Youthology 101

A typical day in the ghetto

 Karl Kani, FUBU, ECKO, School of Hardknocks

We don’t care if they are original or rip-offs

Baggy cocaine jeans, waist sized forty-eight

Wild graffiti tees, XXXL standards, sosket!

Timberland boots, Nike Shock X, Dada Supreme

Gangsta grills, bling blinging, shining as bright as the sun

LED infused belts, nicknames crawling across

Multi colored sunglasses, we call them stunnas

Big pockets, small wallets, no dough, big swag

Gangsta walks, sometimes we fly to the moon

Techy gadgets, ipods, Playstations, jukeboxes

MTV, BET, Channel O induced, we nod to every tune

Gangsta rap, Westside Connection, Southern Flair

Gangsta talk, we speak street English

Got loads of baby mamas, players’ playa

The club bangers, the nocturnal beings, pot smoking, ganja extremists

Porn, action flicks, gangsta movies, you name them.

Wild hairdos, corn roll, dreadlocks, old school afro

The 9mm, The Smith & Wesson’s, The P89s, the Uzis, The Pump actions, The AKs

Geared up, ready for action, smoke a sonofab**ch out

We’ve got the block covered; we got each other’s back

To you it’s the streets, to you it’s the projects, to you it’s the Ghetto

To us it’s our home, our lair, our territory

Born and raised on the streets, the streets speak to us.

You call us misfits, deviants, bastards and other unwholesome names

To us, we are the product of neglect, tough nuts to crack, vigilantes, street-sweepers, assassins and marauders.

We are like the bile attached to the kidney; you need to remove us with great care.

When you go on your knees at night to pray; say a prayer for us

When our lives are taken in broad day lights, dead ends, police swoops, gangsta rivalry and robbery

We will have our fulfilled rest in gangstas paradise.

Where we will be singing hymns and lighting up the chalice.

- Qouphy Appiah Obirikorang, 2011.

(Youthology 101, is the first guest post to be featured on MYNAH blog. The writer who doesn't write much lately, happens to be one of the writer's writer around. Just watch out for his upcoming write-ups)