Harlem Renaissance Lyrics - The 3rd World - Immortal Technique & Dj Green Lantern

"Let me welcome both of you 

uh, to the show this morning to talk about what I consider 

to be a very very important topic, uh, the Harlem Renaissance 

But before we get into that..." 

[Immortal Technique] 

Yeah, Harlem once was red line district rated (uhh) 

Designated ghetto like the yellow star of David 

And you wonder why, people don't own they homes (why?) 

Cause the racist bank wouldn't fuckin mortgage a loan 

Harlem once was red line district rated (uhh) 

Designated ghetto like the yellow star of David 

And you wonder why, people don't own they homes (why?) 

Cause the racist bank wouldn't fuckin mortgage a loan {WAKE UP!} 

Harlem once was red line district rated (uhh) 

Designated ghetto like the yellow star of David 

And you wonder why, people don't own they homes (why?) 

Cause the racist bank wouldn't fuckin mortgage a loan 

Until after the invasion of, gentrification 

Eminent domain intimidation, that's not negotiation 

And it's frustratin to look at, every day 

Like watchin a porno, on 56-K 

Biohazard labs instead of store rooms 

What's next motherfucker, projects as dorm rooms? 

You ain't fool nobody in this community duke 

With your little fake Manhattanville community group 

Ivy league, real estate firms are corrupt 

I lay siege to your castle like the Moors in Europe 

They treat street vendors like criminal riff-raff 

While politicians get the corporate kickbacks (snakes) 

[Chorus: Immortal Technique] 

Harlem Renaissance, a revolution betrayed 

Modern day slaves thinkin that the ghetto is saved 

'Til they start deportin people off the property 

Ethnically cleansin the hood, economically 

They wanna kill the real Harlem Renaissance 

Tryin to put the Virgin Mary through a early menopause 

The savior is a metaphor for how we set it off 

Guerrilla war against the re-zoning predators 

[Immortal Technique] 

When I speak about Harlem, I speak to the world 

The little Afghan boy, and the Bosnian girl 

The African in Sudan, the people of Kurdistan 

The third world American, indigenous man 

Palestinians, Washington Heights, Dominicans 

Displaced New Orleans citizens 

Beachfront Brazilian favelas that you livin in 

The hood is prime real estate, they want back in again (fuck outta here) 

I didn't write this to talk shit, I say it because 

some of y'all forgot what the Harlem Renaissance was 

We had revolution, music and artisans 

But the movement was still fucked up like Parkinson's 

Cause while we were givin birth to the culture we love 

Prejudice, kept our own people out of the club 

Only colored celebrities in the party (fake nigga!) 

And left us a legacy of false superiority 

W.E.B. Du Bois versus Marcus Garvey 

And we ended up, sellin out to everybody 

The Dutch {?} and the John Gotti's 

Banksters, modern day gangsters, immobile army 

They wanna move us all out the N.Y.C. 

Like they did to the Jews with the Alhambra decree 

So support your own businesses and do the knowledge 

Cause the real Harlem Renaissance is economic (yeah) 

[Chorus] 

{"Green Lantern... The Evil Genius!"} 

"When they were saying it is the renaissance, of Harlem 

they didn't mean, that we had stake in that 

They meant to say that they could make money out of us" 

"They are coming in with all kind of prejudices 

In Brooklyn they're doing the same thing 

In, um, Queens they're doing the same thing; the Bronx 

There's hardly any place which is affordable 

I mean these people are putting up condominiums 

which start from a million dollars 

How many people in this community make that kind of money? 

How many people have that kind of money?" 

"People of Harlem, they are the natural allies of the oppressed people 

of the world, whether the struggle is in Panama, in Africa, Cuba" 

"We spend money with the wrong people 

We are looking for love, with people who don't love us 

What's wrong with us loving each other 

and making sure that we are protected?"