comfort

LISTEN TO ME, NYC RULES!


Someone asked me recently which "type" of person I was affiliated to In high school? The Nerds, Cool kids etc?


I couldn't give a decent answer. I grew up away from home. In boarding schools & spent holidays in different countries. I had to grow up conforming to different communities, mobb culture ruled (ASK ANY BOARDING SCHOOL KID). I am grateful for this fact.
I appreciate the mix & diverse groups of people i lived with, shared tuck with, got punished with*, laughed with and cried with**

Somehow however i felt isolated, even though I got it, I liked what everyone else liked, but somehow it didn't speak to me. There was the mainstream, the not so mainstream, then somewhere along the line there was me..

As a last born, with 10 years separating me and my eldest brother, I liked the older stuff more, that's all i heard growing up*** .

I don't think i was ever socially awkward. I was cheeky, noisy, played A-team sports, dated or was cool with the most sought after girls in my community! You would think life couldn't be more than perfect, but Life was kinda tricky tho.

I cared more about Keith Murray, Pete rock & CL smooth than I did about Shai, jade, SWV & jodeci growing up. ( I lie Jodeci was the shiznit)

This is important because it was never mainstream (what i liked).. My point is I grew up just trying to have my peers accept what i like. so it was a fight! Maybe not so much what I like per-se... But i grew up on one thing, Having to defend what i like! Which was character defining..... (I pray i never end up with someone that asks me to conform.. to what society defines)

I remember me in form 2 in 96 trying to convince my peers how dope hip hop is, they looked at me strange (back then).

Which Leads me here.... Complacency if you will

I like me! To be more accurate I love me & how New York City works for me!
It's so fly... So many people , people my age, that can relate to how i felt growing up...(it"s a city of out of out of towners like me)

#esoteric....

I like, liking what I like.. I like it because i Like it..... New York City allows that (to like it) I just want space to grow and appreciate it (and like it)



*My whole boarding school year showed up at my mothers funeral... That made me cry, and the reason why i will always be a "saints" guy
**Nice way of saying got beat the ____t out of, by headmasters, peers and seniors when my mother died, everyone in my year came out and showed support.
*** Imagine life as a 5/6 year old helping ur older brother, write down the lyrics for KRS One's "my philosophy" off of a video tape recorded off of "Yo MTV Raps
... not audio tape, but VHS, pause rewind pause rewind