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"We Don't Care" (originally titled "Drug Dealing"[1]) is the second track from Kanye West's debut studio album, The College Dropout (2004).[2]

Prompted by "Intro", Kanye sings a song with "the kids" about selling drugs in desperation and other struggles, falling into the album's overall themes of "'not caring' about societal norms."[3][4]

A reprised version of the song was released on The College Dropout Video Anthology (2005) as the opening track.[5]

Production[]

The song samples The Jimmy Castor Bunch's 1979 song, "I Just Wanna Stop".[6]

Background[]

As previously noted, the song was originally titled "Drug Dealing".[1] However, after heavy debate, Kanye decided to go for a more mainstream name and went with "We Don't Care".

Lyrics[]

[Intro]
Oh yeah, I got the perfect song for the kids to sing
And all my people that's

[Chorus]
Drug dealin' just to get by
Stackin' money 'til it get sky high
We wasn't supposed to make it past twenty-five
Joke's on you, we still alive
Throw your hands up in the sky and say
"We don't care what people say" (yeah, yeah, yeah, uh)

[Verse 1]
If this is your first time hearin' this
You are about to experience something so cold, man
We never had nothin' handed
Took nothin' for granted
Took nothin' from no man
Man, I'm my own man
But as a shorty I looked up to the dope man
Only adult man I knew that wasn't broke, man
Flickin' Starter coats, man
Man, you don't know, man
We don't care what people say
This is for my n***as outside all winter
'Cause this summer, they ain't finna say
"Next summer I'm finna"
Sittin' in the hood like community colleges
This dope money here is lil' Trey's scholarship
'Cause ain't no tuition for having no ambition
And ain't no loans for sittin' your ass at home
So we forced to sell crack, rap, and get a job
You gotta do somethin' man, your ass is grown

[Chorus]
Drug dealin' just to get by
Stackin' money 'til it get sky high
(Kids, sing, kids, sing)
We wasn't supposed to make it past twenty-five
Joke's on you, we still alive
Throw your hands up in the sky and say
"We don't care what people say"

[Verse 2]
The second verse is for my dogs working 9 to 5
That still hustle 'cause a n***a can't shine off $6.55
And everybody selling makeup, Jacob's
And bootlegged tapes just to get they cake up
We put shit on layaway, then come back
We claim other people kids on our income tax
We take that money, cop work, then push packs to get paid
And we don't care what people say
Mama say she want to move south
Scratchin' lottery tickets, eyes on a new house
'Round the same time, Doe ran up in dude house
Couldn't get a job, so since he couldn't get work
He figured he'd take work
The drug game bulimic, it's hard to get weight
So n***a's money is homo, it's hard to get straight
But we gon' keep bakin' 'till the day we get cake
And we don't care what people say
My n***as

[Chorus]
Drug dealin' just to get by (yeah)
Stackin' money 'til it get sky high
(Kids, sing, kids, sing)
We wasn't supposed to make it past twenty-five
Joke's on you, we still alive (alive, uh-huh)
Throw your hands up in the sky and say
"We don't care what people say" (yeah, yeah, uh)

[Verse 3]
You know the kids gon' act a fool
When you stop the programs for after school
And they DCFS, some of 'em dyslexic
They favorite 50 Cent song "12 Questions"
We scream, "rocks, blows, weed, park"
See, now we smart
We ain't retards the way teachers thought
Hold up, hold fast, we make more cash
Now tell my mama I belong in that slow class
It's bad enough we on welfare
You tryna to put me on the school bus
With the space for the wheelchair
I'm trying to get the car with the chromey wheels here
You trying to cut our lights out like we don't live here
Look what was handed us, fathers abandoned us
When we get them hammers, go on call the ambulance
Sometimes I feel no one in this world understands us
But we don't care what people say
My n***as

[Chorus]
Drug dealin' just to get by
Stackin' money 'til it get sky high
(Kids, sing, kids, sing)
We wasn't supposed to make it past twenty-five
Joke's on you, we still alive
Throw your hands up in the sky and say
"We don't care what people say"

[Intro]
394 is not available. At the tone, please re—
Please enter your password
You have no unheard messages
First skipped message
Hi—
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Next message.
Hey, what up, this is—
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Um, I just wanna know why, um, my food stamps have not come as of yet, and um...
In addition to the food stamps, uh, the cheese and butter was, uh, supposedly or more specifically was to be delivered to me for the holidays, and um...
If you could check in the damned there items and get back with me, it would be most greatly, preciously, hospitably appreciated
Talk to you later, bye.
End of message. To er—
Message erased
Next message.

[Chorus]
Drug dealin' just to get by
Stack ya' money 'til it get sky high
We wasn't s'posed to make it past 25
Joke's on you, we still alive
Throw your hands up in the sky and say:
"We don't care what people say"
Drug dealin' just to get by
Stack ya' money 'til it get sky high
We wasn't s'posed to make it past 25
Joke's on you, we still alive
Throw your hands up in the sky and say:
"We don't care what people say"

[Interlude]
Hey Kanye, this is your cousin Kim
I just wanted to call ya and congratulate you on this CD, it's hot!
Especially that song “Drug Dealing”
You know, I've been a social worker for 10 years
I've been paying people's lights, rents, mortgage
You talkin' 'bout people paying shine on $6.55 an hour;
People can't pay their rent for $6.55 an hour
So, it just... It's just really difficult to truly understand what these people are going through
You know, and people are human
They wanna look good, they wanna take pride at how they look, they wanna take pride at what they do
The other part that really hit home for me is that people borrow other people's kids and put it on their income tax
A lot of times, what they're doing with that money is finding another place to live because the place that they live in
The toilet's overflowing or the roof is caving in and the landlord doesn't care- Landlord doesn't care enough to come in and fix those things and make sure that the people have a safe environment to live in
So, they borrow somebody else's kid, so that maybe they can get a car so they can get back and forth to work, 'cause you know, in the hood, the best paying job ain't always next to yo house, it's not within walking distance. ('til it get sky high)
So you have to take 20 buses to get back and forth;
You have to spend a lot more money than what you have just on transportation, then you get paid on the job
So, maybe they might buy a car, maybe they might buy shoes for their kids.... You know, and the drug dealing is just supplementary of all of that, I mean like I said, I don't condone it, but I definitely got hugs for my thugs, you know
Tryna' get out there makin' and the only thing that I can ask is once they stack the money 'til it get sky high is that they try to do something positive with it...
That they try to send their kids to school...
That they try to make a difference
Next message

References[]

The College Dropout
Singles
"Through The Wire" • "Slow Jamz" • "All Falls Down" • "Jesus Walks" • "The New Workout Plan"
Other tracks
"Intro" • "We Don't Care" • "Graduation Day" • "I'll Fly Away" • "Spaceship" • "Never Let Me Down" • "Get Em High" • "Workout Plan" • "Breathe In Breathe Out" • "School Spirit Skit 1" • "School Spirit" • "School Spirit Skit 2" • "Lil Jimmy Skit" • "Two Words" • "Family Business" • "Last Call" • "Heavy Hitters"
Chronology
Next
The College Dropout Video Anthology
"We Don't Care (Reprise)" • "Jesus Walks (Remix)" • "It's Alright" • "The New Workout Plan (Remix)" • "Heavy Hitters" • "Two Words (Cinematic)" • "Never Let Me Down (Cinematic)"
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