Gentrification: A Rap

Watching the PODER documentary in class this week inspired me to do some digging on what else was out there about the gentrification going on in Austin and elsewhere. I stumbled upon this "docu-music-video" about Detroit by Invincible and Finale that actually inspired the videos we saw in class. Take a listen and a look.

samples of the lyrics: 

Condos remodel my old turf
For what it's worth, soul got left in the earth

...

Locusts and buzzards circle and hover above the
Abandoned houses shattered windows with the crooked shutters
Cross the street construct a cookie cutter condominium
Lining Woodward, it's the prime meridian
You divide the city and
In the hood, wonder why you pay two times the premiums?

...

Predatory planning
Eminent domain
Mowed down Motown

...

It's interesting to hear the voice of the displaced in Detroit that inspired the PODER East Austin videos that we saw in class. Later between rap verses, there are interviewed residents of Detroit that give a testament to different circumstances. The "prime meridian" of Woodward that is mentioned could be likened to I35, and the harsh dividing line it creates between the city and the hood. 

One woman says, "If the people are involved and they feel that they are respected and their ideas and their input is respected, you have quality development."

A girl in the video (7:30ish) talks about if she had access to all of the abandoned facilities in Detroit, she'd want it to be a community space, somewhere where the kids around can be involved in something positive and interactive.

The officials in the video talk about how they were able to reshape the projects, and how they can develop new economy that is "related to and connected to the communities in which they exist." 

This is something that I think the gentrifying efforts of East Austin could learn from. The new construction going on in East Austin is mostly condos, or offices and bars that are in not welcoming to the existing residents. It's like the new construction is internalized within a greater community bubble. I think that if we could make an effort to engage the existing community with the new projects, the East Austin area could lessen the severity of the changes and displacement going on. 

http://www.thesouthernshift.com/news/2010/01/gentrification-east-austin-16-year-old-young-scholar-gabriel-padilla-does-3-part-docume