In two years, New Orleans-based rapper Dee-1 went from being a student loan debt-ridden middle school teacher to a man with a major recording deal and a hit record pillorying his now-paid debt to Sally Mae.
“For those that doubted me yeah this is payback. And I been on my grizzy {yeah} since way back. And no sir and I don’t drive a Maybach. But guess what I did? I finished paying Sallie Mae back Mae back,” the rapper says on the hit record.
The viral video for Dee-1’s song “Sallie May Back” has clocked nearly 100,000 views on Youtube and over 1 million shares on Facebook in the week after its debut.
“Let me tell you what I been through when it comes to Sallie. She call me at least twice a day she want her money badly,” Dee-1 sings on the song:
Graduated wasn’t making Quite enough to pay em back
Went in default Messed my credit up check my Equifax
I ain’t proud of that I’m more proud that I drown in that
I got 2 jobs really got on my grind
No time to whine i can’t ride the pine
In the game right now My time to shine
Started paying them loans back one at A time
Got them down down down
Down down down down down till i payed them all off
Peace sign
The hype is not lost on the banking and financial institution at the center of Dee-1’s song.
“Dee-1We’re all in the office singing along with you! Love, love, love the hook. Congratulations on your success! #SallieMaeBack#Dee1Nation Temeka & the Sallie Mae team,” the Sallie Mae Facebook account said in a recent post.
Student loan debt soared in the U.S. from $260 billion in 2004, to $1.2 trillion in 2014. In a bizarre case recently, U.S. Marshals arrested a Houston man because he hadn’t paid his 30-year-old $1,500 student loans off.
Watch the video for “Sallie May Back” in the clip below.
Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter @jeromeehudson