They say when you're supposedly good at something you don't do it for free, and not everything is about a dollar to me, so my payment in this is helping whoever I can. So here goes... Back in 2001, my late grandmother had a sit down with me and said "You've done enough out here, you can either leave Philly while you still have a chance to be something great or you can stay and fall to the same shit ya father, uncle and god fathers have but I think you're too smart for this shit." I heard everything she said, but it didn't sink in until 2003 and even then I left for the wrong reasons; The weather. I shipped my clothes to Miami, packed some money if a duffle bag and caught the Greyhound to Miami and decided to start over.
Growing up, my life was wild yet unfortunately relative to most young men in Philly. My parents were heavy into the streets so I was raised by my grandma who was a hustler herself, ran a lil "Speakeasy" out the house, but whatever it took to make a way. At one point, especially being the oldest of my fathers numerous children, everyone I looked up to was in prison. Uncle for a murder, both of my godfathers in for murders, and my dad was in on multiple convictions. I felt as if I was shoved into the "be a man role" at a early age as most of us do. My grandma seen me slowly taking to the streets and instead of squeezing me and possibly forcing me to full on rebel, she laid down rules: Keep good grades, finish school, respect my elders along with keeping a solid character within my community (which helps when you need character witnesses). I feared my grandma more than I will ever fear any living, breathing human in life so naturally I listened. Outside of my grandmother being there for me, a positive male figure for me as I was growing up was a teacher I had in Middle School, Mr. Witherspoon. To this day I'll call the greatest teacher ever. He wasn't just a teacher, he treated us (The first all boys class at Fitzsimons) as his sons. With these two stand up people in my life, yes, I did what I wanted yet at the same time the amount of respect I had for both helped me make better decisions. I seen what trying to be a "King Pin" and being "That Nigga" do first hand so keeping on the straight and narrow while being crooked wasn't the hardest thing to sell me on. Every male figure I had (outside of 'spoon) was taken away at once, and many young men go through this however, at the end of the day you can view them as references. I highly admire my father, there wasn't a neighborhood in Philly we couldn't venture to, nor was there one where dudes in the street didn't respect his presence. OF COURSE I wanted that, but there's a cost for it. I was always told: "You're not dumb for not knowing. Everyone won't know everything, however you are dumb if you see hell on the horizon and not go in the opposite direction."
I was recently talking to a friend of mine of our growing up in North Philly. Middle & High School was dope. I enjoyed them and made great friends at the time, but currently, I'm 29. My friendships read that of a 90 year old man in some sense and in others a gangster and at the present moment that shit is depressing and a life I don't currently live, respectfully. Of All of my childhood friends, only 4 aren't doing a bid. 1 homie in Albion up doing life for a murder, 2 homies who are brothers doing 10-20 for drugs, their brother another great friend of mine, gunned down outside of his baby mothers house, while I have 8 other friends doing time for shit from kidnapping to robberies and many dead. I still call them my friends because growing up they were like brothers to me. We were from separate hoods but went to school together. Hung tough. Cats look at me as if "I won" meanwhile I don't feel that way. I'm from North Philly, making new friends POST high school is hard. We don't just take to anyone and skeptical of everybody. Every time you meet a fraud you think of the "real niggas" you knew, that are dead or locked away. Living in Miami you see so much fraud shit its sickening. You know how much I wish dudes I grew up with could pop a bottle w/ me, knowing all we been through and made it? It can't happen now. So at what point do we cut the shit?
I refuse to go to prison or die prematurely to be around my guys, so I make do. You young guys though, y'all need to re-arrange your priorities. For starters, dying or ending up in prison isn't inevitable. If you are going to hustle, do it to better your position in life and do it wisely. Catching bodies isn't wise. Nor is it as respected as you think. Stop doin shit for the lil hoodrats and to be a Worldstar celebrity that shit will get you nowhere. That's straight clown shit. Make sure your immediate family is straight and get out of the hood when you can. You don't have to leave for Miami, but better yourself, want more. Raise your sons with morals and character, raise your daughters to be young ladies and to not cheapen herself to be a temporary instance of gratification for a unworthy "nigga". If you start to change the mindset of the next generation to "know better" they would do better. We have to change ourselves. No one else will change us and no one else cares. "Their" logic is a lengthy jail term that will hopefully make you "learn your lesson". Yeah, we learn our lesson however by the time you're done doing 10 years you have no skills to do shit and that felony so you're back at square one. Why not stop the shit before it even get to that point. Stop working harder and work smarter.
In closing, I love my city. I'm glad I was nicknamed Philly because I wouldn't want to be from anywhere else. We have some of the greatest hustlers in the world, but what I learned is how to flip my hustle into a better life. marketing for Interscope, throwing parties, managing models, managing artist and adult film stars. A house in L.A., a Condo on South Beach, 22 floors up. "A Nigga from North Philly" did that. Not killing anyone, not shooting anyone, not robbing or stealing. I didn't even go to college for Marketing, I just used the tool acquired from the streets, because my dreams weren't to be the big nigga in the hood. It was to be great. Growing up I was told I probably wouldn't live to see 18, to the point on my 18th birthday I was paranoid looking over my shoulder for a shooter everywhere I went. Yet when I finally stopped living being "Ready to Die", my life changed. The senseless violence has to cease and we need to focus more on our family. When you understand how important family is, you won't be so ready to pull a trigger to ruin another.
I know this blog is long as shit, but I hope some youngin somewhere heard me. Things don't have to be the way they are, dream homie and when you dream about the possibility of forever. Trust me, the view is amazing.
- @PhillyTheBoss on Twitter
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