Breaking Me Down

Intro

(yuh, ayy) Skrrt, uh-huh

(bam-bam) Yeah, yeah, yeah

Verse

Alarm hits, another gray line in my timeline, huh

They hand out lesson plans like hand-me-down crime time, ayy

Desk carved with initials and a thousand small regrets

I count the minutes like debts that I can't offset, skrrt

Chalk dust on my sneakers, teacher talking like a tape deck

Same chapter, same test—lemme guess, retake what I forgot to check

They measure me in boxes, tick the rows and mark the dots

Attendance over answers, grades over thoughts, uh

Cafeteria mystery stew—guess what you're chewing

Lunchroom politics, I'm just dodging who's who and who's suing

Detention's just a loop, another rerun on repeat

Punishment for being loud or for the questions that they beat

They say "sit down, settle," like silence is a virtue

But creativity's a crime when the rules won't let you through, yeah

Counselor's calendar packed with futures pre-approved

Like they sign your signature while your own name gets removed, ayy

I learned how to memorize, not how to make or move

Give me tools to build a life, not just a life to prove (to prove)

Pre-chorus

We trade our mornings for a schedule that don't bend (don't bend)

We pay in time and they call it education, amen (amen)

I'm overcrowded with answers that never felt like mine (felt like mine)

Say I'm failing when I'm learning how to hold my line (hold my line)

Chorus

School's breaking me down, breaking me down (breaking)

School's breaking me down, breaking me down (breaking)

School's breaking me down, breaking me down (breaking)

School's breaking me down, breaking me down (breaking)

Verse

I spit truth in the margins, they cut it out with a red pen

Call it correction, but it's more like a slow bend

Libraries full of knowledge but they're locked by the clock

You get graded on speed, not on how deep you rock, uh

AP dreams with a price tag and a scholarship guess

Debt looming like a shadow in a cap and gown press

They teach us to compete, then wonder why we can't connect

Turn classmates to rivals and empathy to neglect, ayy

Summer jobs stack bills while resumes stack lies

We hustle for experience while the experience denies

I got a checklist for life but the boxes don't fit

They tell me "one way or no way," like creativity's counterfeit

We cram facts in a night and forget them by dawn

Like a house built in sand when the tide comes in strong

So I'm burning for a classroom that breathes, not just repeats

Where questions get a welcome and mistakes get a seat, yeah

Give me mentors who listen, not scripts to recite

Give me space to fail and rise, to build and fight (uh-huh)

Bridge

(oh-oh) I'm not anti-knowledge, I'm anti-crush-your-voice

(oh-oh) I'm tired of being boxed in, tired of forced choice

(hey) Teach me how to think, not just how to test

(hey) Give me a reason to show up, not a reason to rest

Chorus

School's breaking me do