DOPE: "I’m a Hip Hop Cheerleader" by Jessica Care Moore

I’m a Hip Hop Cheerleader

I’m a hip hop cheerleader
carrying hand grenades
and blood red pom poms
screaming from the sidelines of a stage
I built
afraid to part down the middle
for feminine riddles
raining words of proverbs
of prophets who never get heard
because the microphone is just another phallic symbol
that allows jack to be nimble
jack to be quick
leaving jill with a man who can’t climb
a hill and a bucket of spit
she can’t drink or find her reflection inside

she hides

inside crooked eyes of amber
allows her life to be slandered
if hip hop is conscious
we must change the standard
my womb - mate’s been slandered
I planned her arrival
of letters and lyrics never sent to those lovers
who claim that they know her
but still blow her off as a flunky
not a microphone junkie
fiending for a quick fix
not fast cars & hoe tricks
her mouth matrix is taped
hooked on phonics escaped
left her language for rape
so she ate her words
and became an instant interlude
a cute break between the music
when she was an electric lady
a black flower rhyme scheme romantic
a breathe and release tantric with five tongues
and no one
understood why her flow was so fast
asked to slow down
hesitate - never last

to the finish I’m gonna win this
all the dj’s gon’ spin it
when you’re a woman
sometimes all you have is a minute

I’m a hip hop cheerleader
I buy all your records
despite the misogyny
not looking for the blond in me
respond to me
I feel molested hip hop fondled me
I know the conscious brothas follow me
hollow me with half breaths
real emcees don’t half step
but I never slept
took my poems and made food
put my babies in school
taught me
to wait for no one
never turn my back from the sun
of man
I know all my fly mommas understand
got the rifle on my back
with a mic in my hand
I’ll be your tubman compass
so we can map out this land
I’ll be the air that you breathe
I’ll be your number one fan
I’ll scream the HAY’s
I’ll tolerate all your hoes
I’m a hip hop cheerleader

there she go
there she goes

self love freed me
despite all your rhymes with bitches
I know you need me
complete thee believe me
I see you growing In me
looking out from belly
your rhyme schemes are telling
sang those lullabies to nelly
close to my edge like melle
doing cartwheels and air splits
u stage diving into white chics
when I got your hair pic
your weapon of choice
I chose my voice
cause I only gotta quarter left
on this microphone meter
I got on a short pleated skirt
I’m a hip hop cheerleader
there she go
there she goes...

DOPE: "Warriors Walk Alone" Jessica Care Moore

Warrior walk alone
For Erykah Badu


Warriors walk alone
But stay protected by their pack
Give them everything they wanted
Then take it all back
Make them find their icon in the mirror
Sprout their own fear and watch them grow
Tell their story – cry when you do it
Turn your blood to funkadelic polkadots
Sign your name in red
Change the I to why
Because we have to change
Because black girls are dying
Because no one showed them how to live
Mama fish, the children will revolt
Whispers and reports of oil spills
Will kill the women
Who make revolution, food for their children

A penny bank full of butterflies
Will never cocoon into enough cash
To pay for the expectations of spectators
Gypsy haters
Wash your colorful wings in the well
Know that all your wishes
Add to our spicy bitches brew
We are who was sent to you
So, who sent you?
When the shit goes down
Will you remember which way the blue bird flew?
I advise you carry your compass and your scissors
Next time you go fishing for the worst part of good
I hope your ideas of consciousness
Can get you out this hood
In one piece
We wolves always come in peace
We are the traveling leaf, that cries for trees
Music angel.
Stretch your warrior marks
Mark your warrior path
Stretch marks tattoo your temple
Swallow your dimples
Hide your style/market your spirit/sell something/cut it off/save
them/sacrifice/drink water/pray/laugh and breath/cross your legs/get your
gun/wage the war/make them buy it/bat your eyes/rock it out/make them
beg/put the hits on the b side/smile warrior
Listen for your tribe

Here we go!

Check your footprints
Pick them up/shoot em down/take the a train/bite your story
Save your tongue//just get there sista/even if you have to leave a few of
us
behind/chant backward rhymes/store your milk for ammunition/ use your
intuition/shave your hair/wish them luck
tell the witch doctors/we don’t give a fuck/

scar your face/pierce your nose/unwrap the package
define the present

tell them no

just when they think they’ve have it

meditate while they criticize it/burn sage for the liars who print it/turn
down the stove/only boil with natural fire/burn down their house/watch the
words melt /save the ink/write a new song/return to the ocean/leave them
to
the mermaids/carry your pepper spray/wear your hooker books/tease
them/make
them prove their identity/brand it to their bodies/force them to pin a
star
to their clothes/convert the masses/design the logo/create a real
revolution

when no one’s looking

so they’ll never see us

coming


© Moore Black Press 2001

From: The Alphabet Verses The Ghetto

Moore Black Press, Atlanta 2001

ISBN: 0-9658308-0-2