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Queer Core: Behind the Music

by QueenEarth

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MissyLovesMusic
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MissyLovesMusic I am really proud of this body of work. These are stories from quarantine and from my visions in the past 5 years. Some are long overdue lessons and the rest built my confidence. Favorite track: Naked Truths.
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1.
I show up Nice Clothes Talk a good game Domain knowledge Soft skills Subject matter expert All of it Sales pitch it to you Train it teach it too Build it Make it beautiful Spill it Tell the story And the strategy If you want me too Lay across these lines Of the product and the service It’s all words In the weeds Or at 30,000 feet All this jargon Just a test To see I can speak Your language I code switch without anguish Double consciousness When rent turns to mortgage We can’t plan on broken promises From the boardroom to the block Be consistent when you stand When you got The gift of gab And a mic up in your hand Cardboard dreams Dancing in my head Spray the can With some hip hop In your hands
2.
Queer Core 03:55
Queer Core By QueenEarth They call me something My ancestors never woulda claimed “Nigga” “Queer” It’s not the same When you’re raised for a world that don’t exist No amount of experience Can prepare you for this, they scare you for this With tales of “back in my day” But we don’t run And we don’t hide I hope we have a future to say the same With global warming and missile soarings The curve is soaring up to the sky And i just Stay home and dig in the dirt like my granddaddy back in his time Maybe nothing’s changed Whether or not they get me They too 90° for my 360° I’m too blue collar for their gentry Clap your hands if you’re with me If they cock they head on your entry Queer to the Core What you writing for? Queer to the Core Who you fighting for? Stone Butch Blues Womanism Feminism Suffrage Ta Nehisi Coates Dropping knowledge in my syllabus They try to pit me against me The core of the constitution written not to fit me Send me agendas Conspiracies Fact checking triggering Asking me to split my soul And weigh the worst of suffering Reparations Segregation Stonewall uncoverings And lies was told Now a statistic missing from your interest list We play in the blind space where you can’t see Making music in your bell curve X to your Y How you draw lines without me? Maybe nothings’ changed Whether or not they get me I’m too shiny for the ashy I ain’t even tryn The glitter it just finds me If you gone put me in the story Let me define me Queer to the Core What you writing for? Queer to the Core Who you fighting for? Words hold power Labels Stories as well So what you gonna spell? With Black girl Magic In your coattails Griots in your blood Chalk lines Hip hop disco Black Moses West like San Francisco Come up for the Kinfolk Miss me with the”Oh wells” Promises and wishing wells Diggin deep enough to flood the street We make our own pails Bootstraps Underneath the table Pay my Black tax Call in Queer Sck day on my period Redlines And no call backs LLC imperative Got a coat rack full o’ hats Which one I’m wearing when you call You wonder how I got it And since you not the plug you gon pay me if you want it I take it off when the phone clicks Knowledge Charge you for the game Taken from my ancestors Unapologetically Maybe nothings changed Still they won’t silence me But they use me in their marketing What? Queer to the Core What you writing for? Queer to the Core Who you fighting for?
3.
Anna Mae 03:33
It was a season Between lay offs And laying around She met me in my wife beater But what’s love got to do When you’re the new girl in town In take a village just to feed yuh So I took my gentle hand to be a gentleman To another queen She was the elders daughter She got up to leave I couldn’t chase Joker joker deuce ace She coudlnt play It wasn’t meant to be The new girl watched my world Turn upside down I hit the aux yo It was R&B now Sad songs The queen left Before she got to eat The new girl had a plate Did my dishes Bid me peace Anna Mae My hands I’ll only Lay on yout in love You stayed around to watch me Put away the guns Gave me peace in fall The softest touch I cook she like to clean Anna Mae Anna Mae I’ll always eat the cake I’ll always eat the cake So what you think Maybe goin half on 1st month’s rent And drafting up a lease Consolidating wares and cats Cut your hair Didn’t know that in the Spring The dopeboys would be out like that Happy in our bubble Locked the door I threw the mattress down the stairs But God ever closes a door Without opening a window sp we got a dog And got the F**k up outta there YEAH The sun came out Higher rent Smaller space Backyard to tie a dog New BBQs to make New dishes More to clean Means more to taste Ooh And those meals got so delicious Found bigger dreams Asked my first Samurai And stars chase Universe in my hands Found recipes to bake But nothing’s Quite as sweet as the lovin that we make, Anna Mae Anna Mae Anna Mae I’ll always eat the cake I’ll always eat the cake 10% down Front porch to sit on now When the sun goes down And the chopper’s fly around Silence in the distance Rentals in the cue Stackin bread with you Gave up gluten for these nups If this is better for health Then we should keep it up Doing better deeds with you See the land Already claimed We write down all our wishes You fill my day with kisses Between hustlin and business Build a table in a week For when we make a feast Heavy food and gravy Hustlin in the kitchen Keep Cyrus out the way I love you Queen The most Doin business Anna Mae You give me songs to sing Anna Mae Anna Mae I’ll always eat the cake I’ll always eat the cake
4.
Written for a podcast, but not chosen. With not regrets and nothing but a gift of an opportunity, I look forward to the harvest for all of us. #collared This song is one of my stories when I do Queer Core. I come from Southern roots, gospel music, soul food, and cast iron pancakes. I have learned to say enslaved instead of slave, as language is powerful. A slave has no past and no potential. An enslaved person is human and placed in captivity. How shall I refer to my roots? We are called to walk in faith, to till the Earth, and to hold onto the legacy from before captivity. I hope you enjoy this ode to the musical roots, especially the ones that came from my mother. Unchained. Free. Faith filled. Blessed. Check out this bathroom/ closet flow remix. I decided to share this one early, in honor of all the folks who cannot gather to celebrate their loved ones passing into ancestry during Coronavirus 2020. lyrics I stand before my maker They are between Me and the darkness Always Before and after I stand between Heaven and earth Roots planted And when they called I wasn’t afraid to answer Collared (I wasn’t afraid) I kneel to pray Plant these seeds of faith Lessons Dirt on my face I kneel between The hardest ground The softest dirt No empty pursuits Plenty of food A harvest Harvest Blood of Queens Blood of Slaves Out of the darkness Break these chains Blood of Queens Blood of Slaves Out of the darkness Break these chains Collared (I wasn’t afraid)
5.
blue eyes and brown eyes they don't see the world in the same light do thin lips start their morning with bitter coffee and judge me for the sugar my full lips would rather taste? Can you see me in full color? do you wish for simpler days? i can't go back the past was harder can you do more than look away? blue eyes and brown eyes too often i see stories morning news burn the page bury my control in the cushions turning it off is as simple as the pushing of a button I find excuses not to change can you see me in full color? can you do more than look away? blue eyes and brown eyes I didn't believe in fantasy you brought me Magic you brought me Grace and blue eyes and brown eyes watch us will they watch us break? blue eyes and brown eyes
6.
Naked Truths 03:04
Damn Naked Truths Lay with you All these trips Out of town What’s really good You duckin’ dodging me I’m holding down the fort Dreaming of Harvests and progeny You loggin miles in your black book Passport stamps There’s words for women like you I’d never call you a . . . Damn Posting pictures of a smile That we had to pose to take You block my calls So folks can like What they see They pictures that we take When I’m out of town In silence And I drop you off at Reagen The queen of checkin in She ain’t posting any mentions Where were you? Don't want no talk Take our clothes off Naked truths lay with you (Tell me the truth Or I don’t want to talk to you) Naked truths lay with you I hear you talking to me babe Your story ‘s running in and out of places You ain’t supposed to be So why you lie to me I’m not running from you babe I’m going to my happy place This dungeon ain’t for me So call me when it’s clean And the beast leaves Don't want no talk Take our clothes off Naked truths lay with you
7.
Dear Love 04:16
Dear love How’d you like to spend today? I wiped my schedule clean Meetings got erased Dear love Order up some food No dishes in the sink how ‘d you like to spend today Windows open Service The neighbors Think we pray How’d you like to Spend today How’d you like to spend today Dear love Dear love Can’t say that I’ve ever felt this way So loved So safe And you give me the same This love Baby it’s the best I’ve ever made And since it’s only getting better Let’s just focus and create I know what you’ll say If I ask you babe I know what you’ll say When I ask you babe How you wanna spend today? How you wanna How you wanna How you wanna spend today? Dear love Dear love Can’t say that I’ve ever felt this way How you wanna spend today? Dear love It you answer “nothing” That’s okay cus I just wanna spend today With you With you Dear love How’d you like to spend today? Dear love
8.
Move 1.0 03:14
Since the beginning Of fime, as far as the eye can see We use stories to tell our legacy That’s why Between time ticks, across land and seas the problem? his story it wasn’t checkin for me And silene and ommission-ing, is far worse then a voice and a positioning That’s a gift man And everywhere we go man we're different Everywhere you go shit is different New rules same game Ain’t shit done changed They wrote the handbook without you Ain’t got a seat At the table for a player About you So what you bout to do? This ain’t your place No house rules And everywhere you go man it’s different Everywhere you go shit is different. What you doin standin still You’re supposed to move What you doin standin still You’re supposed to move Wake up in the morning Grab my phone from the night stand Tryna make an overnight hundred grand But the market is red if ida spent a little sooner Whispers in the valley Had no green back then to do it I wanna buy the block Grow a little crypto Staring at the screen won’t make the time a faster tick They say to save for rainy days I had a season full of Aprils And the well went dry Holding hard won’t make the rocket hit the moon tho But damn if I don’t try Something better happen soon I got dreams to leave this corner and I just parked my car It was perfect in the winter when the sun was far away Daylight savings time Means business hours are longer Where the dope boys like to play I wish they had a better way But not outside my door I want it different When it happens close to home That shit is different There’s blood in these streets What you doin standin still You’re supposed to move
9.
This is the ONLY instrumental on Queer Core: Behind the Music I started the year with sounds and speechlessness. I ended with an album full of honest lyrics. I am thankful for this opportunity to share my gifts with the Baltimore theatre community, and for the ache to push through, even when my mouth could no longer suffice. I love making beats and scores.
10.
The Pill 04:43
VERSE 1 searching for the perfect snare to make the dopest instrumental grew up modest now I got a piss pot and a window plain clothes good indo no purse to snatch no intentional walk down streets that blacks not lit up Yo, these people are my kinfolks taking neighborly advice from a man that rolls that dice everyday taking chances, advances is it slow to me he thinks I’m moving twice as fast cus I'm nice when I grab the mic 30 years ago this used to be the central so I listen when I have the time to pass long body white walls music bumpin to a tempo deep bass I see faces like mine and money moving through these hands that built these roads and etched somebody else's story into the signs and temples when we get to make our own beats get to make and own these streets the roads that we walk tip our hat off to the misses and the elders when they pass sample stories from grandma's dreams broken glass and dirty dishes lets go VERSE 2 I think about my mother's hands when I stir cheese grits flip pancakes as big as the skillet everytime I freestyle, I will the stories of 7 generations ask me how I spill it they try to kill Black voices and call this gift an illness the people make a choice to feel it this is the pill they charge you for cause Black trauma slaps cracks like the whip on Tobe's back a drama to record watch it with the family Roots It's the same as the news insurrections the change is coming slow for people that look like you and the charges they don't add up so I stay Grounded with a direct electrical connection find an 808 and move my pen in that direction take a breathe and speak with some intention truth when your body is showing up and your head is unscrewed the best medicine is right back up in the booth I used to dream of having my own mic but now's there’s no excuse got the pedals in my hand these are all my notes and grooves stay soulful VERSE 3 Good ol days when was that Asking me to go back in time messin up what I know Doc Brown would be against fucking with time wasted capitalism asks you to be patient to breathe while they standing on your neck but you're asking for your check and you worked last week and you grew up on this block and 30 years layer yo, you look mad suspicious during through and testing out the old root like you casing out the riches if you knock on the door to have a moment in the bedroom where you made your first childhood wishes will you leave wit your face on the concrete swinging from a tree that you planted they'll call you crazy say you look far from home and you need to leave the premises i wonder if grandma's refrigerator still running in the basement or if they got rid of it built to last. i take you on a tour over a river and through the wood, uh where I lost my innocence where I ran the bases hit home runs shit was mad ridiculous lifeguards, before my burdens were these middle aged bills I wanted so badly to get rid of it my childhood I'm missin it.
11.
QueenEarth It hurts to be misunderstood When you’re tryna see yourself The reflection aint’t no good And you’re lost in the crowd Wish you could Break the glass and get out But the ceiling’s covered in your dreams And you’re afraid to shatter Never considered A plan That was bigger than any you’d imagine For yourself or your path Wide lines Skyways Highways Silencing yourself From being verbose Listening to so called friends Who assess your thoughts as grandiose And you’re walking in a vision Just as long as your were in prison But on this side of freedom You’re walking in the light and better days Bout to catch a flight Quicker than the drive you thought you’d have to take If you want to grow Go this way

credits

released November 27, 2020

Written by QueenEarth
Guitar, Bass, Keys, Rap, and Vocals by QueenEarth
Produced by QueenEarth
Recorded and mixed by QueenEarth
Mastered by QueenEarth and Blackwater House, Baltimore, MD

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QueenEarth Baltimore, Maryland

QueenEarth is an acoustic singer/songwriter and emcee. She shares her music through events for social justice and community education. Her showcase, QueerCore: Behind the Music, was created to make safe space and feature stories of LGBT heroes, audiences, and allies. ... more

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