Millennials are this

And millennials are that

Obsessed with sex and cell phones

Lazy and stupid and fat

Well as a matter of fact

When you take a step back

Subtract the real slack

You'll see a million little Einsteins

Backtracked and left in the black

By schools with rules

That make them feel like fools

By the age of seven

Adderall must come from heaven

'Cause it's the savior

For little boys

Who have problem with behavior

And if they happen to be black

They're given flack

Call 'em thugs in first grade

And there's no going back

It's like our schools are trying

To put holes in our kids' sails

Setting 'em up to fail

They end up dead or dying in jail

So don't tell me that kids are getting dumb

When you're completely numb

To the ones who don't have the tools

To get their work done

Why should getting accepted to a university

Be directly correlated with overcoming adversity?

But of course you see

The kids who had it hard

And learned to crawl through that

Never had to learn to brawl through that

And you ask the fuck-ups "Why didn't y'all do that?"

But did any of y'all do that?

Nah you didn't have to and how dare I

Ask you to see the situation from their eyes?

You did better on the SATs and ACTs

But understand my parents couldn't afford

Someone to tutor me

And yeah

Some kids need a little TLC

Because what you don't see is that

At home

They're left all alone

No one to help them with homework

Mom and dad are out doing drone work

To make the lights and the phone work

To make sure that the things that are stable

Are warm water in the shower and food on the table

And I'm not talking bout delicacies and gourmet recipes

I mean peanut butter and bread, the bare necessities

But what would you know about that?

After all these millennials are just

Lazy and stupid and fat

Well if you take a minute

To spin it and really try to get in it

Is a kid who's obese really worse

Than a kid who hardly eats?

Even food with preservatives

Can preserve a kid

Whose momma don't have the money

For sugarless honey bunches of bullshit

I'd rather my kids be full of shit

As long as they're full

Yeah it'd be nice the other way

But today we get away

With the most bang for whatever we can pay

So when you tell me that our kids are fat

You erase the kids who don't have food in the first place

Yeah kids in Africa are starving, you pretend to care

Kids are starving here, too

You pretend they're not there

And don't tell me that I'm lazy

I work my ass off until I'm crazy

Then act like it don't phase me

When I was a kid I was bright

And my teachers all praised me

But the public school system still played me

The cost of tuition delayed me

Now I watch as the world betrays me

I never asked anyone to raise me

And you call me lazy

And stupid

And fat

Well I'm not down with that

Yeah we like our cell phones and sex

Maybe we're obsessed

But we also never rest

We use every platform that we have at our disposal

To dismantle oppressive systems with equitable counterproposals

We spread the word of justice and equality and activism

But because it's a hashtag you call it "slacktivism"

Well that's fine

We vote to change laws but we tweet to change minds

If you don't like our methods then just keep watching the news

But remember there was a time when the news was new, too

You say we're too sensitive and we love being victims

No we love fighting for victims

And you're the ones who kicked 'em

People who are women or black or Muslim or gay

Are treated like shit every day

But you don't care, 'cause you're okay

And we're the only ones who even dare to say

That we need a new way

To convey

That we're a country where the downtrodden can seek better days

You think there's some kind of harm

In raising kids who never worked on a farm

When we want to veer

From traditional careers

You get alarmed

You stress the importance of an education with all of your heart

But tell us, "Those fancy things you learned in college don't really make you smart."

Well, what the hell did you expect?

Even if we're right you say we're wrong because it's seen as disrespect

When we tell you what's really going on

But you know what's disrespectful? Disregarding us 'cause we haven't been alive as long.

And no matter what, facts are facts

Even when they come from mouths that are

Lazy and stupid and fat.

And as if all that wasn't enough

You say our music isn't good

It doesn't sound the way it should

'Cause it was born in the hood

But if you haven't figured it out

"Whip and Nae Nae" is the same damn thing as "Twist and Shout"

I know it's a cliché

To say "you don't understand me"

But it's true so imma say it anyway

You make fun of us for words like "swag" and "bae"

But at least we see the problem with

Negatively charging "nigger" and "gay"

And you may say that the good apples are not the majority

Well was it the majority of ya'll who started the war in

Iraq way back when we were still tiny kids?

The war that we inherited

We didn't choose it, you did. Right?

No, it wasn't something that you chose

That's the way it goes

It's like we live in hand-me-down clothes

And you know, that's what really gets me mad

You act like we created everything we say is bad

When you're the ones who built the foundation on which we grew

And I'm not saying it's not only you

Your grandparents did it, too

None of us are perfect

But honestly it's just the hypocrisy

That bothers me

Yes

Millennials may be this

And millennials may be that

Some of us are lazy, stupid, and fat

But I say that's generationally duplicative

And not even remotely indicative of

The beautiful things we create

The beautiful people we are

Though flawed

Maybe our faults really are in our stars

And so I have one more message

To my fellow millennials

Despite what they say

Our greatness is perennial.