"Uh-oh." "Uh-oh." "Can't nobody get me." "Can't nobody get me." "Can't nobody get me." "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve..." "I want chocolate." "You gonna get yours." "Everybody gonna get theirs." " I want chocolate." " All right." "Here you go." "You got a rhyme or something?" "I got a rhyme or something." "I kick rhymes automatic." "Addicted to changes like leaves." "My black is gold like bees." "So stingray on a sunny day, while the little kids sit out and play or converse." "Getting ready for the ice cream truck..." "You wrote somethin'?" "No, I just know a little something." " What you got?" " I got a little something." "My name is little Troy, and I'm known as a big boy." "I gotta put some more at the end, though." "I'll help you with it, if you want." "So, yo, what's up with Keisha?" "Yo, the chick is bugging yo." "She keeps hitting on me." "I need something to get my head right, know what I'm saying?" "You gonna share some blessing with me?" "Oh, yeah." "I got you." " Please." " Medicine for you." "This is my prescription." "Ah, that's what I'm talkin'." "This is that Maui-Waui, right?" "This is the truth." "So help you God." "So, uh, after smoking' this," "I'll understand some of that shit you be talkin' about in your rhymes, right?" "Probably not." " Good luck." " Peace." "Them brothers is strong." "Them brothers is strong." " He pulled that trigger, too." " He didn't pull that trigger." "Ain't nobody comin' up in Dodge City like that, man." "If I have to go through there, if I have to go through there, somebody gonna be like Biggie and Tupac." "Look, you handle your business." "Don't let your business handle you." "You know what I'm saying?" " What's up, yo?" " Hey, what's up?" " Hey, what's up, man?" " What's going on?" "So, I got some good things I'm tryin' to invest in, you know?" " I hear." "I know." " I gotta make it big." " You know I'm writing everyday." " Everyday." "You gotta give me that." "'Cause I'm going with you, you know what I'm saying?" "So, you gonna start the label?" "Yeah, I want you to do that record label." "I got the money invested in it." "Look, I want you to do me a favor." " What's that?" " I got this new chick, right?" "I want you to give me some good shit to tell her, you know?" "Slick shit to say to her." "You know what I'm saying?" "I'm serious, man." "You got to do that for me, man." "You gotta give me the right poems and shit." "Man, look, I don't want to read that junk, you know," "I just want to remember something." "I think if you write it, you better read that shit." "I don't want you to write no heavy poems and shit." "I ain't gonna be sittin' there singin' to the bitch." "I ain't no R. Kelly." "Know what I'm saying?" "I want you to sit there and give me a little something." "You know what I'm saying?" "It's like that." "You my man." "You gotta look out for me." " I got ya." "Look..." " What's up?" "Um, I'm runnin' low, can you look out for me?" "Yeah." "I got that." "I'll look out for you." "But, look, come back later on, meet me at Dodge City, around about 1O:" "3O." " And I got you, okay?" " And I got you then, too." " Bye." " Okay." "It's gonna be a hot one tonight." "I can feel it." "I'm gettin' too old for this shit." "Tell them to get some additional units because, they been actin' kind of silly, know what I mean?" "These young boys, you know, that rap music they got is drivin' 'em crazy." "Come in, EC-1." "Let all units know that..." "be heads up." "You got it, EC-1." "You remember that song, "What's your name?"" " Oh, yeah, yeah." " Remember that one?" "Why don't you hit it?" "Hit it." "?" "What's your name?" " ?" "Have I seen you before?" " ?" "Have I met you before..." "You don't remember that song, man?" "It's "I have seen you before," goddamn it." "So, how does it go?" "Is it "What's your name?" "I have seen you before?" "May I walk you to your door?"" "Jesus Christ." "What you talkin' about?" "You know the damn song." "?" "What's your name?" "?" "I have seen you before?" "?" "What's your name?" "?" "May I walk you to your door?" " What's up?" " What's up?" "What's goin' on?" "How you doin', man?" "Here you go." " Be careful with that." " Thank you." " Everything all right?" " Yeah." "Look, I want you to do what I asked you." "I got you." "This is what you're gonna say:" ""You massage the universe's spine, the way you twirl through time, and leave shadows on the sun."" " You got that?" " You a bad motherfucker." "I ain't got that though." "Give me that shit again." ""You massage the universe's spine the way you twirl through time, and leave shadows on the sun."" "That's all right." "I didn't do anything." " What's this?" " It's just weed." "Just weed?" "It's illegal weed." "What makes you think you can use drugs in our city?" " What's your name?" " Raymond Joshua." " Raymond what?" " Raymond Joshua." "Buddy, let me tell you." "You're in deep shit." "Let's go, man." "Matter before the court, number 47 on the lock-up," "United States vs. Raymond Joshua." "Your Honor, the defendant was apprehended fleeing the scene of a shooting." "A man was shot in the head during a drug transaction in which this man was involved." "My God, what a way to start a Monday morning." "Here you have the Congress taking a lot of power from the city counsel and the office of the Mayor, the Board of Education, and the people of Washington and then we have Mr. Joshua." "Without getting into whether you're guilty or not," "I just know that these drugs are killing our community." "Mr. Prosecutor, what's the government's position on bail?" "The government feels that this defendant poses a substantial risk of flight, Your Honor." "He was apprehended fleeing the scene of a shooting." "We would like to see the bond set in the amount of $10,000 surety." "This court will enter a plea of not guilty on behalf of Mr. Joshua." "And this proceeding is adjourned until Monday morning, 11 o'clock." "Thank you, gentlemen." "Thank you, Your Honor." "Watch your step." " Watch your step." " Ow!" "Turn on the fucking air conditioner." "AC, motherfucker." "Give me some fucking AC." "Man, will you shut the fuck up back there?" "My name is fucking Jimmy Huang." "Get me the fuck out of this van." "Hey!" "You, up there in the front." "I shouldn't fucking be in this van, man." "You know who my dad is?" "Shit." "It's hot in this fucking van." "You scared, man?" "Shut the fuck up." "It ain't nothing but sweat inside my hands." "So I dig into my pockets..." "There's an MC in the van." "There's an MC in the van." "Great." "Another black rapper." "...thinking of the master plan." "So I walk up the street, whistling this, feeling out of place, 'cause, man, do I miss, a pen and a paper, a stereo, a table..." "Would you shut the fuck up?" "Would you shut the fuck up?" "Would you shut the fuck up?" "Would you shut the fuck up?" "Would you shut the fuck up?" "Would you shut the fuck up?" "Get this guy to shut up." "I'd like to find out who's gonna keep this little thing quiet." "Shake his hand and say, thank you." "Damn." "I miss Italy." "Do you miss Italy?" "You ever listen to Wu Tang?" "All right." "Let's go." "Let's go." "What's up, man?" " You heard about Mike?" " Yeah, I heard about it." "So, what happened?" "I don't even know." "I can't call it." "You know, the word in here is, "watch your back."" "All right." " What's wrong with me?" " China dog." "What's wrong with me, China dog?" "I shouldn't be in this fucking jail, man!" "I don't want to be here!" "I shouldn't be here with you motherfuckers!" "Get the fuck away from me!" "I'll get the fuck away from you!" "Fuck you, motherfucker!" "Hey, man, y'all need to shut up!" "Just get me some toilet paper." "What do you want with me, man?" "Get off of me." "What's up, yo?" "What's up, yo?" "What, what the fuck do you want with me, man?" "I'll fuckin' kill all of you!" "Shit!" "Get the fuck off me, I'll kill you!" " Sit the fuck down, man." " Fuck you, man!" "Sit down." "Sit down." "All right?" "What's your fuckin' problem, yo?" "You're about to get fuckin' killed in this place." "Yeah?" "I guess I am." "What the fuck you tryin' to do?" "Why don't you just sit down, all right?" "If you're not supposed to be here, then you won't be here." "Give it a second and you'll disappear." "Hey, Mr. Huang, let's go." "That's me." "I told you I was out of here, man." "Time to go." "I told you guys." "Remember when you spit on my buddy?" "We got a goin' away present for you." " Let's go." " A what?" "A what?" "No!" "I'm your attorney." "I've been assigned by the court to represent you." "I'm a public defender." "I've been asked by the prosecutor to see if we can cut a deal, which means plead guilty or cop out." "Let me ask you this:" "Are you guilty?" " Of what?" " Of the marijuana, possession of marijuana." "Uh, I mean, I don't know." "I can't get a trial or something?" "Well, you can get a trial." "They call that cop or rock." "You can take the cop, we plead, or you can rock, which means we can take it to trial." "But if you lose, you're looking at ten." "Mandatory ten." "You have to do 85 percent of ten." "Which means eight and a half years." "So wait." "If I try to fight it," "I have to serve more time for just trying to fight it?" "If you get found guilty, you would." "And usually, the success ratio of convictions on drug cases, is about 9O to 95 percent." "If you lock up ten people, nine, nine and a half go to jail." "But the chances of beating it, is like trying to throw a... a snowball into an elephant's mouth at a hundred feet." "You can't make it." "You are in trouble." "You are a victim, a casualty of war." "You got two options, three:" "You can plead guilty to a simple possession, which is two to three years, eighteen months to two years." "You can go to trial and run the risk of doing ten years if guilty." "Or, you can cooperate." "Which means you can rat, snitch, blow the whistle on whoever you want to blow it on, in order to get out." "Cooperate, which I'm not gonna do." "You say I can't even fight it 'cause I'll serve more time." "This doesn't make any fucking sense." "None whatsoever, man." "It don't make any sense at all." "There's niggas out there doing mad shit." "My man is down, you know?" "They shoot my man, they're running free." "There's niggas out there selling all types of shit." "I got a quarter pound of weed, and you're telling me here" "I got to serve five to ten years and there's not shit you can do for me?" "I don't have any choices?" "Fuck this old casualty of war shit, man." "I'm saying, I'm just out there surviving." "What can I do?" "I know it sounds like a lot of time, but most guys get a lot longer than that, man." "The best or most I can do is try to get you two or three." "Even if you were innocent, I could only get you two to three." "You are a victim, brother." "You're black, you're young, you come from the Southeast, you're in the inner city." "You don't have a chance." "Your best chance is to see how little time you get before you get back to society." "It ain't about beating it." "When they lock you up, you dead." "Raymond Joshua, step out." "When you're in this building, I want you to stay alive." "So listen carefully to me." "Nobody in here is your brother." "I don't care if they're as black as you are, or as light as daylight." "They are not your brother." "You mind your business, son, and you'll stay alive." "Every day somebody gets shanked in here." "Every day somebody gets beaten up in here." "We got predators in here, son." "We got people that'll cut your throat for nothing but a pack of cigarettes." "You mind your business in here, son." "Do you understand where you are?" "Have a seat in here." "Raymond Joshua." "Right over here, come on." "Put everything on the table." "Open your mouth." "Lift your arms." "Lift your tongue." "Lift your balls." "Turn around and spread your cheeks with both hands at the same time." "Show me the bottom of your feet." "Turn around and face me." "Bend over at the waist." "Run your fingers through your hair." "Hold this under your chin just like this." "Your number is going to be given to you." "It's a sequential number." "It's not a random set of numbers, son." "That number means something." "It's yo'number." "It's yo' number now." "Know what that number represents?" "276,000." "Now listen carefully to me, and you'll understand what makes me so angry." "We have less than 500,000 people in the District of Columbia." "Now only 70 percent of them are black." "Now what's 7O percent of 500,000?" "Do the math." "We got about 350,000 black people in DC." "Of the 350,000, half of them are female, aren't they?" "What's that?" "Do the math, son, do the math." "Less than 175,000 people are males like yourself." "Not all of 'em are over 21 years of age." "Half of 'em are kids." "How the devil, if we got only 75 to 80 thousand adult males in the District of Columbia, is this number 276,000 today?" "Figure it out for yourself." "We've exhausted the 21-year-olds, 20-year-olds, 19-year-olds." "We're working on 18." "We're moving down the line." "By the time we cross 300,000, we'll be down to 16-and 17-year-olds." "We're wiping out our race in Washington, DC." "And here you are in here playing these silly ass games." "Well, we got something for you." "Welcome to the DC jail." "You might make it outta here, you might not." "Door three." "One gate." "Well bakey bakes, niggas better fuckin' run, pack the guns leaving' niggas numb, motherfuckin' run, lookin' at hoods lookin' like thugs life at the stoplight, get up in their guts, only little fuckin' put put," "psychopath nut, bet they get a bigger fuckin' case, cuz my love the nigga's down for a double name case, what the fuck did they want, it's a motherfuckin' gun, from the G's APC's where the fucker's from, niggas better run," "if they don't catch up they just get fucked by my motherfuckin' focus." "Knock you off your motherfuckin'ass, not afraid to pass, get me all of that cash, so I can quit my fuckin' gash." "Die, foci, then the motherfuckin' gangs selling cocaine roll my fuckin' brain like Jesse James..." "Yo sun, as in solar, simply, because we are, we be, the rising stars and the sun that never set." "Word up, Jack." "Wanna make a bet, black?" "I got the formula." "Throw me in the sky, and I'll warm ya." "Get your sun block." "Throw me in the cell block." "Indeed, I got the science you need." "Lessons more ancient than Greece." "Apollo never my creed, my creed." "Obatala will battle you, so bring your troops if you wanna." "Satellites in the sky, some selling clouds on the corner." "But, we livin' for the land, from the soil to the sand." "And the water in the sea be the essence of me." "If you ain't ready for this fruit, than put it back on the tree." "Uh." "Give me the strength to bend back these bars." "Got the locks of Samson." "I'm Sam's son." "He's my father." "Tried praying to the Father, Son, but Holy Ghost." "I miss my motherfucking sanity." "Never been here and never planned to be." "But my own plans had plans for me." "And now that man's hands got plans for me." "And now that man's hands got plans for me." "And now that man had plans, so I jetted and ran." "The mike cord pulled me back." "I should have dropped it from my hand and left it at the scene of the rhyme." "Now we all serving time." "Even my prose is on probation." "Refugees they ain't just Haitian." "Come on." "Fucking shit." "Come on." "Keep it going now." "Ba bam, ba bam bam..." "And what the fuck." "You're fuckin' with a psychopath nut." "Put on my fucking glasses and 'bout to bust a nut in your ass motherfucker, as I blast in your motherfucking gut..." "Put a motherfuckin' mask on your face." "You should of never fucked with a nigga from the base." "So now I'm packing steel, keeping the shit really real, motherfucka you ducked trying to hop up in the truck." "Got blocked down." "So motherfuckas really want the judge to understand my motherfucking deal." "I'm packin' steel." "Slam dunking' like Shaquille O'Neal." "...bam, ba bam, ba bam bam." "I had to be strong..." "That shit is dope, yo." "Damn, man." "You got some talent with you man." " Oh, definitely." " That shit was tight, yo." "We are lookin' out, son." "What's up, partner?" "Thanks for the tray, slim." "I know you ain't want'n that shit." "Come on, nigga." "I ain't trying to play this shit." "What's up, partner?" "I ain't eaten all day." "I ain't trying to play." "I ain't trying to play this shit." "Get the fuck off me, nigga." "It's my motherfucking tray." "It's my tray." "I'm eating this tray." "Nigga, you don't know me." "I ain't about to sit here and let you eat my shit." "I ain't got to know you." "You ain't gonna eat unless I say you eat." "This is my motherfucking tray." "Any problems?" "Nah." "If I don't eat, don't nobody fucking eat." "Oh shit." "Here we go." "Break it the fuck up." "Get the fuck back to your cells." "Shit." "Lock it down." "Hey..." "Wakey, wakey." "Hands off snakey." "Open 20." "Grab your shit." "We're leaving." "Take care of yourself, all right?" "Peace, black." " Keep it real, man." " Mm-hm." "Some get by, but they never get away." "First cell to your left." " Stand right here." " Yo." "How ya' doin' G?" " Where the fuck's my paper at?" " Your man's here to see you." " Who's that?" " I got a 32 ready for him." "What's happening?" "Come on in, man." "Take a seat." "I'm Hopha, man." " What's going down?" " Mike told me a lot about you." "He told me a lot about you too, man." "You know what I'm saying?" "So what the cops is telling you, man?" "I know they been trying to ask you questions about Mike." "They asked me a few questions, but I don't know shit, y'know." "So I just told 'em I don't know shit." "You sure you ain't telling 'em nothing?" "I didn't tell them shit, yo." "See, this is the problem, man." "People think you did." " What?" " Tell them something." "That shit that happened, you probably didn't know nothing about this, but you're the center of attention now." " What do you mean?" " Everybody wants a piece of you, man." " How's that?" " Because they think you set Mike up." "I didn't do that shit, yo." "I didn't do that." "I know you didn't fucking do it." "They don't know that shit." "They coming for you, man." "You got every motherfucker in here ready to take a piece of your ass." "And if I take the fucking veil down, it's gonna fucking happen." "You stepped right into the frying pan now." "So be ready to get down." "You want some treats?" "I got some sweets." "Some cookies or something?" "Here, let me hook you up." "Take some of this." "Where's the guard at?" "Where's my fucking newspaper at?" "That son of a bitch." "That nigga brings me some shit, too." "I ain't saying you're sweet, want some baby powder?" "Here, get yourself some Kool-Aid, or something, man." "Take what you want, man." "Take what you fucking want." "You home, man." "You home, baby." "You know what I'm saying?" "You home here now." "You with us." "Word." "Let the boys know that we got a new member now." "Everything's gonna be all right now." "You like that book?" "Most of all, I must see to it that I do not lend myself to the evils which I condemn." "Yeah, well, you know what I say about that?" "Stay the fuck out our way." "That's all I got to say about that shit." "You know what I mean?" "Hey, I love people, but I don't tell them that shit." "You know what I mean?" "And when it comes to me and mine," "I defend mine very well." "Fuck that." "I want to get out of the game, yo." "For real." "That's all I want." "Ain't no way out of this, man." "Ain't no way out of this, man." "If you move into records, if you move into shit, with us, man, you are taking the game with you." "It's all in sync, man." "I ain't trying to be a part of the whole game, gang bullshit..." " Listen, listen." "Fuck that." " I'm trying to write." " I need a pen and some paper." " I don't wanna hear that shit." "Nigga, you are in jail, man." "Bottom line." "You down with us." "Ain't no coming out of this shit." "This shit's the same shit on the fucking street." "The beef ain't gonna stop for you." "Who the fuck is you?" "You gonna stop this beef?" "You can't stop it." "You help us stop it." "I'm trying to think straight, man." "I need a pen and a pad." "I hear you, man." "I hear you, man." "It's gonna be all right." "You know what I mean?" "It's gonna be all right." "Don't worry about it." "Just wait until you get here." "Guess y'all gonna have to make me secretary of state." "Or secretary of defense." "How's that?" "What, you don't like that?" "Minister of defense, then." "Minister of information, but can fight." "How's that?" "You know what I mean?" "'Cause you gonna have to fight, cuz." "Make no mistake about it." "This is jail." "Yeah, we got to handle that." "When he come out, we got to take care of that." "It's motherfucking personal." "It's personal." "'Cause you know that nigga we beat down?" "Yeah, you know he down with Hopha, right?" " What?" " Yeah, and they going against us." "'Cause ain't nothing gonna stop this motherfucking drug game." "You know?" "Stop none of my motherfucking business." "'Cause we ain't having that shit." "It's Thug Life for life." "I got the word he's down with Union Crew." "We gonna get him." "He's down with Union Crew." "And I don't like no bitch-ass nigga cutting into my motherfucking business." " You get what I'm saying?" " We get you." "We down with you." "Fuck that." "If I got to push the steel in the motherfucking nigga." "We gonna do that." "We got some problems." " See them niggas over there?" " Check 'em out." "You know what I'm saying?" "Yeah, I see them, niggas." "Man, there's a difference with us and them, man." "You know what I'm saying?" "We organized." "That bunch of stupid motherfuckers, man." "They can't handle no business." "We already did that drug shit and that fucking hand-to-hand bullshit, man." "I want cake, B. Don't you want cake?" "We want fucking cake, man." "If y'all want some cake, man." "We do this shit, make this move on these motherfuckers, man." "I don't give a fuck what happens." "Even your man don't fucking like you, faggot." "Fuck you." "Yeah, fuck y'all." "If you was fucking smart, you'd be over here, too." "We wouldn't have to be doing this." " Y'all trying to rap?" " We wouldn't have to be doing this." "Fuck these niggas, man." "Fuck them niggas, man." "Nah, nah, nah, nah." "You stay back." "Lay back." "Lay back." "You make the choice who the fuck you gone to be with." "You get your ass over there with Union Crew." " Fuck Thug Life." " Fuck you." " Fuck Thug Life." " Fuck you, nigga." "Hey, how you doing?" "Is it hot enough for you out there?" "Just my keys in my front pocket." "What's up, yo?" "What's up?" "You see him there?" "Man, I want you to do the right thing, man." "What the fuck is the right thing?" "The right thing is for me to just be my fucking self." "You know what I'm saying?" "Do you know what I'm saying?" "I mean, it's not about..." "It's hard to be yourself here, man." "Look around, man." "It's hard to be yourself in here, man." "My crew gotta know where you stand." "I know where they standing at." "What the fuck?" "This ain't no rites of passage or some shit." "You see them lined up?" "We got our shit locked over here." "Ain't nobody coming over here, fucking with this shit." "There's a place for you over here." "If not, go the fuck over there with your friend, then." "All right, look, let's not get too close, you know what I mean?" " It's going down today." " It's going down today." "It's going down today." "He gots to go." "He gots to go." "He gots to go." "Pass that joint." "I want everybody high." "Everybody high." "I want everybody high." "It's the thug in us." "Fuck you." "I stand on the corner of the block slinging amethyst rocks, drinking 40's of Mother Earth's private nectar stock, dodging cops." "'Cause five-oh be the 666." "And I need a fix of that purple rain, the type of shit that drives membranes insane." "Oh, yeah, I'm in the fast lane, snorting candy yams that free my body and soul and send me like Shazam." "Never question who I am." "God knows." "And I know God personally." "In fact, he let's me call him me." "Yeah, I'm serious B. Doggonned niggas plottin' shit, lovely, but the Feds is also plotting' me." "They're tryin' to imprison my astrology." "Put our stars behind bars, our stars in stripes, using blood-splattered banners as nationalist kites." "But I control the wind." "That's why they call it the hawk." "I am Horus, son of Isis, son of Osiris, worshipped as Jesus, resurrected like Lazarus, but you can call me Lazzie, lazy, yeah, I'm lazy, cause I'd rather sit and build than work and plow a field." "Worshipping a daily yield of cash green crops." "Stealing us was the smartest thing they ever did." "Too bad they don't teach the truth to their kids." "Our influence on them is the reflection they see when they look into their minstrel mirror and talk about their culture." "Their existence is that of a schizophrenic vulture." "Yeah." "There's no repentance." "They are bound to live an infinite consecutive executive life sentence." "So what are you bound to live, nigga?" "So while you're out there serving the time," "I'll be in sync with the sun while you run from the moon." "Life of the womb reflected by guns." "Worshiper of moons." "I am the sun." "And we are public enemies number one." "One, one, one." "One, one, one." "I forgot what the fuck I was thinking." "Are you all right?" " Are you okay?" " Um, yes." "I just saw what you did out there." "Do you need any help?" " No." " Cool." "Um, hi." "My name is Lauren." "Lauren Bell." "I teach writing here." "Where did you get that from?" "I'm sorry, um..." "The poem that you did out there." "Did you, did you write that?" "Yeah." " Excuse me." " Um..." " Are you okay?" " Yes, I'm fine." "What are you doing out here in the hall?" "He's just talking to me." "He's on his way to..." "Okay." "But he's not supposed to be out here." "North three, let's go." "Right now." "Right now." "You have no right to be out here." "Let's go." "All right you're in north three." "I'll put in a request for you." "I'll put in a request for you." "You have to tell the CO that you want to come to class, and he'll let you come down." "You are out of place." "Let's go." "I've been searching myself, man." "I know you all have too." "The world is fucking leaving us behind, man." "What Ray said was right." "I didn't agree with his methods, you know what I'm saying?" " You know..." " What the hell was that?" "I still don't fuckin' know entirely, man." "But what that nigga did out there was just fucking fascinating." "I ain't fucking coming back here, man." "Fuck that shit." "I love y'all and all that shit." "I ain't coming the fuck back here." "You know what I mean?" "I ain't turning on y'all." "Like I said, I love y'all, but I'm telling it the way it fucking is, man." "Them motherfuckers outside this place don't give a fuck about us." "We started off fighting, we gonna end off fighting." "But how we fight is the fight." "That's the way it goes." "If I'm gonna die for something," "I'm gonna die for something that's worth it, dig?" "We've been discussing the chapters as we've been going along, but now we've finished the whole book." "And what I want to know is... what came to your mind last night when you were lying in your cell and you were reading the assignment?" "What was the first thing that came to your mind?" "I mean, sure, I know I want to stay off the street." "I know I want to be a positive person to my family, right." "But I know that, me personally, if the situation arose where it was either starve or my children starving, or doing the right thing, then, you know, it's trey ball." "Or Monster Cody got to do what he got to do." "I do not agree with Joseph." "Sadly, too many of our brothers got the mentality of Joe, and come here and say, because of this and that," "I'm gonna put this in my hand using my family for an excuse." "When all the time, like you said, you got to be responsible for you." "So you gonna use, "My family was hungry so I went out and shot a motherfucker for money."" "Fuck no." "You still coming to jail." "I don't know whether you know it or not, brother, but we are capitalists." "Whether we're capitalists on a small scale, we live in a capitalist country." "And that is what we are." "We are born to learn how to capitalize on whatever it is." "It's about money." "So Joe and John are saying that there are not enough resources out there to help you change your life." "Is that true?" "We just happened to be born our color, and we at the bottom of the ladder." "You understand?" "Now, if I could make it out, and have me some real dough, yeah, then it wouldn't be like this." "All right." "Y'all ready for the poetry reading?" "Yes." "I didn't hear everybody." "I said are y'all ready for the poetry reading?" "Yes." " Ron, you ready?" " Yeah." "Let's go." "The name of my little piece is, uh, "Why."" "I shot three motherfuckers, but I didn't know why." "I guess I just wanted to see something die." "You see, I bought this gun for a few rocks just to get even, so I thought, with those shit-eating cops." "Holding the cold, blue steel in the palm of my hand, not quite sixteen, yet totally a man." "My only plan was money in my hand." "I wore Falacci, Gucci, Nikes, and Eddie B." "I was the coolest motherfucker in Southeast DC." "School?" "What the fuck." "That was a thing of the past." "Getting paid, school and all that other square shit could kiss my ass." "Mad at my bun, toying with my gun, tipped on over to my favorite poolroom just to have some fun." "Rips was at full blast, so I chalked up my cue, ready to kick some ass." "I played a few hours, beat all the old timers and was about to go." "Until the three- one of the three bama motherfuckers stepped on my toe." "A split second later, whip, bam, it was on." "The ass kicking begun." "I ducked a few pool balls and eased out my gun." "Ratta-tat-tat and that was that." "Three was whacked." "Ten years later." "As I sit here in my jail cell about to cry," "I'm thinking," "I shot three motherfuckers and I don't know why." "Thank you, Ron." "Oh, I, um, I don't know if all of you guys know, but, um, today's my last day here." "Oh, God." "I'm gonna miss you guys." " We gonna miss you too." " Especially me." "Um, they, um, it's so wild that we had this conversation today, because, they have, they cut this program." "And it's just brought home the fact that, you know, it really isn't about rehabilitation anymore, you know?" "And you were right, Joe." "Like I was trying to tell you earlier," "Yeah, it's gonna be hard when you leave here." "It's gonna be real hard." "It's really fucked up that you were born in Southeast, in the ghetto." "It's really fucked up that you were born black." "It's really fucked up that you've had a hard time in your life." "Whatever your story is, whatever it is that brought you here in your life, that shit is really fucked up." "If you keep shoving the anger and the pain and the frustration down, and you keep saying that's all right, I'm gonna do what I gotta do and you don't let it come out, that keeps pushing you down." "That is your prison." "You gotta let that shit out 'cause once you let that frustration out, it doesn't hold you back anymore." "It doesn't lock you down." "And then you can stand up with some courage." "You can say, okay, yeah, it's fucked up, but I am not gonna live like this." "I am going to take my destiny into my own hands." "That's the only way to go now." "I grew up with guys just like y'all." "All of y'all." "My brother was sitting in your seat." "My brother's not here anymore." "He grew up in your era, Joe, in your era, Ronald, when everybody wanted to be Superfly." "Remember that?" "It was all about being Superfly or the Mac, remember that?" "Now it's about being a gangsta or OG." "He had a good heart just like y'all." "I know y'all are good guys." "The people out there, they see your face in the paper, they think y'all, they think you're monsters." "I know you're good guys inside." "My brother had a good heart." "I know your dreams." "I've been there." "But chasing them, thinking you can achieve them by selling drugs... that's just a part of the trap, y'all." "That's just a part of the trap." "And yeah, you're right, Ronald." "The cycle just keeps continuing." "Who's gonna stop it?" "Y'all got to stop it." "Y'all been in." "Y'all can go back out, change your life and show the young brothers that they don't have to come back in here like this." "Freedom isn't out here." "It's in here." "You can be free anytime you want." "Anytime." "Never give anyone the power to take away your freedom." "That's yours." "It don't belong to nobody but you." "Remember that." "I'm not going to go on and on." "Besides, my tissue's falling apart." " We gonna miss you, all right?" " I'm gonna miss you too, Red." "And I'm gonna miss you too." "And I'm gonna miss you too." " Give me a hug." " All right." "All right." "Ritchy, give me a hug, baby." " Okay." " You gonna be okay?" "I'm gonna be all right." "You gonna be okay?" "I'm gonna be fine after that poem you wrote me." "You gonna write me now, right?" "Okay." "Good." "All right, now." "Take care, baby." "Bye-bye." "Ray, you hangin' back for a minute?" "So what did you think of the class?" "I think you're a wonderful teacher." " Ray, what are you doing in here?" " I sold weed." "So you just happened to be selling weed?" "I mean, I don't know." "I don't know." "I got caught." "Yeah, I know you got caught." "I know you got caught." "I mean, it's not that simple." "It's not..." " I mean..." " What, are you in school?" "No." "So you sell weed for a living?" "That's it?" "And you write poetry." "And you read books." "I never really thought of myself as writing poetry." "You know, I write, I'm here on," "I'm really here on a petty weed charge." "Although, I've been told that I have to cop a plea." "And if I do," "I may be looking at like a couple of years, but..." "I don't know." " I don't know how to say..." " Just stay in touch." "Just stay in touch." "You never know." "You never know, you know?" "I gotta go." "You got me thinking." "You remember that book that was in my cell?" "The Art of War?" "Man named Sun Tzu?" "Some old guy." "Chinese guy a long time ago." "The man said it's about learning to lead people." "It's about being able to win wars without violence." "You know what I mean?" "He wasn't no sucker, now, he'd get ready to get down, you know?" "But he won wars from the beginning without ever having to use violence." "He said that's where the real power is." "Shit bugged me the fuck out." "I thought what the fuck's this nigga talkin' about?" "I mean, I thought about it." "But how many people really do that, you know?" "How many people really do that?" "You did that." "I'm telling you, man, you got more talent than maybe even you know." "You got a hell of a lot of decisions." "I can't help you with the decisions, man." "You know, but I'm always there for you." "I've made my decisions, yo." "You can see." "There's no fear in my heart no more." "There's no fear." "I don't give a fuck." "I'm scared every day, but I'm not afraid." "You dig?" "To me there's a difference." "To you there's a difference." "You showed that." "You gonna be a great man." "You got great things to fucking do." "And one of them is to pass this to an old friend of mine." "This is something a friend of mine gave me a long time ago." "I'm gonna get you out of here." "All right?" " How you gonna get me outta here?" " You're not listening to me, man." "You're not listening to me, man." "I'm gonna put up the bail for you." "All right?" "If you do this piece of work for me, I'm here." " What's your name?" " Raymond Joshua." "Okay." "You're being released on cash collateral." "Take your suit off and put it in the basket." " Yo, where's my shirt?" " It got lost." "Shit happens." "Take that." "You going home in these." "Let's see your arm band." "Hold it right there so I can see it." "Okay." "Hey, Ray, this is your last time in here, right?" "I want you to take something out the door with you when you leave." "Those six digits on that band I told you about, they'll be there waiting for you if you ever come back." "Now get your ass out of my jail." "Door." "All right, going out with one." " What's your name?" " Raymond Joshua." " Your number?" " 274001." "Okay." "Officer, what's he going out on?" "He's going out on cash collateral." " Good luck." "Take care." " Thanks a lot." "All right." " How you doing, Ray?" " Hey, Ray, where you been?" " What's up?" " Where you been, Ray?" " I saw a police car, Ray." " Yeah?" " What's happening?" " Nothin' much." "Where you been at for a couple of days?" " We ain't seen you." " Bye, Ray." "Everything cool, man?" "How did they treat you in camp, man?" " All right." " Just hold on for a second." " I got something for ya." " All right." " What's up, man?" " Yooo." "What's up, man?" "What's up?" " I'm alive, man." " I cannot believe this shit." "You been all right in there?" "Yeah, I been cool." "You..." "I been great." "Well, I'm all right, man." "You know what?" "I'm blind now, man." "I can't see shit, man." "Somebody in Dodge City gonna have to take care of that." " Take care of what?" " Man, I'm hurtin', man." "And the only thing I can do to feel better is to know that somebody else is hurtin'." "What we gonna do is handle this." "Handle this how, nigga?" "What the fuck are you talking about?" " Are you fucking real or what?" " No, no, no, no." "What..." "I got a motherfucking bullet in my head, and whoever put it there, they gonna pay." "Now is you with that or what?" "Man, we've been doing this for years." "For what?" "I don't understand it." "I understood it before, but I don't understand that shit." "'Cause you know what?" "When I was inside, I realized something." "I was blind for a long time, yo." "I see now." "And I see that this shit has to end." "There's not shit you can do." "There is no one you can shoot, not even the fucking doctor, that would give you your fucking vision back." "There's nothing, no one you could shoot." "You could shoot the sun, and everybody else would just be blind." "I spoke to your man inside, yo." " You what?" " I spoke with your man, yo." " Hopha." " What'd he say?" "What'd he say?" "He said the same shit I'm saying." "That this shit is silly." "He don't want any type of retaliation." "Man, that's bullshit." "Fuck that bullshit you talking." "It's not bullshit." "Man, Hopha ain't say nothing like that, man." "He know Dodge City sticks together no matter what." "Anybody in Dodge City go down, the motherfucker's being dealt with." " What's this?" " What is this?" "Where the fuck you get this from, man?" "Your boy." "He knew you wouldn't believe shit I was telling you." "And what the fuck are we retaliating for?" "We don't need this shit any more." "So what are you saying?" "Dodge City is breaking up?" "What the fuck you talking about?" "This ain't the temptations or some shit." "We ain't breaking up." "What makes you think me and you can go talk to somebody that tried to kill me, man, and tried to kill you?" "The fucking mayor can't even talk to these people." "The government can't even talk to these people." "I ain't talking about the mayor." "I ain't talking about the government." "Nigga, I love you." "I love you." "I just don't wanna see you go out like a million other niggas before you." "Man, I'm scared." " I know you're scared." " Can you help me out, man?" " I'll help you, Jack." " Help me, man." "Time is running out tick-tock like grains of sand?" "Every man's sharpest man, like steel's sharpest steel?" "The threat of a war is real?" "Where my soldiers fought on the battlefield?" " What's up, man?" " What's up, babe?" " What's up, man?" " What's up with you?" "Man, look, man." "What the fuck is up, dude?" "I'm trying to get back." "I'm trying to get back." "Motherfuckers." "Man, they blinded you, man." "I'm trying to blind one of them other niggas." " They drew first blood, baby." " I understand." "And they know me." "You know what I'm saying?" "They know all of us." "They know how we go." "They know how we go." "You gonna go over there and take one of them out, right?" " Pow pow baby." " Pow pow baby." "Live by the sword, I'm gonna die by the sword." " You know what I'm saying?" " For who?" "Who the fuck you fighting for?" "What are you fighting to protect?" "For my man." "Dodge City." "You live in the motherfucking projects." "It's an experiment." "Projects, experiment." "Government experiment." "You serving time outside of the penitentiary doing exactly what they want you to do." "Pow pow all day." "That's the motherfucking master plan, nigga." "That's the motherfucking master plan." "Let's see what Mike got to say about it." " Mike, make the house call." " I'm making the call, man." "You know, I want the guns down." "I want the guns down." " You heard what he said." " Let's put the guns down." " Put the guns down." "There was one last bullet that was shot around here, and that was the bullet in my head." "?" "Time is running out tick-tock like the grains of sand?" "?" "My man's sharpest man, like steel's sharpest steel?" "?" "The threat of a war is real?" "?" "Where my soldiers fought on the battlefield?" " I can't believe you made it." " I did." "Well, come on in." "Hey, Imani, hold on." "Ray, meet lmani." " Hi." " How ya' doing?" " Ray." "Ray, this is DJ." " Yo, what's up" " This is Ray, a friend of mine." " I'm DJ Renegade." "DJ's a phat poet." "You got to hear his work." "Actually, tonight you probably hear some of his work because we're gonna do a little poetry reading." "Brothers and sisters, love will leave you melancholy as a muted trumpet." "Bluer than a cloudless sky, bluer than a Viking's eye." "You see, love is a blue-bottle fly flitting between blue and green." "Wings raggedy as a pair of old jeans." "Merci beaucoup." "Love is Winnie the Pooh doing voodoo in corrective shoes." " Yo, you write?" " Um, a little bit." "Oh, okay." "You gonna kick a piece later?" " Um, I don't know." " Yeah, He's gonna kick a piece later." "I have a million things going on in my head." "Oh, okay." "Oh, so you gonna free-style?" "No." "His intergalactic free-style jazz licks... my ears." "As I ride his tongue and groove to the sound of chords no man has ever touched." "His touch tempts me to taste flesh of my flesh from which he is made." "His invisible strokes are felt as he stands on the stage in front of me." "A mike and a million miles away from me." "Everything is kind of new now." "Like I wouldn't want to read anything I'd written before." "It's too old." "It's nice to have you on the outside, truly." "It's good to be on the outside." "Truly." "It's all right." "I'm not tripping." "You massage the universe's spine the way you twirl through time and leave shadows on the sun." "My love is the wind song." "If it is up to me, I'll never die." "If it is up to me, I'll die tomorrow a thousand times in an hour and live seven minutes later." "If it is up to me, the sun will never cease to shine and the moon will never cease to glow and I'll dance a million tomorrows in the sun rays of the moon waves and bathe in the yesterdays of days to come," "ignoring all of my afterthoughts and preconceived notions." "If it is up to me, it is up to me." "And thus, is my love." "Untainted." "Eternal." "The wind is the moon's imagination." "Wandering." "It seeps through cracks, ripples the grass, explores the unknown." "My love is my soul's imagination." "How do I love you?" "Lmagine." "I can't believe you actually came." "Glad I came." "Very glad I came." "I have thought of you." "Um, and, um..." "What else?" "What else is there?" "Today, now." "There's tomorrow." "And the next day and the next." "Not today." " Not now." " Yeah." "Well..." "Tomorrow and the next day and the next for me is not exactly like..." "I'm sorry, I mean..." " Ray..." " lf, if you want me to go..." "I don't know what I want you to do to be quite honest with you." "Um, today you're here." "Tomorrow and the next day, I mean, you still, you still have to go to court." "I mean, you still have to possibly, um, go away." "I still have to try to get back into prison to do my job..." "No." "I really can't." "I can't go there right now." "I just can't." "It's really difficult, Ray." "Who you telling?" "You made an impression on me." "And, um, it's funny," "I wasn't certain of when I'd be able to see you again." "But... this is all I'm asking for, now." "Look at the little one with the ponytail." "So you coming to the slam tonight?" "Um, I don't know." "I may." " You should." " I want to." "You should." "You should." "I can get you up on stage." "I just, yeah." "I'm not trying, I not thinking about performing." "I need to think." "You know, I just..." "I have to go to court on Monday." "Wow, that soon?" "Damn, you just got out." "Have you thought about what you're gonna do?" "I have no clue." "I need time to think it over, 'cause I can't see what it is I'm supposed to be doing now." "None of this makes sense to me." "You only have until Monday though, right?" " Yes." "I only have..." " What did your lawyer say?" "My lawyer told me to cop a plea." "He told me that's the best thing I should do." "He said if I fight it," "I'll probably just end up getting more time." " It's..." " What's, what's your charge?" "Possession of illegal substance." "Are you guilty?" "Did you do it?" "I had it on me." "What's going to be is going to be." "You stand up and you face it." "It's a lot to face." "It's a hell of a lot to face for some weed, you know." "Man, they caught you with the shit red-handed." " What are you gonna do?" "Run?" " No, I..." "I think there has to be another way out." "I pray there has to be another way out." "Copping a fucking plea?" "That shit is not my way." "I can't, I can't feel that shit." "I can't see that shit." "Wait a minute." "You acting like you did not do this shit." "Like copping a plea would be like lying to yourself." "Well, you..." "you did that shit, Ray." "I did do the shit, but I don't feel guilty about it." "I don't feel guilty." "I'm sorry, but I don't feel guilty." "But you did it." "So the fuck what?" "I don't care." " I did it." "I did it." " Yeah." "But what the fuck did I do?" "And what are they doing to me?" "What the fuck is the punishment for that shit?" "There, there has to be magical doors." "I'm looking for the fucking magical doors." "That's what I need." "That's what I need." "That's what's gonna get me out of this shit, you know?" "I mean, yesterday, I woke up in a fucking prison." "I woke up on a fucking ship." "I woke up there, you know?" "I woke up there." "And then I went home." "And I saw that for what it was." "And then, I came here, and it was like, it was like a fucking new world to me." "It was a new world." "And I was like, ah, this is fucking home." "This is where I need to be." "This is the shit that I've dreamt about, you know?" "This is the shit that I can feel." "This is the new world that I want." "But I don't want to have to go through the fucking middle passage to get to the new world." "That's not for me." "Look, Ray, all I'm saying is you made a mistake, baby," "I mean we all make mistakes." "I've made mistakes." "All you got to do is just walk up in that court with your head up high." "Accept responsibility for what you've done." "Go to jail." "Do your time." "Make the most of your time." "You read, write, do whatever it is you gotta do..." "What the fuck are you saying?" "What are you saying?" "No, no, no, no, no." "This isn't class now." "My only responsibility is to my fucking dreams." "You know what I'm saying?" "That's my responsibility." "Not to no other shit like that." "You know, I..." "This is a part of your dreams, Ray." "You cannot have your dreams if you don't" "This is not a part of my fucking dreams." "This is not no fucking metaphor." "This is my life." "Motherfucker, who you think you jumping up on?" "You don't know this." "I know about your dreams." "And I know about not being able to get your dreams and wanting them and having them and seeing all these roadblocks in your way." "I know something about that shit, Ray." "It doesn't... " "I haven't been in jail." "I haven't done time, but I know something about that, Ray." "And all I'm saying is, this thing that you're going through right now is what is going to catapult you into a fucking dream." "You can't see that right now because you haven't been there." " I've been there." " You haven't fucking been there." " Where the fuck have you been?" " Don't you fucking tell me" "I haven't been there before." "You don't know me." "You don't know my fucking life story, motherfucker." "And you know mine?" "Oh, yeah." "You just spilled it all right here." "You don't know what kind of prisons I've been a part of." "You don't know what it's like to sell your ass on the street for a hit of crack." "You don't know what that's like, motherfucker." "I've been a slave." "Fuck being a prisoner." "Oh, don't come for me, motherfucker." "Let me tell you something." "You don't know me." "Remember that." "You don't know where I come from." "But everything you telling me right now?" "I know it." "I know it like the back of my motherfucking hand." "What the fuck do you mean I don't know?" "You've been a fucking slave?" "What do you think I've been?" "You don't know." "Where did you think I was in that fucking metaphor?" "Where do you think I was, huh?" "When you were the fucking slave, who was the fucking overseer?" "Where did you think I was then?" "Who was the one giving it to you?" "Who was the one selling that shit?" " That was me." " Oh, oh." "Awareness." "Bing." "Say that shit again." "Say it again, goddamn it." "Say it again." "Who was it?" "Who was it?" "Who was it that put me in my prison?" "Who was it that enslaved me?" "Who was it, goddamn it?" "Who the fuck was it, huh?" "Who was it?" "Huh?" "It was you." "It was you." "It was you." "You wanted to be there." "It ain't easy, baby, escaping it." "It hasn't been easy." "It hasn't been easy for none of us." "You ain't the first motherfucker to be up in this piece, like this." "And you won't be the last." "All I'm trying to do, Ray, is help you, baby." "'Cause I've been there." "That's all." "That's all I'm trying to say." "That's all that was." "That was just to show you that I've been there." "I know what it's like." "I know what the fear is like." "I know what the pain is like." "I know what it's like." "I know what it's like to be cornered." "I know what it's like." "Just trust me, baby." "Just trust me." "All you gotta do is go through it." "Don't fall into their traps." "Don't fall into their game." "Please, just go." "'Cause if you run away from it, you just gonna get caught up later." "Trust me." "Your freedom is there." "It's waiting for you." "It's waiting for you." "And oddly enough, baby, it's waiting for you in the goddamned prison." "It is." "I know you can't see it." "I know you can't see it, but it's there." "It's there." "It's there." "Ray..." "Ray." "Ray." "Ray!" "Damn." "Come on, let's hear it from you tonight." "Welcome to the Poetry Club, where the words you say are the thoughts you live and where nothing ever happens unless you say it first." "Tonight, let's see who our first poet is." "Who's gonna be coming up here for the slam tonight?" "Please bring up Liza Jesse Peterson." "Ice cream." "Ice cream." "I used to be an ice cream fiend." "You see it all started when I had a large scoop of Rain Forest Crunch with extra walnuts." "Would you like a cup or cone, Miss?" "Cup or cone?" "Cup or cone." "Cup or cone." "I was in a zone where I had to make a wise choice between a cup or a cone." "You see, it's more fun with a cone, because I lick the tip and then I crunch and munch the cone." "And then I lick the tip again, and I crunch and I munch on the cone until there's one sip at the bottom tip and I pop it in my mouth and grin because I like that game." "You never cared about my mother..." "I'm writing the poem that will change the world." "And it's "like Lilly, like Wilson" at my office door." "Lilly Wilson, a recovering "like" addict." "The worst I've ever seen." "So "like-bad"" "that the entire eighth grade started calling her, "like Lilly like Wilson like"." "Until I made my classroom a "like-free" zone, and she could not speak for days." "Another perfect score." "A ten to the fifth power." "Another 9.5." "Don't tell me there's synchronization here." " Can I help you?" " Yeah." "I'm supposed to be meeting someone here." "Every slam is a finality." "Every slam is the end." "And tonight there's no other way to end this slam, but to bring up here one of the true heroes of poetry." "Do y'all remember when Lauren started out here?" "Yeah." "Let's please bring Lauren up here to make it happen for us right now." "There's nothing else that can happen in the word but to make the word be the word itself." "Something that you've heard before." "Come on, Lauren." "This is, um, a poem that I found when I was drowning one day." "This is, um, for a friend of mine who's um, goin' through a hard time right now." "I feel like my back is against a brick wall, and I've got a Mac truck two inches from my face." "Every cell in my body is screaming run." "But I can't." "I'm kicking and stomping and running and jumping, wreaking all kinds of havoc, creating a bloody mess and I'm going nowhere." "Somewhere in my mind I think I am moving." "Somewhere in reality I am running." "Somewhere inside myself I am oh-so-still." "Quiet, dead." "My soul is not rising." "My spirit is not lifting." "My life is not living." "But I am running." "Moving through the universe, a whirling dervish with no end, no purpose, no means, no life left to live." "And yet still I want to go to that place where I can run." "Run free my mind tells me." "But those two words cannot occupy the same space in reality." "Run, free." "My back is against a brick wall." "I got a Mac truck two inches from my face!" "Well run free, baby." "Run now." "It just looks hard, but it's so easy." "Just turn around and go." "Clip all the wires, hookups and hangups, and then you're home free." "You can give birth to an excuse so easily, you'll believe it's always been there." "Part of the natural order, made to order by your forever clever mind." "Constantly protecting you against things you no longer need to be protected from." "And I believe." "I believe like a Holy Roller, singing, sweating, preaching, go tell it on the mountain, while speaking in twenty different tongues, while diving in ten thousand feet of baptismal water without a life preserver." "I believe like my bullet-ridden brother out there somewhere right now gurgling blood through his last breath, spitting out a red ripe prayer so new, so sweet, so baby fresh, so full of truth, he thinks it can save his life." "God does not exist in desperation and hope is lying dead somewhere in the sewer down the street, around the corner, in the alley, underneath the feet of somebody, itching, scratching, trembling, jonesing for their next hit" "and sucking somebody's dick." "I got two minutes, ya'll." "I got two motherfucking minutes before I run free or die, ya'll." "Two minutes before I smash my face into the grill of a Mac truck." "Before I get ten thousand bricks shoved up my ass." "Before I run free or die." "Lauren Bell." "Lauren Bell." "Get her back up here." "I need an encore." "I need an encore." "You know, it's about spreading love." "And I met somebody recently who, um, who touched my, who moved me." "And I hope he does the same thing for you." "Um, this is his first time reading, and he's a big, big talent, and he needs our love and our support." "And I give you, Ray." "Come on up here." "Yeah, come on, Ray." "Everybody, come on." "Yeah, come on, Ray." " Do it, now." " Take your time." "If I could find the spot where truth echoes," "I would stand there and whisper memories of my children's future." "I would let their future dwell in my past so that I might live a brighter now." "Now is the essence of my domain and it contains all that was and will be because I am and I will..." "I'll try it again." "If I could find the spot where truth echoes," "I would stand there and whisper memories of my children's future." "I would let their future dwell in my past so that I might live a brighter now." "Now is the essence of my domain, and it contains all that was and will be." "And I am as I was and will be because I am and always will be that nigga." "I am that nigga." "I am that nigga." "I am that timeless nigga that swings on pendulums like vines through minds of booby-trapped minds that are enslaved by time." "I am the life that supersedes lifetimes, I am." "It was me with serpentine hair with a timeless stare that with immortal glare turned mortal fear into stone time capsules." "They still exist as the walking dead as I do, the original suffer-head, symbol of life and matriarchy's severed head." "Medusa, I am." "I am that nigga." "I am that nigga." "I am that niggga." "I am the Negro." "Yes, Negro." "Negro from necro." "Meaning death." "I overcame it, so they named me after it." "And I've been spittin' at death from behind and putting "kick me" signs on its back." "Because I am not the son of sha clack clack." "I am before that." "I am before." "I am before before." "Before death is eternity." "After death is eternity." "There is no death." "There's only eternity." "And I be riding on the wings of eternity like, ya, ya, ya, sha clack clack." "But my flight doesn't go undisturbed because time makes dreams defer and all of my time fears are turning my days into daymares." "And I live daymares reliving nightmares that once haunted my past sha clack clack." "Time is beatin' my ass." "And I be having dreams of chocolate-covered watermelons filled with fried chickens like pinatas." "With little pickaninny sons and daughters standing up under them with big sticks and aluminum foil, hittin' them trying to catch pieces of fallen fried chicken wings." "And Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben are standing in the corners with rifles pointing at the heads of the little children." ""Don't shoot the children!" I shout." ""Don't shoot the children!" But they say,"It's too late." "They've already been infected by time."" "But this shit is before my time." "I need more time." "But it's too late." "They start shooting at the children and killing them." "One by one, two by two, three by three, four by four," "Five by five, six by six." "But my spirit is growing seven by seven." "Faster than the speed of light because light only penetrates the darkness that's already there." "And I'm already there." "I'm here at the end of the road, which is the beginning of the road beyond time." "But where my niggas at?" "Oh, shit." "Don't tell me my niggas got lost in time." "My niggas are dying before their time." "My niggas are serving unjust time." "My niggas are dying because of time." "Look, um..." "I just, uh..." "I just want to apologize for what happened earlier." "I didn't, you know, mean for it to get out of hand." "Look, no, no, look," "I just want to you know that, um... no matter what happens on Monday... no matter what you decide to do," "I'm gonna be here for you." "Go home and write your own goddamn poems." "Goddamn it." "You better get back out there." "Can't you hear them?" "Just one more." "I need to get some air." " Then you'll come back?" " Yeah." "Okay." "Well, I'll hold the fort down till you get back." "Thank you."