S4N JOSE STORY

[Intro]
There are 19,354 recognized cities and townships in the United States of America
Only one of these is your hometown

[Intro 2: Bobby Nahill]
Welcome to Evergreen, California. Evergreen is a large district of Southeast San Jose. Most of evergreen is suburban residential development, but the southeastern area has many multimillion dollar homes and the gated Silver Creek Valley Country Club

[Verse 1: Clarence the Kid]
Man I grew up in the city where the tech industries dominate
I’m from Evergreen, I was living south of San Jose
Dinner on my plate, cuz my mom was always working late
Neighborhood right next to me surrounded by the pearly gates
See we ain’t have it bad, surrounded by the wealthy
Living round the rich people who’d only eat healthy
Every morning when I’d walk to elementary
I’d see Porsches, Beemers, Teslas, Jaguars and Bentleys
To see a Maserati wasn’t nothing crazy
See a Lamborghini driving down 280
In my city everybody living comfortable
All the black families out here living like the Huxtables
All the white families out here living like celebrities
All the families period were sheltered up in Evergreen
Looking down at the city from the top of our hill
Ignorant of the problems that dwell
Everybody so self-absorbed
But they don’t recognize their selfish hearts
See my city so torn apart for some it’s hard
But not for all, for the people in my burb it’s not
Cuz everybody here got that tech money
Not a second thought when they wanna spend that money
But the people cross town barely scrape rent money
Got kids on the way, that’ll probably go hungry
Overcrowded, overworked, and overlooked
Underprivileged due to the companies that took
Over my area, causing the hysteria
Million dollars on a house will get something embarrassing
Minimum wage job will put you in poverty
Two jobs, night shift, people won’t even sleep
Every time I drive through I’m constantly reminded
San Jose still remains a city that’s divided

[Interlude: News Report]
San Jose was once considered to be the safest large city in the country, now it appears to be anything but. A report released today shows that crime is on the rise in almost every category there, from auto theft to burglary to rape. What is going on?

[Verse 2: Clarence the Kid]
Yeah look around
This is San Jose, this is my hometown
It is so run down, in a couple of parts
Couple streets around the block where you should never park
Unless you wanna get robbed, or get your tires jacked
But it’s not the people’s fault, nah it is just the impact
Of companies that’s coming in giving out six figure wages
Leaving some people rich while all of the rest of us stay nameless
And aimless in the eyes of the computer programmers
And tech engineers, everybody else is soul-scanning
Tryna find out their self worth, but they just hurt
Cuz they look down and see a chain logo on their shirt
And they ain’t making dirt, well actually they are
But the cost of living in the Bay has gone up so far
You need like $4k a month just to have your own bed
And some food for your stomach and a roof over your head
So there’s dread for the people making minimum wage
Picking up extra shifts, man they be working for days
And days and days and days, it still amazes me
That the wages in my city lacking equality
And the quality of life typically has stayed good
But because of that fact, a lot of people stay hood
There are gangs that patrol some of the local high schools
Teachers tracking all the students who be acting a fool
And they ain’t sending them to college, even if they got knowledge
Nah regardless they gon' make sure that you end up blue collar
Man I sit inside that car when I get off freeways
Waiting at the stoplight and I’m looking either way
And all I see are the homeless roaming
With nowhere to go, man this world is bogus
I’m hoping someday, things will be different in San Jose
I’m in love with my city but some things have gotta change