AWKWORD - The Ivory Tower [tekst, tłumaczenie i interpretacja piosenki]

[Verse 1]
Finding college tuition -- an honest man’s ominous mission
No denying tradition, they’d rather lock us in prison
The cost of education, is less, than incarceration
That don’t matter to the man, tryna keep apart our nation
My mom gave birth in the apartment building basement
And I’ve lived every day surrounded by bars and pavement
Cop cars, watch dogs, surveillance cameras and vagrants
We learn, more from skipping school, there’s no teacher engagement
Life was, a 9 to 5 for pops, moms working double shift
Call this middle class, but it feels a lot like gutter shit
99 percent of us, on the wrong side, of their doors
They get tax breaks, we pay twice, and fight their wars
And we wonder why they cut, scholarships and aid
It’s designed to keep the status quo, we’re the New Slaves
No one I know, has ever seen an Ivory Tower
But I’m a scrape my way to Vassar cause, education’s power

[Hook]
The Ivory Tower, The Ivory Tower, The Ivory Tower
National Geographic, we're an academic lesson
The Ivory Tower, The Ivory Tower, The Ivory Tower
Social experiment, survive without a weapon

The Ivory Tower, The Ivory Tower, The Ivory Tower
Roads paved with gold, our community, bondage
The Ivory Tower, The Ivory Tower, The Ivory Tower
Fight for a chance, for community college

[Verse 2]
Refuse to lose, thats the motto in my hood
Confusing you? I’m not a thug cause a my, hood
I’m one a the strong few, from having to fight for my rights
And I’ve learned so many things you’ll never learn in your life
I’ve learned to survive, with just a few stacks, a pennies
Living off crackers and ramen noodles, fridge is empty
Lived already, like nine lives, so you’ll resent me
And your history’s a lie, taught in elementary
Evidently, we truants could a been your best students
And with a GED and hard knocks degree, I ain’t losing
The system’s set up, to make everyone fail
So there’s a movement right now to send you crooks to jail
If you kill a man in passion, that’s murder in the second
Kill a whole damn country, thank you Mr. President
In the land of hypocrites, I’m a follow my father /
You can keep your Vassar College, I’ll keep my half a million dollars

[Hook]