Domestic Imperialism ft. SoulChef Lyrics

It feels like we all in a war with time

Cities toss and turn with us on their spine

It's been dark for months, you barely feel the sun

Through the brick cold hearts that surrounded us

The ancients be with you, but you don't notice em

I am a vilified species and I don't run

Bombed buildings with ghosts, I'm at home with em

They tell stories of a world that I've grown within

And it's changing quick, between coffee sips

Of gentrified beans in this place I live

Or this place I lived, all of the soul I give

That survivors grit made people flock to it

They complain about changes after they move in

But they could go back, we got nowhere now

My Grandmother's house is a hole in the ground

And it'll be a high-priced high-rise no doubt

I just made a couple songs about where I'm from

I know they sound dope, but it don't mean come

When you move in, somebody else moves out

And I can't afford my city if I leave this house

The place that raised me, neighborhoods that made me

I walk around and don't recognize em lately

The price goes up, we all get pushed out

It's gonna hurt when we finally gotta leave this house

I can't afford my home, they can't afford my soul

We both stand in the rubble like where do we go?

One of us must be from another world

Maybe aliens came with these cranes to work

Cuz they litter the sky to rearrange the earth

And it has warmed up some since they came for sure

But we know about greed and of industry

How the colonizers came and claimed history

We repeat it so much and so intimately

It's like we are all born into bodies with disease

Art is more than a form of our therapy

But Barnes told me to watch out for the 3 P's

They'll try to change the Purpose, of what you do

To discard the People, they can replace you

And then take the Place, gentrification's through

Now look where we live, what did Hip-Hop do?

I just made a couple songs about where I'm from

I know they sound dope, but it don't mean come

When you move in, somebody else moves out

And we can't afford our city if we leave this house

You could look, listen, but don't move in

Spend money with the Mom & Pop businesses

But when you move in, somebody else moves out

And we can't afford our city if we leave this house

Mark Gonzales said we need new language to describe what's happening to us

Gentrification is just too nice of a word

This isn't gentle

This is domestic imperialism

And it hurts