Released: May 5, 2012

Songwriter: Lecrae

Producer: BEAM

[Intro: Barrington Levy]
In my garden, oh ayy, in my garden, oh ah
To keep and care it you've got to water it
To keep and care it you've got to water it

[Chorus: Lecrae & Barrington Levy]
She ain't never seen Garden of Eden
Only seen garden of bleeding
And some are gonna lie and hate and make her feel like she's a heathen
She ain't never seen Garden of Eden
Only seen garden of bleeding
And some are gonna lie and hate and make her feel like she's a heathen
Black rose, black rose
Black rose, black rose
Black rose, black rose
Black rose, black rose

[Verse 1: Lecrae]
Their roots dirty but their petals stay pretty
Somebody tried to take the purity say they unworthy
The black rose grows deep in the city streets
But them stems still peak up under the concrete yeah
Bleak is around looking life but them never seen a flower
Grow under the moonlight
Mama had me readin Eldridge Cleaver's Soul on Ice
I was looking for identity they stole mine twice
So I turn to the rude boy gangsters first
But the bad man withers and returns to the earth
Now it's ashes to ashes dirt to dirt
A black rose without a chance to grasp her worth

[Chorus: Lecrae & Barrington Levy]
She ain't never seen Garden of Eden
Only seen garden of bleeding
And some are gonna lie and hate and make her feel like she's a heathen
She ain't never seen Garden of Eden
Only seen garden of bleeding
And some are gonna lie and hate and make her feel like she's a heathen
Black rose, black rose
Black rose, black rose
Black rose, black rose
Black rose, black rose
Black rose, black rose
Black rose, black rose
Black rose, black rose
Black rose, black rose

[Verse 2: Lecrae]
Man the school system it fail us, and the government won't bail us
Out of this hell we in man it seems they want to kill us
There's blood pan di side walk blood pan di doors
There's blood up on them ceilings why there's pan di floor
No one to keep and care us our fathers too embarrassed
To show us he's a failure so mama's a single parent
Them children grow without the fertilizer that they needed
And the black rose grows in a garden fulla weeds and needles and evil
But God sent people who reflect the light of the sun they get it done
The rose grows cold wind blows through the streets
And the ice on the leaves so heavy she gets weak
And there's not a helping hand upon the scene to be seen
And when all seems lost the Gardener intervenes
He handles her with care
And he show her she a queen
And then thorns are a defense mechanism she'll never need
Black rose

[Chorus: Barrington Levy]
Black rose, black rose
Black rose, black rose
Black rose, black rose
Black rose, black rose

Lecrae Moore

Lecrae Moore is a Christian rapper born in Houston, Texas. He is the president and co-founder of Reach Records. His career began in 2004—2 years after converting into Christianity. Since then, he has released a total of 7 solo albums, 3 mixtapes, and 1 collaboration album with super-producer Zaytoven.

He is one of the most influential and successful rappers of the Christian faith. He has been featured to perform and talk on several television shows such as The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Good Morning America, Wild N Out and ESPN. He has won many awards, including several Dove, Stellar, and BET Awards, and—most notably—2 Grammys.

He first received mainstream attention with the release of his 2012 mixtape Church Clothes which was downloaded 100,000 times in just 48 hours. He followed that up with Church Clothes 2 in 2013 and Church Clothes 3 in early 2016.