Miles Davis on the train keepin' me calm

Tellin' me there isn't such a thing as a lost cause

Today, I teach my students how to count bars, but it's hard

To tell kids to freestyle in a room full of armed guards

I get kinda blue when my check's late

But their kinda blue's a sweatsuit with county numbers on the breastplate

I’m not trying to save anybody. That’s not the point

I'm trying to convince somebody it's worth it to save their voice

But by their count, they’re counted out by everybody:

Their mom or the system, their religion, and a jury that isn't

Of their peers. Given years for some kid shit

Digits on their wrist and permission they gotta ask to take a piss with

I'm headed home from work trying not to sob

But this is a drought an ocean of saltwater couldn't solve

I know nine-to-five is how you survive, but swear to God

If I survive my nine-to-five, I'll never work another job

I just got to work, and I already wanna go home

I just got to work, and I already wanna go home

I just got to work, and I already wanna go home

I just got to work, and I already wanna go home

Panic attacks on my morning commute

Paycheck printed with ink strained from poisonous fruit

State dropped the needle on that vicious cycle

And we taught all the kids who caught the loop--caught the loop--caught the loop--caught the loop

Image in my head: off white iron and orange suits

Nope. Just youth crammed into a prosecutor’s garbage chutes

Dickens reboot--at the front of the class pourin' soup

Want interviews? Their tattoos will report the war for you

Kids cop pleas, and don’t know what they’ll get back

Or when they’ll get back. They might come home to jetpacks

Saw a boy kicked out of class for lookin up gang lit

So he wouldn’t be a neutron when he started his downstate bid

Wanted to ask how the teacher learned to be so cold

Tried as an adult? I don’t care if they write me no poems

At supermarkets memorizing prices for pay-as-you-go phones

In my nightmares, I still hear, “I just wanna go home...I just wanna go home...I just wanna go home...I just wanna go home…”