[intro 1 - samples Chris Rock from "Head of State"]
"How many of you work in a city you can't afford to live in?
That ain't right!
How many of you work in a mall that you can't afford to shop in?
That ain't right!
How many of you clean up a hotel you ain't never gonna be able to stay
in?
That ain't right!
And we got nurses that work in hospitals that they can't even afford to
get sick in!
It ain't right!
It ain't right!
It ain't right!
It ISN'T right!!
That...shit...is...WRONG!!!"
[Droopy]
[intro]
Yeah
Now this one right here
Is for all my Broke Ballers and Broke Ballerinas all across the globe
What I want y'all to do right now
Is pop this CD into your broke-assed portable CD player
With the rubber band holding the door shut, right? (heh)
And just Broke-Ball with me..
[first verse]
This is for my Ten-Speed riders
At the 10th Street diner
Getting 10-cent tips
From chicks with 10-G diamonds
Serving stingy bastards with Bentley's and Prada
Then you got fired for smoking sensi and ganja
My part-time waiters who go to college from 10 to 4
Can't afford to eat at the place you're serving dinner for
Pockets thin and poor 'cause them-a short your Tip-per Gore
Then them frickin' whores fired you for stealing petit-fores
Metro be wantin' more money for less services
Two trains sharing one track? That's the worst shit
"Doors closing.."
Right on your arm; that's how you hurt your wrist
And lost your fare card, so now you late for work and shit
Tell me your day is not sucking
When you worked late, no overtime pay, and then the train stopped
running
Can't catch a cab 'cause you're black
So you gotta catch a hack
Who wants 20 dollars flat?
Holler back!
[main chorus]
I'm a Broke Baller (whaaat?)
A backpacker (uhn)
A thrift shopper (whaaat?)
A knapsacker (uhn)
A penny pincher (whaaat?)
A cat that'll
Make something out of nothing
This my damned anthem..
[repeat chorus]
[second verse]
Does your laundromat have twenty driers?
Two of which work?
So when it's time to dry clothes
You be like, "Move, ya big jerk!"
Standing over Cuz victorious
"Yeah, baby, I'm bad!"
But you was wrong for roughing that 60 year old lady like that
Administrative assistants insisting:
"I ain't go to school to be filing stuff
Buying baloney and rye and stuff.."
Working five times harder than all five of your higher-ups
While your Ass. Man. is tryn ta fuck with his trifling butt
My broke school teachers, you know Drew peeps ya
Tryn ta teach school kids
With textbooks older than YOU is
Classically trained to teach sheet music
But all your students listen to is "G-UNIT!"
My broke college graduates who still ain't got they debts paid
Probably mad as shit, owing more than you'll make in a decade
Alumni association asking why you ain't giving back
Now just what type of sick shit is that??
[sub chorus, assisted by Courtney Anderson]
So where my Broke Ballers at?
Cats with no dollars at?
Front-of-town, wardy!
Back-of-town, wardy!
So where my Broke Ballerina?
She was dope; have you seen her?
Uptown, wardy!
Downtown, wardy!
[repeat sub chorus]
[third verse]
I'm down with the Broke Ballers and the Broke Ballerinas and I'ma stay
down
In fact, what I'm saying now was written on the Greyhound
Bus hits bumps, your pen slides across the sheet
Makes it hard to understand your writing when you try to read it
Jokers run up in my venue like I OWE them a seat
Like I don't go between B-More and DC
On school nights, foregoing sleep
Ask Bleek, my Notre Maison peeps
Poetology and P4P
I do poetry shows frequently
Sometimes I get mad respect
Sometimes a handshake and a bad check
But at Java Head "Spit Dat!", my Thursday set
We have a blast and act an ass like Eddie Murphy in "Shrek"
God bless
I recorded these testimonies affordably
In Southwest DC, specifically at 4th and G
Where Deon always got some good jokes for me
Hating on my samples like I be ignoring his beats
But see, I have a dream like Mr. Martin
That the 5th will spark on "106 & Park"
Saying, "Free at last, Free at last,
Thank Gawd almighty, look at Free's phat ass!"
[chorus 2X]
[sub chorus 2X with sample of Dolemite's "Hustler, Hustler (Redrum)"]
[sample of Pharrell Williams from N.E.R.D.'s "Provider (Zero 7 remix)"]
"We are broke..."
[repeat 2X]
"Damn..."
[fades out]
© 2004, Drew Anderson, all rights reserved.