Books

(Pick it up flip it open x2) [Verse 1: Bambu] A by-product of that LAUSD education, miseducated While my peers graduated I's waitin' on my arraignment In a day room I'm shiftin through torn books in a room Ironically in better condition than at my school, now I couldn't quite finish a whole book And until I discovered my notebook I found that I wasn't accustomed to processing nothing I read in a school book Then I started building, dialoging with all my elders Sharing shit that these authors would piece together with letters and Now as an adult I see the error in my schooling And why the shit in syllabus readings made me feel stupid Cause the relevance to me Was irrelevant in my teens The fuck did half this shit have to do with me being me huh? And later as I grew up I found more connection in a book than in the hood I grew up Girls I used to fuck with used to bug When I request that we skip the DVDs and grab Assata off the shelf Let's try and flip through every page Your voice reciting wisdom that's gonn' get your ass laid Then we use that book to break bud Break it down chop it up Break it down let's chop it up Break it down chop it up Break it down let's chop it up And grab another book (smoke!) Grab another book [Hook] Yeah I know it sound corny but (We should read some books x3) If I'm lying then I'm dying, straight up (We should read some books x3) Yeah I know it sound corny baby (We should read some books x3) If I'm lying, then I'm dying, straight up (Pick it up flip it open x2) [Verse 2: Prometheus Brown] I was light weight college educated but I never graduated Professors on that bullshit, I ain't have the patience Find myself sleeping through academic proceedings Staying up most evenings, writing, fucking or reading Seeing lectures while weeded And staring at some cleavage Learning big words having very little meaning Jesus even in the meetings I was seeking A reason to explain this game without the twenty page thesis A view without class that's a class without a teacher Or a struggle rapper takes but without the thousand features Scholar not collegiate but intelectually seasoned Having drunk conversations over very sober readings Maybe sober contemplations over very loaded readings Where bookmarks mark where we (Oof!) and we (Ah!) Here we are, 2012, they're like "What the fuck's a book?" I'm like "Look, It's the quickest way to get up out your hood!" Not from knowledge but the knowledge with practical application Not reading for escaping, but knowing where you came from Burning through those papers when I'm burning through the pages now Break it down, chop it up Break it down and smoke it up Break it down, smoke it up Break it, then chop it up Grab another book, grab another book [Hook] (Pick it up flip it open x2) [Outro: x2] Paper back, hardcovers Langston Hughes, ask your mama Show love to them bookworm brothers Mind buff, language tough I like a dude that knows what's up