So... I’ve been working in this school lately, only about 3 weeks and only for one morning each week so I’m not fully familiar with it yet and have definitely not got to know the playground politics. But I know its considered a very rough school. Although the kids misbehave they seem to still have fair values and do what they’re told. But its kind of taken me back to when I was that age and used to be massively into hiphop. I used to listen to the glorifications of the gangster lifestyle and kind of loose myself in it, as an escape from my middle class rural upbringing. And it kind of set me off thinking, after one kid had been saying in class that he didn’t give a shit about maths because he was going to be a basketball player, that although people such as dizzee rascal, who have found school a waste of time, through their music give kids a lot of vision, which is positive, often students edge their bets on being able to make it so don’t have their basic education to fall back on because they believe it’s a waste of time. Big L is a prime example of somebody who has clearly risen from rags to riches and is/was a role model for young kids, and makes them feel they can achieve something spectacular but kind of puts them out of touch with the real world, as it is only the lucky ones that make it, because they are all trying to strive for something that you would have to be very lucky to achieve. After thinking this I came across his song street stuck, and every lyric rang true to what I was thinking, here are the lyrics:
Yo where I'm from it ain't cookies and cream
There's a lot of peer pressure growin up as a young teen
You never know when you gonna get wet
Cause mad clowns be catchin wreck with a tec just to get a rep
Instead of cool friends, they'd rather hang with male thugs
Instead of goin to school, they'd rather sell drugs
It's best to go the right route and not the wrong one
Because it's gonna catch up witchu in the long run
Brothers be on the corners, actin stupid, gettin lifted
They life is twisted, and most of them are quite gifted
In other words, they got TALENT; but they'd rather sell cracks
and bust gats and run the streets actin violent
To them it's all about hittin skinz and makin some easy green
Cause that's all they show you on the TV screen
All they care about is a buck or bustin a sweet nut
They don't give a (WHAT?) cause they street struck
Before the rap contract, I was sellin crack
Stay strapped with a Mac, I was into alla that
I started rappin and got nice as hell
If it wasn't for this I might be doin life in jail
And some of my peeps are still in the game sellin 'caine
If that's what you gotta do to maintain, go 'head and do your thang
But with the cash profit make an investment
And try not to go to the grave like the rest went
Cause you can be rich with crazy loot, own a house and nine cars
What good is that, if you're dead, or behind bars?
And yo it's not even funny
I've seen a lot of my peers give up they careers for some fast money
They could've been boxers, ballplayers or rap singers
Instead they bank robbers and crack slingers
Aiyyo they used to be legit kids, now they corrupt
They had dreams but gave em up cause they street struck
I'm in the crib, writin rhymes to some dope beats
Or either callin up some freaks to bone
But word up, I try to leave the streets alone
But it's crazy hard kid, in other words, it's spooky
The streets be callin me, like the crack be callin Pookie
It ain't a dumb joke, listen to this young folk
Cause where I'm from -- you can choke from the gunsmoke
Stay off the corners; that might be your best plan
Before you catch a bullet that was meant for the next man
Or end up with a deep cut
Or relaxin on a hospital bed, from bein street struck
Maybe it isn’t directly similar but can definitely be related. Rest in peace Big L you live on through your music.
check the tune here:
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