LIFE Poem: Fake Way Oakland, by Papi Grande

*Where are you from?
I’m from Oakland + before you make that face that I know so well
I wanna let you know that my life has not been a living hell

*Oh you live in a good neighborhood?
Nah, I live in thee hood
I’m from East Oakland Aye

In The Place, That I Live

Our poetic inspiration was a mix of Thug Passion + Blanco
In 7 days, my theory was to get money against all odds
Whether niggaz picture me rollin or not
Biggest influence was my mom pushing me to keep my grades up
And the method is krazy, the whatttt
Traps they set up for us as kids
No substance at home just substances at home it went a lil sumn like this
Steal some m&m’s from the sto, label us criminals
16’s tried as adults, embedding fear in us, it’s dangerous but Aye

In The Place, That I Live

I’m speaking for the people going through it on a daily basis
When it seems like the world is full of cold places
Keep ya head up, who cares what they said cuz
You can do it and the man will put you through it
But we shall proceed providing what we need in the birthplace of Black Panthers
Although they are converting Oakland into Frisco Hut Jr Aye

In The Place, That I Live

They destroy memories + monuments
Replace them with street signs
*The town’s in decline in due time
Aye

I Don’t Wanna Hear That

It was just the other day
I was drinking orange freezes in the bakery at the lake
Driving down two ways, they now replaced with a bike lane
I feel like I moved far away
I guess nothing stays the same
When the hard R is right around the way
Gentrifer, how much more can you take?
The culture was so lovely Yay. Area

This is what you call Gentrification
I don’t know about yall but I would have rather kept a few other epidemics
They still call it Oakland
But I wanna see the town I grew up in
Nowadays that’s the real pipe dream

On vacation, this white man asked me
*where are you from
Oakland
*He said ahhh okay yall are losing the raiders, your baseball team
We are losing a lot more than that our culture

A man asked me
Where am I from?
I forgot Aye

In The Place, That I Live

Footsteps Imprinted
We Stand On Sand At The Beach
We Too Washed Away

Author: poetryfest

Submit your Poetry to the Festival. Three Options: 1) To post. 2) To have performed by an actor 3) To be made into a film. View all posts by poetryfest