dead prezis the pair of largely underground alternativerappers, Stic.Manand M-1. They have become known largely for their hard-hitting style and politically-aware lyrics, focusing on racism, critical pedagogy, and activism against governmental hypocrisy, and corporate control over the media, especially hip-hoprecord labels. In 1990, M-1 headed to Tallahassee to attend FAMU (Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University) where he and Sticman met and connected due to their mutual love of music and knowledge. "I was soaking up the Black Panther Partyas a whole," M-1 remembers. "I learned about their lives and it helped mold me." "I realized there's a struggle already going on and I have to try to help ride it out," interjects Stic.man.
last.fm page
Similar Artists
They Schools Lyrics
Dead Prez
Why havent you learned anything?
Man that school shit is a joke
The same people who control the school system control
The prison system, and the whole social system
Ever since slavery, nawsayin?
[verse 1]
I went to school with some redneck crackers
Right around the time 3rd bass dropped the cactus album
But I was readin 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
Fuckin with the teachers had, callin em racist
I tried to show them crackers some light, they couldnt face it
I got my diploma from a school called rickers
Full of, teenage mothers, and drug dealin niggas
In the hallways, the popo was always present
Searchin through niggas possessions
Lookin for, dope and weapons, get your lessons
Thats why my moms kept stressin
I tried to pay attention but they classes wasnt interestin
They seemed to only glorify the europeans
Claimin africans were only three-fifths a human being
Hook:
They schools cant teach us shit
My people need freedom, we tryin to get all we can get
All my high school teachers can suck my dick
Tellin me white man lies straight bullshit (echoes)
They schools aint teachin us, what we need to know to survive
(say what, say what)
They schools dont educate, all they teach the people is lies
You see dog, you see how quick these motherfuckers be to like
Be tellin niggas get a diploma so you can get a job
Knowwhatimsayin but they dont never tell you how the job
Gonna exploit you every time knowwhatimsayin thats why I be like
Fuck they schools!
[verse 2]
School is like a 12 step brainwash camp
They make you think if you drop out you aint 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 wasnt enough, then they expel yall
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 dont reach us
Whether you breakdance or rock suede addidas
Or be in the bathroom with your clique, smokin reefer
Then you know they math class aint important less you addin up cash
In multiples, unemployment aint rewardin
They may as well teach us extortion
You either get paid or locked up, the pricipal is like a warden
In a four year sentence, mad niggas never finish
But that doesnt mean I couldnt be a doctor or a dentist
Hook(first part of hook twice)
Cuz for real, a mind is a terrible thing to waste
And all yall high class niggas with yall nose up
Cuz we droppin this shit on this joint, fuck yall
We gon speak for ourselves
Knowhatimsayin? cuz see the schools aint teachin us nothin
They aint teachin us nothin but how to be slaves and hardworkers
For white people to build up they shit
Make they businesses successful while its exploitin us
Knowhatimsayin? and they aint teachin us nothin related to
Solvin our own problems, knowhatimsayin?
Aint teachin us how to get crack out the ghetto
They aint teachin us how to stop the police from murdering us
And brutalizing us, they aint teachin us how to get our rent paid
Knowhatimsayin? they aint teachin our families how to interact
Better with each other, knowhatimsayin? they just teachin us
How to build they shit up, knowhatimsayin? thats why my niggas
Got a problem with this shit, thats why niggas be droppin out that
Shit cuz it dont relate, you go to school the fuckin police
Searchin you you walkin in your shit like this a military compound
Knowhatimsayin? so school dont even relate to us
Until we have some shit where we control the fuckin school system
Where we reflect how we gon solve our own problems
Them niggas aint gon relate to school, shit that just how it is
Knowhatimsayin? and I love education, knowhatimsayin?
But if education aint elevatin me, then you knowhatimsayin it aint
Takin me where I need to go on some bullshit, then fuck education
Knowhatimsayin? at least they shit, matter of fact my nigga
This whole school system can suck my dick, beeyotch!!