When They Come for You - Deniro Farrar

They been playin' a different game these days man

It’s the long game, pay attention

When they come for you

They won’t have their guns

Confidently etched out from the cold of their holsters

They know now that this world is photoshop ready

To digitally document their death squad tactics

That their antics

Are now archived, videoclipped, and facebook status

Set to go viral even though our protests and proof are never enough fire

To burn their house to ashes

Our death, our death sometimes pins medals on their chests

And allows them to retire with sizable paycheck

But nonetheless, we fight back, the best we can

So understand now, that when they come for you

They startin' at the foundation, at your doorstep

They will be dressed as developer or realtor or hipster

Your best 90's hip hop playing

From their boombox on your block

Dressed in your latest fashion

Appropriately, appropriating your culture till they fit in

Till they move in

But then the police traffic rises

And the crime seems to drop

Property tax rises around big momma’s old house so much

That her fixed income ain’t enough income and now she forced to move out

Of the house she lived in for the last 30 years

And raised two generations of kids, but it is what it is, ain’t it?

The neighborhood got more Volvos and less Chevy’s

Candy-coated painted because now

Well now your street is so charming and alarming, ain’t it?

The sight of your neighbors being shipped out

Handed hollow vouchers to move to a place unfamiliar

This, this be the new slave ship

Go ahead, go ahead and visit the new cool kids on your block

Tell them the story of the haunted trap house

Where the ghosts of dope boys still shed tears

How you tried to get the city to tear down this nightmare for the last three

years

Won’t you tell them how, the deferred dreams of high school hopes

Would sit on its porch waiting

To snatch the soul from whoever walked by

Still looking for a way out this hood

The same hood that holds the street corner

The same corner your cousin died on

They repaved it and renamed it something expensive

Something you can barely afford to stand on this block

Don’t feel like it used to

Now the folks next door call cops on you when your friends roll through

It’s strange how things don' changed around you

Hey, they call this progress baby

When they come for you

They will say it’s for the best

To clean up the mess

They will call it restoration

Wanna free you from the mortgage or that rent

And give you a new destination

They sellin' you false emancipation

Wanna reshape your school and call it reeducation

Now add a new word to your vocabulary young blood

It’s called gentrification