Lyrics When They Come for You - Deniro Farrar

When They Come for You

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