Shackle me in chains. Tamper with my brain. Spit a ten digit number when you call me by my name.

See, their system has been aimed
For every 211 and every 187, my n!ggas is to blame
What happened to Diallo is a motherfuqin shame
How 'bout if I spit .41 at you and end the game
ALL disrespect intended, to any lieutenant,
who feel offended, by the way I represented

-Billy Danze

Just read a friend's published short story and it was a good read. I'd offer a link to another but - alas - I could not find it online.

Even with all the efforts to curb N!gganomics by po-po, Bruce Wall, and regular folk; shT is still hectic. Phonte's comments in that article I posted previously are ringing in my head right about now. And here's some insight from Styles P that really gets to the heart of the inner feelings of brothers who know what's up but still yearn for progress. You may not agree with all he say, but I feel him.

"You see, I'm a gangsta, and a gangsta ain't somebody who runnin around killin people. A gangsta is a n!gga who takes care of home, his people and lives by the 'rules' and lives by the 'code.' A gangsta is a nigga who work 9-5, who just knows the rules of life and knows how to respect a man and how to be respected and he knows where to take it when he's disrespected. You don’t have to be on the streets sellin crack and dope to be a gangsta. You can be a poet, a doctor, a construction worker or whatever. Like if 'you' do something to me, I don’t believe in stoppin until my point is proven. I'm not gon' stop unless you stop me or unless I'm incarcerated or bleeding badly or I'm dead."

But on the reals, this dude had a lot on his mind and said a lot of things that I've been thinking lately - with the exception of the mid-life crisis shT. We need a come up. Which reminds me, my man Horace Small holla'd last week and wants to link back up with me and L and whoever else we'd like to bring along for another informal chill session with the OGs. If it's going to go down how it needs to go down anytime in the forseeable future; it's gonna have to start with us. I told him I'd bring some of my peoples, but I'll see who's really about the business and who ain't when that time comes.

Hit up three of the four cookouts and had a cheeseburger at 3am courtesy of GregL. At least I didn't have one of the burgers where he accidentally left the meat separator on the patty and grilled it. Also, brought my man BruceP out the woodworks to meet some peoples. I'm proud of that dude. He really came up and I feel like he's doing his thing the right way and has a great head on his shoulders (in no small part thanks to his crew of big brothers I might add). Also chilled with NickS for an extended amount of time and even linked up with fellow Kakalak native Brandon, so I'll put him on in the coming weeks. He's peoples of peoples, but we played ball together before we knew any of that, so it's all good.

I missed the entire Roxbury Film Festival. Shame on me, but oh well. Fuq it. However, I did start my photo project that has been a good 6 years in the works today with a few snapshots of some Dudley murals.

And as for the cat from last week. RIP. I know he saw me hop in the truck, but I guess I started the engine and rolled the windows down a little too quickly for him to get away. My bad, duke. But I did call animal control to scoop him up. Hopefully, no one from PETA will ever see this.

I'm missing the midget a little and trying to grasp how my great-grandmother conned me into meeting her in Baltimore this weekend. Also, somehow I heard a little rumor that he she has travel plans for next week that I should know about, but - alas - I had to find out second-hand. A phone call will have to be made to square that up - fo' real fo' real. As much as I love Carnival time; I'm going to have to have to break the streak and bow solemnly bow out of this year's fete festivities. Sigh... B-More betta have it poppin... Hopefully, the cousins I'll meet are chill and will put me on to some good posts to chill once the old-schoolers call it a night. And no - I intentionally will refrain from listening to go-go music. I will buy an iPod on Thursday and return it on Monday if it comes down to it. Yeah, it's like that. But I am looking forwrad to some good crab cakes and a dose of family, new faces, good food, and a neighborhood reunion that I've never been to but have always heard of and never truly got to experience until this coming weekend. The sun betta be blazing...Word.