The Bank Is Closed Now...

"It's been too hard livin', but I'm afraid to die..." Sam Cooke - A Change Is Gonna Come


The beginning, going to school just to bounce, playing basketball during class, hiding in the bathroom just cause, talking about what it's like to be with a white girl, holding it down when it came time to throw em up, AIC camp, the games at the family center, the fights, the not knowing what the future held, but living in the present. Helping you find the level 5 card in Metal Gear, you showing me how to beat Tyson in punch out.

The middle, you doing you, telling me how the 'business' was doing, trying your best to keep me out of it, holding the stash while you talked to cops on the block, giving P* the excuses while you was out hustling, getting drunk at Velvet together and had a two knockout fight, you finding out that there's things better than hustling, you finding that out too late.

The end, us meeting back up a week after your release, applying at the same job together without knowing, ending up on the same team, picking up where you left off, father now, woman to hold you down, you teaching me the trick to the 'grab' bag, beating up our teammate on different ends of the week for fucking us over, you listening to me when I was down about my relationships, our promise to always ride for each other, any of our 'real talk' sessions, playing Madden, trying to stay awake while on the highway behind each other, you asking me when I'm leaving, me telling you i'm going...you telling me that no matter what, when it goes down you want to be there....me telling you that it's etched in stone.....you asking me if I'm happy.....me telling you no....you holding me down when I needed someone to listen to me...inviting me out to the club....trying to not get mad with my vegetarian response....you going without me.....P* calling me to tell me the news.....

me trying to live without another friend.....
another son to live without his father....
and a mother who never became a widow.....

You did so well with everything, you stayed hustling, but not to the extreme of losing your family. You got a job and stayed on your grind even after our team dissipated. You made me see that the job was the one killing me and that I needed to do something before it killed the ones closest. I thank you for that, I thank you for being real with me, for actually being my friend. The bank is closed now, and I made sure P* got the keys.

my brother I never had.

I love you....I miss you....Rest In Peace.

A$.....1976-2007