HAIR My, what an interesting affair! The ways we dress and comb our hair And if we don't like what is there Why, out the closet comes our spare The processed style was once in vogue Men primped about in ladies' hose Murray's pomade and straightening combs Found their way into every colored home And then the brothers found themselves The natural became a sign of racial health Black power signs and afro-picks Sent a message to whitey, that made him sick Possession of hair that was like lamb's wool Was now perceived as being very cool But whitey declared, “This shall not be! Why, soon they'll believe, that they are free!” So he then set out to turn the day And crush the pride the bloods displayed Soon afro-wigs claimed mass appeal Even whitey wore a 'fro, to show that it was no big deal “Just a hairstyle, not a sign of consciousness,”they said The spirit of brotherhood was all but dead So the permanent replaced the 'fro as the style of the time A hairstyle as dead as the wearer's mind
Regression was the disease the blood's had caught Relearning all the self-hatred, that whitey had taught Straight hair was seen as good and kinky hair bad So why not straighten out the hair that you already had? To imitate the Imitator was truly a shame! Demonstrating the effectiveness of whitey's game Those with no sense of identity were easy prey They didn't know they had a culture of their own to play And when the permanent began to lose momentum The Jheri curl became a part of the curriculum Had brother's walking around in rollers and plastic bags Black manhood parading mindlessly in drag Sporting fashions and styles, conceived by fags Unknowing victims of cultural lag Ah, but say the wise ones, “This too shall pass And our cause will triumph at the last When we have regained our rightful mind We'll reassume our power to define Establishing our own standards of beauty and value Determining for ourselves what is false and true Seeing ourselves, once again, through Afrikan eyes We'll be free of the evil the demons devised We'll then bask in the glory of the Original man And laugh, because we've seen through the Devil's plan!�