Successful by Drake

What does it mean when the only success you've ever seen is:

Money, money, cars, cars
Clothes, clothes, the hoes
I suppose, yeah

I. wears Louis Vuitton shoes and scarves, but her clothes are always dirty. Is she rich or poor? If you make a grand a week hustling, have you escaped your income bracket? Most of my students’ shoes are more expensive than a weeks’ worth of my outfits, but they live in section 8 housing.

I want the money, money and the cars, cars
And the clothes, the hoes I suppose
I just wanna be, I just wanna be successful
I just wanna be, I just wanna be successful
I just wanna be, I just wanna be successful

If you ask my students the difference between “killed” and “dead,” it will take some time for them to ascertain the difference.

Drizzy, ah yeah, Trey, I fuckin' feel you
They be starin' at the money like it's unfamiliar
I get it, I live it, to me there's nothings realer
Just enough to solve your problems, too much will kill ya

A few weeks ago, I was speaking with some of my students. I told them that no one had been murdered in the town that I grew up in. When there were two homicides a few months ago, it was the first time in 32 years. They didn’t believe me.

And when I leave I always come right back here
The young spit'a that everybody in rap fear
A lot of y'all are still soundin' like last year
The game needs change and I'm the mofucking cashier

When you ask my students to write of their experiences, they stare blankly. They claim nothing has happened to them. For most, the only time they left New Orleans was for Katrina. The sum of their experiences are in these songs: rape, murder, hustling… There are no after-school sports. No prom. No Saturday night at the movies.

Nickels for my thoughts, dimes in my bed
Quarters of the kush shape the lines in my head
Take my verses too serious, ya hate me
'Cause I'm the one to paint a vivid picture no HD

I’ve had five students arrested for murder, five students murdered, and over ten pregnant girls cross the threshold of my classroom.

Yeah, I want it all, that's why I strive for it
Dis me and you'll never hear a reply for it
Any awards show or party I get fly for it
I know that it's comin' I just hope that I'm alive for it

I love this song, because I crave this. I crave having a student strive. I want them to want success. I want them to stay alive for it. Too many can’t even see what they want, much less strive for it.

I want the money, money and the cars, cars
And the clothes, the hoes I suppose
I just wanna be, I just wanna be successful
I just wanna be, I just wanna be successful
I just wanna be, I just wanna be successful

C. carries wads of 100 dollar bills. R. lost 800 dollars in cash when the cops caught him and took his cash. T. got picked up in a Mustang.

Yeah, I want things to go my way
But as of late a lot of shit been goin' sideways
And my mother tried to runaway from home
But I left somethin' in the car and so I caught her in the driveway

I don’t have a single child who has both a mother and a father in the same home. Most live with an aunt, a sister, or a grandmother.

And she cried to me so I cried too
And my stomach was soakin' wet, she only 5'2
And forty eight hours was all before I showed up
And brought a thousand dollars worth of drinks and got pulled up

R. dealt blow to pay for his mother’s chemo.

Damn, my reality just set in
And even when the Phantom's leased them hoes wanna get in
I do a lot of things hopin' I neva have to fit in
So tryin' to keep up with my progress is like a dead end

Last year, my school randomly “socially promoted” eighth graders to ninth grade. My best student is still an eighth grader, while a student who fought almost daily and attended school less than fifty percent of the time was promoted to ninth grade.

My girl love me but fuck it, my heart beat slow
And right now the tour bus is lookin' like a freak show
And life change for us every single week
So it's good but I know this ain't the peak though 'cause I want

Girls are named for their fathers. I can find no other reason for this phenomenon other than the utter absence of fathers in their childrens’ lives. Feltonesha is the daughter of the late Felton.

I want the money, money and the cars, cars
And the clothes, the hoes I suppose
I just wanna be, I just wanna be successful
I just wanna be, I just wanna be successful
I just wanna be, I just wanna be successful

I haven’t had a single student tell me they want to be a lawyer, doctor, teacher, architect… They want to be rappers, basketball players, football players...

Wise words from a decent man
Back when I was tryin' to put a ring on Alicia Hand
This lost boy got fly without Peter Pan
And my delivery just got me buzzin' like the pizza man

One day, some of my girls asked me why, “all you people be havin’ good relationships.” After some confusion, they explained to me that the only people that they know that have monogamous relationships are white people. I’m pretty sure that I’m one of the only white people they know.

In person I am everything and more
I'm everywhere these other niggas never been before
But inside I'm treadin' waters steady tryin' to swim ashore
I'm on a shoppin' spree to get whateva is in store

We live approximately an hour and a half from the ocean. None of my students new what the tide is.

Yeah, just call me "Shop And Bag Drizzy"
And call me "Mr. Damn", he ain't copin' that is he
And fans of these freshman is about to get iffy
While this youngin' that you doubtin' is about to get busy

Last year, in the midst of state testing, one of the high schoolers walked into an out-of-control middle school testing room and gave them an impromptu speech on their “ridiculous behavior.” He was one of our worst behavior problems, and when asked why he didn’t heed his own admonitions, he said, “it’s too late for me.”

I'ma kill it, I promise this, I know you mad
I've always treated my city like some shoulder pads
To big homie use a flash if you must
And I swear I ain't askin' for much, all I want is

“I wanna die in New Orleans.”

-common tag on desks, notebooks, and folders

I want the money, money and the cars, cars
And the clothes, the hoes I suppose
I just wanna be, I just wanna be successful
I just wanna be, I just wanna be successful
I just wanna be, I just wanna be successful

One day, when we were standing in line, D. commented that the last time he had seen this many ns. Standing so quietly in line was for FEMA checks.

It's like I know what I got to say
I just don't know how to say it to you

Most of my students read four to six grade levels behind.

Pardon the swag but bitches cartate
Long bread, I don't eat shortcake
How come I can't miss a woman
Like I can't miss court dates

Seventy percent of my students wear ankle bracelets. These are GPS trackers that tell their probation officers where they are at all times.

Cheese but she's not in this portrait
Life's fine but I do not portray
I'm on the other side but it is a sharp gate
I don't want the glow, I want the glo'ray

When I drew faces for my mural last year, many of my students joked that these portraits were their “tombstones.”