Brooklyn Public Part 1

It's dedicated to

Bed-Stuy

It's representing of

Brownsville

It's representing of

Bushwick

It's dedicated to

Fort Greene

A matter fact I hold

Brooklyn

Or better yet the whole

New York

Or better yet the whole

America

It's going out to all

Worldwide

[Refrain:]

Welcome to Brooklyn Public

One of the hardest places to work

So please don't apply

Unless you really love it

It's nine to five or rather eight to three

It's really five to nine, A to P

If it's your job place nothing above it

You make more in other places

With higher property tax and less faces

But if that's what you covet

You ought to ask yourself if this is where you want to be

To help you by I'll try to paint a picture of it

One class, 31 students, 32 chairs, 25 desks

I guess they gotta share

19 textbooks and most are missing pages

Junior high: three grades, but six different ages

Teaches and janitors double as deans

Deans double as security guards and crime scene investigators

Older teachers need respirators. At elevators

The bad odors from the back stairs are made of

Gutter (garshavegas?) used condoms and puddles of piss

Try not to slip there in a fire drill

Every now and then a scandal might reach the paper

For every story, there's thirty in the category

Hard work and progress are on display in the hallways

Demoralized and vandalized every day

Lessons cut short to prep for tests that only test how well you prep

Man, no wonder why the score's a mess

Knuckle-heads begging for detention or suspension

Truthfully told, they really only crave attention

Some kids showing up unprepared and dirty

'Cause their parents gotta punch in by seven thirty

Shit, some other parents seven thirty

They put the wrong kids on pills to be still

Fiending for refills

Principals with no principles

Priorities political

Pedagogical planning is pitiful

Low on tolerance, high on ridicule

Even the infirmary's inhospitable

Assembly required

Metal detectors seeming unjust but inspired by shots fired

Terms like zero-tolerance and lock-down

Aging out, if you ask me, does not sound

Like education

But I suppose that's a 'cause and effect'

When the city spends more on incarceration

[Refrain]

Grown-up, roam the halls with me

So many characters

Some sweet some shifty

Some loud some quiet

Some trusting, some don't buy it - don't try it

Some'll try to squash beef and some start riots

Some are motivated some are lazy

Some are geniuses some are crazy

The line between is hazy

Some'll love you some'll hate you

Some'll need you some'll spite you

Some are thankful, some are ungrateful

Yo, some are there and really care

About what's being learned and taught

They fought through it when they got stuck

Some are there 'till the bell rings

Run through the day without thinking

'Cause they really don't give a fuck

Some'll run some'll fight

Some'll tell, some might change the world

Some are early to the grave or jail

Some are so complicated, some are so simple

Some are students, some are teachers

Some are principals

[Refrain]

Come upstairs, keep roaming the halls with me

Some many characters, some sweet some shifty

Like I said, some are complicated some are simple

Some are students, some are teachers

Some are principals

The littlest thugs walk like they are invincible

Comical, just look at little Dexter

Yo, he got the type of Napoleon complex to

Step in front of Devon, twice his size, just to get him vexed but

Devon's a gentle giant

Thirteen, five foot eleven

His mom's a nurse and his dad's a reverend

Every now and then he gets irreverent...