Both Billy and Jackson
are talking about a teenager who died in very tragic circumstances. This reminded me of one of my pupils two years ago, who as far as I know, is still alive. Abdul was a rather handsome boy and very intelligent, too intelligent really to be in our part of the school. He was a born leader and most of the boys followed him because they were afraid of him. In class he could be an angel or really disruptive. The last time I saw him he was very restless, he paced up and down the classroom like a caged loin, eventually he told me that he had a headache, so I let him go to the school nurse, accompanied by a boy who was new to the school. He just walked out of school and never came back. The following school year in the other college where I taught his name appeared on the notice board as a new pupil, as an 'ordinary' pupil! His family had fought the system to change over his place (very very rare). His French teacher told me that he lasted a week, they couldn't force him to come to school after that as he was over 16. What a waste.

Last year we studied "I can" by Nas. When we translated the words a lot of the kids appreciated the message. One girl told me that she thought he'd written the song just for them. I think he did.