Science With Tom - The Immortal Rap of Henrietta Lacks lyrics

[Intro - Students] You heard about Henrietta Lacks? (No!) Well let me tell you That's where HeLa cells came from I wanna know too! Her family was lied to, and the things they had to go through Just know that her cells do not grow like others do And they never will [Verse 1 - Narrators] Loretta Pleasant known as Henrietta Lacks Whose immortal cells never failed Helped to propel the medical field Let's look at the facts Born in 1920 raised in Clover, Virginia Was a strong black women who had faith all in her Married David “Day” Lacks ended up with a ring Had all five kids by 1950 One day in her room, she told Margaret and Sadie "I don't feel too good, I got a knot up in me.” They said "What knot?" And they felt her tummy "That's just another baby. You're gonna be a mommy." But Hennie knew, there was something wrong She went to Johns Hopkins and saw Dr. Jones He checked her body, there was something she had He got her biopsy result from the pathology lab Epidermoid carcinoma of the cervix Stage I She needed surgery and then she'd be done Dr. Lawrence Wharton Jr. was the surgeon on hand He took a tissue sample for the test to be ran Dr. George Gey came on by Took the sample of cells hoping they'd multiply Chicken bleeding technique he used to see If the cells could live immortally [Chorus - George Gey] Knock, knock, you're about to be cell shocked Knock, knock, you're about to be cell shocked [Verse 2 - George Gey] That's my fam, we've been searching forever Immortal cell live forever and ever Together ain't no way we gon' fail With Henrietta Lacks cervical tissue cells Nobody do it better They keep growing like mold on cheddar Mary cut her cells like a shredder Me and my a**istants come together cuz we know That her cells were the only ones that rea**ured our hope Put the Petri dish down, look through the microscope Then, that's when we know they were multiplying (Whoa) Check my data, they say I'm the man of the hour Her cells replicate every 24 hours [Chorus - Henrietta Lacks] Work, work, work, work, work, work, work You've seen my cells do work, work, work, work, work, work Now you're about to learn, learn, learn, learn learn, learn The importance of my cells, cells, cells, cells, cells, cells [Verse 3 - Henrietta Lacks] They are immortal My cells are so special They helped to develop a polio vaccine My cells been cloned the longest Nobody else had done this I believe they were the first living cells That were shipped through the U.S. mail You took my cells and made a declaration But you were mistaken for selling them to organizations All that I wanted from you was to heal me Something I didn't know I had Something that you've never seen Something that can k** me [Verse 4 - Deborah Lacks] You need to come home, home, home, home, so I'm asking I just want to know what happened Learning about you is my pa**ion So when they came to check We didn't know exactly what they meant "Hey, read this textbook" is what they said But they took our blood samples without consent But I think we need to fight, fight, fight fight This isn't fair We never gave permission Mama didn't get recognition (ooooh) I spend all my time trying to find answers Searching, searching, searching, searching, searching How much longer will I be searching? Rebecca Skloot came on time Right before I lost my mind Please help me try and find What happened to my mom before and why… [Chorus - Henrietta & Deborah Lacks] Her cells do work work work work work? You've seen her cells do work, work, work, work, work, work So now you need to learn, learn, learn, learn learn The importance of my cells, cells, cells, cells, cells