illiterate
4th grade southern
education
livin library of wisdom
gone off that dust

he a junkie
but times in sobriety
he drops
jewels of thought

"sit yo ass on this po'ch
school you young'ns
how we got down
back in 1974

we used to own
all this shit, the black mecca
mt vernon ave
the barber shops
restaurants, haberdasher
houses, all that shit

black power, rocked dashikis
proud of our heritage,
cats yo age got inspired
by goldie, 40th street black
& priest
millitant cats, got sick of
our direction

formed movements, some
spawned into gangs
philosophies
drugs weren't the issue
by the end of 74

that shit hit us
hard. heroin, coke
owners developed
addictions, businesses
failed

same time, them pigs
from the 89th precint
killed them two boys
lawrence shaw & king jones
we wasn't havin that
& tore our own shit up

mt vernon ave, in flames
insurance policies couldn't
cover the damage.

how i know?
hell i was the haberdasher
flyest muthafucka
on the block
keep them streets
free of that shit

til, i fucked round &
experiemented
& been gone ever since

(c) january15th muzak
free your mind, fuck e'rythang else