Proletariat Blues

Back in the days when I was a teenager

Minimum wage earning, rocking an apron

I was pushing hella carts asking plastic or paper

To bastard ass customers plus most of us had,

Relatives working in the same supermarket

When boss wasn't looking rolled the dice on the carpet

In the lunch room, listening to Biggie and Nas

But not as much as Snoop, Forty Water, and Pac

Me, I rocked the Walkman instead writing rhymes

In my head often bored, I'd recite them outloud

And memorize a song long before I'd write it down

In lunch room freestyles is where I learned to clown

Plantation style (?), yellow, brown, black majority

Half the young cats either enlisted in the Army

Or the Navy or Marines, but I was having dreams

And I ain't even halfway there yet

It seems that we never get paid what our labor is worth

That's why we often in a daze on the way to our work

And when we get there, we can't wait to be out

So let me tell you what it's about

And now we never get paid what our labor is worth

That's why we often in a daze on the way to our work

And when we get there, we can't wait to be out

So let me tell you what it's about

The next place of employment's no better than this

My first day thinking this some fuckin' "Office Space" shit

But not me boss(?), these conditions ain't suitable

Hide the pen and pad, writting rhymes in a cubicle

Automated phone click, dial tone, phone(?) calling

Hoping for some gullible folks to take the offer

A mission for commision, tuition for college

"Please put our number on your do not call list"

Half the whole staff graduated with honors

And you're trying to tell me telemarketing's your best job option?

This shit is not poppin'

Working to the bone

Livin' at home

Facing up debt and student loans

Now the manager's a tool and a clown

But productivity increases anytime he's nowhere to be found

And this tight ass environment makes me want to hurl

Like watchin Flava Flav tongue kissin' old girl

Now we never get paid what our labor is worth

That's why we often in a daze on the way to our work

And when we get there, we can't wait to be out

So let me tell you what it's about

And now we never get paid what our labor is worth

That's why we often in a daze on the way to our work

And when we get there, we can't wait to be out

So let me tell you what it's about

The dotcom phenomenon, fuck the city boss

Stock Market falls down, hundred thousand's layed off

Got with Amazon.com, it had a lot of cross-dressers, goth cats, ex-cons, and single moms

On the elevator up, my Walkman on, flash a badge for security, the mark of the beast

But with skills to persuade through speech, you'd be amazed to see how many customer service reps are MCs

At each instance, different job descriptions

What kept a brother going was the music that I listened to

Initiate the day with an anthem to work through

Then the supervisor started blastin' Dave Matthews

Shit is bad news

Working for some assholes in suits, straight singing middle management blues

And so I quit on the last day of training

And when I got home my notebook was waiting

I said we never get paid what our labor is worth

That's why we often in a daze on the way to our work

And when we get there, we can't wait to be out

So let me tell you what it's about

And now we never get paid what our labor is worth

That's why we often in a daze on the way to our work

And when we get there, we can't wait to be out

I told you what this shit is about