:
Back with a pen with ink
But also back with pain to think
How come you used to give me milk and honey
Nowadays I’m sick of starving
I want you back ma
So through with the songs
When I’m sick feed me with your hugs
When I cry wipe my tears
Wipe my fears
Tell me you’re here
The only one with the power of love
Not the love of power
Mrs. Third World
The mother of the tame and the wild
The slaves in the land
Never keep your head in the ground
Even if you live below the poverty line
Be strong and afford a smile
Cause when you’re rich in your soul
And your tears will be reaching us all
Like showers of blessing
And leading the flock
Let’s return to the days of the weather and medicinemen
Before releasing a speicmen from the laboratory
Before they call us monkeys in stories
And to use slavery to depict a tragic history
Back to the weasels and the smoke signals
And oh, my pen has faded
I need to put some ink in it…

Through the pain through the rain through the gain
I salute you Mama Africa
No tears no more just my mama

Verse 4:

All the ink in the world couldn’t spell it all
All the tongues and the lips couldn’t tell it all
We workin our way up though the pace is slow
Are these dictator presidents ever going to let it go
Somalia is a young girl, her legs still feeble
And the media got it twisted
They think she’s crippled
She can walk on her own
Along with Liberia
It’s not a war going on
It’s all in Nigeria
The people are poor
The infants starving
Let your tears be the rain
The thirst is burning
The Sahara is growing
I’m not taking off my Saharas (desert boots)
This is not a safari, it’s suffering
Better the life of hunting and gathering
Oh, I’ve been with Kenya
Don’t you think she’s grown?
She’s grown big and there’s a saying
She has recited:
“Forever Kenya
Forever Africa
Forever you and me”