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Diamonds In The Rough
An ode to those who made it, specifically because they were told not to.
A tremendous amount of undiscovered talent always has and always will reside in the trenches. The spots we forget to look hold answers to questions we haven’t even asked yet.
The kids who are practicing their jump shot on battered playgrounds where shots ring out on the regular and have to duck drug corners on the way home for supper are our future Jordans.
The ones who are rapping, instead of robbing and writing instead of flunking.
Hip hop heads, who were born to crack fiend mama’s like their favorite rapper was. They were born with nothing, but went and got something, despite incredible odds.
Adolescents who weren’t supposed to become more than statistics for our institutions. Numbers we used to scare kids not like them, into doing what we wanted them to.
They succeeded and will continue to, not because of us — but on the contrary, by definition, in spite of us. They used the hate we gave them as infants, let it fester, and turned it into a million dollars in straight cash, unmarked bills.
Then the majority of them bought Bitcoin with that, last I heard they own a minority stake in The Lakers, a few steakhouses with a view of the…
