Monday Night Roll Call

Monday Night Roll Call

A successful individual is only a reflection of his support system, more concisely, his family. I purposely excluded friends because, to me, your true friends who ride for you are your family as well. All family ain’t blood. Never forget that. Having said as much, I just wanted to roll call certain special individuals in my life. The list begins and ends with my mommy, Mrs. Shareon Smith. Thank you mom…for everything. You are the greatest. @themisterceizzo has been a brother to me for some time now, and I love that dude the same as I love my sister in heaven. I don’t know where I’d be if it weren’t for him. Aunt San, Uncle Alan, Aunt Veronica (Mommy), Aunt Cynthia, Uncle Arch, Big cuzzo Adrienne, @iamdjgreen, Sam Smith Sr., Leaha Ortiz, Wendy Bradley, my bestie Jose, Mr. Ten, Woozie Woo,  Frankie 5 Angels, my NIGGA4LIFE Leroy Rock Lark, @CraftyLefty57, my sisters from another Janay, Shahidah, Nakia Madison, sister/cousin Eisha, Robert “St. Louis” Glaspy, Team Constellation, Big Sean Richardson, Rahgie, Erik Waller, D Nice, Nick Brooks, Jay Cole, Derrick Barnwell, Big Ant, BT, Kayla Young, my OGs Dennis and Kenny Maull, Karen Gianetti, Travie, D. Peebles, Milt, Mac, Mally Mal, Big Cerny, Kim Inzano, Gorgeous Dre, Ricki, and Brad. Can’t forget the eastside/Hali/Englewood/Huntley World fam. That’s my team. I’ll take them versus the world.

If you’re dealing with a woman, you have to respect the fact that she has a past. If you were attracted to her initially and continued down the path to knowing her better, personally, and ultimately intimately, you obviously developed genuine feelings. Finding out things about her past shouldn’t deter you from wanting to be with her, as long as she wasn’t fraudulent about her past. Now, finding out she was at one time a compensated whore can be a bit much, but I’m not speaking in extreme terms. But I don’t understand niggas having a stroke because they found out their current shared pillow talk with a few known niggas around the way. Unless you took her virginity, you weren’t the first, and unless you put a ring on it and she remains faithful through death, you won’t be her last. Stop being childish just because she has bodies in her closet. That’s how she learned how to…Nevermind.

Live by your rep, simple and plain. For the hood impaired, that means that a person should absolutely be everything he or she purports to be. If you claim to be a prolific graphic artist, I expect to see work that impresses me. If you said you were a baller, I need to hear teams, leagues, parks, players, etc. Who did you ball with? Who knows you? The same thing applies to social media. Don’t jump on, let’s use the Twitter as an example, and act like you’re some social butterfly, but when I see you in public you’re the quintessential introvert. That’s a letdown simply because I’m the type to engage in discussion/debate if and when I see you. I expect verbal intercourse. The same applies to you social media Tough Tony(s) out there. Don’t play the killer role on the blogs when you’re a pussy ass nigga in real life. You can’t fake on niggas forever. In Darwinism, the strongest doesn’t get the title talking tough to the other animals. He has to go out and prove it. The streets are the exact same. You talk that tough shit on the blogs and eventually one of the alley cats is gonna put his paws on you to see if you can back up that tough shit you talk. If you can, I salute you. If not, just keep it a buck and don’t press charges after you get your ass molliwopped. Keep it 1,000 and put your KO on the Vine. Do it for the Vine…Live by your rep, you pussy ass nigga.

It seems like everywhere you look, whether it is television or everyday life, we see black folk at their worst and most ignorant. It seems like we as a culture have embraced everything that is wrong with us as a people. Seems is the key term. I know for a fact that there’s a slew of black kids (of all ages) outchea grinding (legally) everyday, chasing their dreams. I’ve got brothers inside the media world working as photojournalists as well as freelancing and grinding out experience in the field. As a Journalism/Mass Media grad from a HBCU (black college), that’s a damn good feeling. I don’t want to take a single thing away from all my folk pursuing the music; my soul sides with the music. But the field of media, by comparison, is far less saturated with African American talent. Before my blogging (going back to my days blogging for cuzzo on iamdjgreen.com; my day one folk feel me) I had a few bylines for the examiner.com. I did a few sports pieces. I did a fly ass piece on Kyrie Irving when he was a prep legend for Saint Patrick’s New Jersey. I did a few other pieces on NJ high school basketball, always a hotbed for talent. I had a quick cup of tea in the field, and I’m proud of my few bylines. But I knew that fiction was my love. I know without a doubt that I could sit amongst Stephen A. and Skip and eloquently/passionately/convincingly trade wits on a daily basis, but it was always a 100 Blocks Stories thing with me. That’s where my heart is. And there’s so much more to come. But I can show you better than I can tell you. Au revoir.

Send all love/hate mail and business inquiries to [email protected]. I do parties, second church services, discos, whatever the case. Just pass the microphone and keep the cognac coming. Follow me on the Twitter @tymonday, America’s place for all around fuckery and good times galore. Make sure you follow my bruvas @themisterceizzo and @CraftyLefty57 and our team @crewunB as well. If you haven’t copped any of our fly apparel, I feel for you. But go on ‘head and handle that soon as you finish this piece. Good looks.