Teen brothers rap about the virtues of the ‘poorer’ side of their Missouri city

Two Springfield brothers spent their Thanksgiving writing, shooting and publishing a rap to create positivity about the poorer part of town where they live.

Caleb and Joshua Conaway, both 17, rap as they stroll and whirl down city streets. Their aim is to dispel stereotypes about the north side of their city, which Caleb said is considered a “poorer area.”

“(North Springfield) does have problems and it is a poorer area, but it’s still awesome and deserves attention,” Caleb told the Springfield News-Leader.

They rap that although they might not have easy access to the mall, spas and attorneys in the south side of the city, the north side offers low light pollution, open expanses, “fire” Chinese food and other amenities.

The name of their work is “North Side Pride.”

Lyrics include:

Reppin’ the north side, home of Pancho’s and Prime

But you can stay there on your side, I don’t mind the divide

Between the north and the south, I mean we beat you before

You might have more places to eat, but boy we won the Civil War

We know that you’re looking down on us from afar

You judge us though you don’t know who we are

Who are we? We’re the north side baby

Don’t try and fight it when we are ridin’

Our north side pride

“We wanted to abolish stereotypes,” Josh told the News-Leader.

He wrote the verse: “Eyesore Springfield / lock your door Springfield.”

“We wanted to say something like, ‘Yeah, the north side has something to offer,’” he said.

The video inspired an impassioned Reddit thread.

This story was originally published December 5, 2017 at 12:40 PM with the headline "Teen brothers rap about the virtues of the ‘poorer’ side of their Missouri city."