“They Schools” Dead Prez lyrics

Why haven't you learned anything?

Man that school sh*t is a joke
The same people who control the school system control
The prison system, and the whole social system
Ever since slavery, naw I'm saying?

[Verse 1 - stic.man]
I went to school with some redneck crackers
Right around the time 3rd Bass dropped the Cactus Album
But I was reading Malcolm
I changed my name in '89 cleaning parts of my brain
Like a baby nine
I took a history class serious
Front row, every day of the week, 3rd period
f*cking with the teachers head, calling em racist
I tried to show them crackers some light, they couldn't face it
I got my diploma from a school called Rickards
Full of, teenage mothers, and drug dealing n*ggas
In the hallways, the popo was always present
Searching through n*ggas possessions
Looking for, dope and weapons, get your lessons
That's why my moms kept stressin'
I tried to pay attention but they classes wasn't interestin'
They seemed to only glorify the Europeans
Claiming Africans were only three-fifths a human being
HOOK:
They schools can't teach us sh*t
My people need freedom, we trying to get all we can get
All my high school teachers can suck my di*k
Telling me white man lies straight bullsh*t (echoes)
They schools ain't teaching us, what we need to know to survive
(Say what, say what)
They schools don't educate, all they teach the people is lies

You see dog, you see how quick these motherf*ckers be to like
Be telling n*ggas get a diploma so you can get a job
Know what I'm saying but they don't never tell you how the job
Gonna exploit you every time know what I'm saying that's why I be like
f*ck they schools!

[Verse 2 - M-1]
School is like a 12 step brainwash camp
They make you think if you drop out you ain't got a chance
To advance in life, they try to make you pull your pants up
Students fight the teachers and get took away in handcuffs
And if that wasn't enough, then they expel y'all
Your peoples understand it but to them, you a failure
Observation and participation, my favorite teachers
When they beat us in the head with them books, it don't reach us
Whether you breakdance or rock suede Adidas
Or be in the bathroom with your clique, smoking reefer
Then you know they math class ain't important 'less you adding up cash
In multiples, unemployment ain't rewardin'
They may as well teach us extortion
You either get paid or locked up, the principal is like a warden
In a four year sentence, mad n*ggas never finish
But that doesn't mean I couldn't be a doctor or a dentist
[Outro]
Cuz for real, a mind is a terrible thing to waste
And all y'all high class n*ggas with y'all nose up
Cuz we droppin this sh*t on this joint, f*ck y'all
We gon speak for ourselves
Knowhatimsayin? Cuz see the schools ain't teachin us nothin
They ain't teachin us nothin but how to be slaves and hardworkers
For white people to build up they sh*t
Make they businesses successful while it's exploitin us
Knowhatimsayin? And they ain't teachin us nothin related to
Solvin our own problems, knowhatimsayin?
Ain't teachin us how to get crack out the ghetto
They ain't teachin us how to stop the police from murdering us
And brutalizing us, they ain't teachin us how to get our rent paid
Knowhatimsayin? They ain't teachin our families how to interact
Better with each other, knowhatimsayin? They just teachin us
How to build they sh*t up, knowhatimsayin? That's why my n*ggas
Got a problem with this sh*t, that's why n*ggas be droppin out that
sh*t cuz it don't relate, you go to school the f*ckin police
Searchin you you walkin in your sh*t like this a military compound
Knowhatimsayin? So school don't even relate to us
Until we have some sh*t where we control the f*ckin school system
Where we reflect how we gon solve our own problems
Them n*ggas ain't gon relate to school, sh*t that just how it is
Knowhatimsayin? And I love education, knowhatimsayin?
But if education ain't elevatin me, then you knowhatimsayin it ain't
Takin me where I need to go on some bullsh*t, then f*ck education
Knowhatimsayin? At least they sh*t, matter of fact my n*gga
This whole school system can suck my di*k, BEEYOTCH!!