This week’s hip-hop track of the week is Harlem Renaissance from Immortal Technique’s new album “The 3rd World.” It is the first track that has really jumped out at me from the new album, and is a lyrical masterpiece about gentrification and rezoning in Harlem. “The 3rd World” dropped today, so go pick up a copy, and keep your eyes on the site for an upcoming review. In the meantime, click below to listen to Harlem Renaissance:

And follow along with the lyrics after the break.

[Intro]
Harlem once was red line district rated/
Designated ghetto like the yellow star of David/
And you wonder why people don’t own their homes/
’Cause the racist bank wouldn’t fuckin’ mortgage a loan/
[Repeat 3 times]

[Verse 1]
Until after the invasion of gentrification/
Eminent domain intimidation/
That’s not negotiation/
And it’s frustrating to look at every day/
Like watching a porno on 56K/
Biohazard labs instead of storerooms/
What’s next motherfucker – projects as dorm rooms?/
You ain’t fooling nobody in this community dude/
With your little fake Manhattanville community group/
Ivy league real estate firms are corrupt/
They lay siege to your castle like the Moors in Europe/
They treat street vendors like criminal riff raff/
While politicians get the corporate kickbacks/

[Chorus]
Harlem Renaissance – a revolution betrayed/
Modern day slaves thinking that the ghetto is saved/
’Til they start deporting people off the property/
Ethnically cleaning the hood economically/
They want to kill the real Harlem Renaissance/
Trying to put the Virgin Mary through an early menopause/
The Savior is a metaphor for how we set it off/
Guerilla war against the rezoning predators/

[Verse 2]
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/
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 giving birth to the culture we love/
Prejudice kept our own people out of the club/
Only colored celebrities in the party/
And left us a legacy of false superiority/
W.E.B. Du Bois verses Marcus Garvey/
And we ended up selling out to everybody/
The Dutch soldiers and the John Gotti’s/
Bankers – modern day gangsters, a mobile army/
They want to move us all out the NYC/
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/

[Chorus]
Harlem Renaissance – a revolution betrayed/
Modern day slaves thinking that the ghetto is saved/
’Til they start deporting people off the property/
Ethnically cleaning the hood economically/
They want to kill the real Harlem Renaissance/
Trying to put the Virgin Mary through an early menopause/
The Savior is a metaphor for how we set it off/
Guerilla war against the rezoning predators/