Red Clay Chronicles

(album: The Red Clay Chronicles - 2006)

Edgewood Avenue down in Atlanta, Georgia
There building a brand spanking new high rise
It used to be a crack spot, other side of the track spot
I hear 'em say it needs to be gentrified
They say that the people down here are worthless
And they just need to be swept away
It's really not worth any kind of investment
We're all on welfare anyway

They're bringing a new world and a new time
Young blood, get yo'self together
Bringing a new world and a new time
Young blood, get yo'self together

A high school diploma ain't really no education
All they give you for that is back-breaking work
They really oughta make it so you could go to public college
But that would seem too much like rice
You see the Old Fourth Ward got a lot of culture
The only thing it lacks is capital cash flow
But then again when you really come to think about it
The money pretty much all goes to dough

They're bringing a new world and a new time
Young blood, get yo'self together
Bringing a new world and a new time
Young blood, get yo'self together

They already kick folks out of Grady
It's a matter of months for the Wheat Street homes
There's a run-down gump right next to MLK's crib
Pearl Cleage never wrote a more poignant poem

We're living in a new world and a new time
Young blood, get yo'self together
Living a new world and a new time, hey
Young blood, you can't play the corner forever

Sing it again for me
Welcome to the future, young bloods
A new place and a new time
You know, they're reconstructing all of the
Cities and neighborhoods into a, new Hollywood
For tourists and people with upper class
And upper-middle class status
Now gentrification is cool when you got money
But what about the, local residents and the common folks
And the blue collar workers
They wanna enjoy and participate but it seems
They're being forced to migrate
With all these high priced homes and high mortgage interest rates
Shit, the cost of living alone got us all
Digging through the holes in our bridges
So when you think gentrification
You need to be thinking about your synth-preservation
Get your education and invest your money
Stop renting and start buying
These are words from Cool-Lada