Janelle Monáe - Ghetto Woman lyrics

Carry on, ghetto woman
I see you working night to morning
Light yet no one cares
Carry on, ghetto woman
Cause even though they laugh and talk
About the clothes you wear
I wish they could just realize
That all you’ve ever needed was
Someone to free your mind
Carry on, ghetto woman
Cause even in your darkest hours
I still see your light

And when you cry, don’t you know
That I am crying with you?
When people put you down, yeah way down
And you feel like you’re alone
Let love be your guide
You were built to last through any weather
Oh, ghetto woman, hold on to your dreams and
All your great philosophies
You’re the reason I believe in me, for real

Carry on, ghetto woman
When you doubt if you’re a star
Just know we still believe
Carry on, ghetto woman
Even when the news portrays you
Less than you could be
I wish they could just realize
All you ever needed was someone
To free your mind carry on, ghetto woman
You’re the seventh wonder reigning
Over us at night

When you cry, don't you know
We’re right there crying with you
People put you down, yeah way down
And you feel like you’re alone
Let love be your guide
You were built to last through any weather
Oh, ghetto woman, hold on to your dreams and
All your great philosophies
You’re the reason I believe in me, for real

Some say this ghetto land will take
You down and poison you
Some say she can do all the
Things a man can do
Who said the ghetto’s just a place where
Queens dance naked on the moon?
We say a woman came to change the
Face of each and every room

When I was just a baby my
Momma dropped out of school
It was only second semester the baby due
The doctor said, "December the first
Your due date" the daddy he was gone off
To college he couldn’t wait
Only just a teen with dreams to be on TV
And living with a mom and my
Grandma who used to feed me
We would move around in the
City place to place
The landlord come for the rent face to face
Her eyes too heavy from working
Nights as a janitor
She’d keep it to herself and
Nobody could understand her
But even when she thought that
She couldn’t she carried on
She couldn’t imagine both of her
Daughters here all alone
Before the tuxedos and black
And white every day
I used to watch my momma get
Down on her knees and pray
She’s the reason that I’m
Even writing this song
Ghetto woman, no it won’t be long
Now sing along

Let it use you, let it use you
When the love is strong
It won’t let you be alone let it use you
Just let the spirit lead you