Just like I told you, you must learn
It's calm yet wild, the style that I speak
Just filled with facts
And you will never get weak in the heart
In fact you'll start to illuminate
Knowledge to others in a song
Let me demonstrate the force of knowledge
Knowledge reigned supreme
The ignorant is ripped to smithereens
What do you mean when you say I'm rebellious
'Cause I don't accept everything that you're telling us
What are you selling us, the creator dwellin' us
I sat in your unknown class while you're failin' us
I failed your class 'cause I ain't worth your reasoning
You're trying to make me you by seasoning
Up my mind with see Jane run
See John walk in a hardcore New York
It doesn't exist, no way, no how
It seems to me that in a school that's ebony
African history should be pumped up steadily
But it's not and this has got to stop
See Spot run, run get Spot
Insulting to a black mentality, a black way of life
Or a jet-black family, so I conclude with one concern
That you must learn

(Chorus):
Just like I told you, you must learn
Just like I told you, you must learn

I believe that if you're teaching history
Filled with straight-up facts, no mystery
Teach the student what needs to be taught
'Cause black and white kids both take shots
When one doesn't know about the other one's culture
Ignorance swoops down like a vulture
'Cause you don't know that you ain't just a janitor
No one told you about Benjamin Banneker
A brilliant black man that invented the almanac
Can't you see where KRS is coming at
With Eli Whitney, Haile Selassie
Grand Bill Woods made the walkie-talkie
Lewis Latterman improved on Edison
Charles Drew did a lot for medicine
Garrett Morgan made the traffic lights
Harriet Tubman freed the slaves at night
Madame CJ Walker made a straightenin' comb
But you won't know this if you weren't shown
The point I'm gettin' at, it might be harsh
'Cause we're just walkin' around brainwashed
So what I'm sayin' is not to diss a man
We need the 89 school system
One that caters to a black return
Because you must learn

(Chorus)