The Miseducation: Just To Get A Rep

A lot of cats who come through here probably don't know that one of my other side hustles is being a relationship coach. For the past 6 years, along with making beats, shooting videos, being a photographer, writing scripts and blogging I've also been doing my fair share of helping to strengthen relationships and marriages with my homegirl Dr. Roz through our site Marriage Exposed. I always kept those 2 worlds separate but the more I chop it up with cats, I realize most dudes who come through here are my age and married or at least in some kind of relationship, so I figured I'd start droppin' some science 'round these parts too. So, check out my first "miseducation" post called "Just To Get A Rep."

“Stick up kids is out to tax” – Greg Nice

If ya’ll didn’t know, I’m from Philly…the home of the stick up kid. Now, some of ya’ll might be asking “what’s a stick up kid?” Well, simply put, a stick up kid is someone who’s out to take, what you’ve got. I’ve lived in Philly, Baltimore, Decatur (trust me, these a HUGE difference between Decatur & “Atlanta”) and stayed in Brooklyn and Harlem, and there’s no doubt in my mind, that Philly is the “official” home of getting robbed. And that’s absolutely no disrespect to the home of the Wire, ATL, uptown or the county of kings, cause I’m sure in ALL of those spots I just named, you can mos def get robbed…just not as fast as you’ll get robbed in Philly. Gangstarr’s “Just To Get A Rep” (which just happens to be my favorite GangStarr song) dropped around the time when I was in 10th grade and I was dating this chick who lived in the Nicetown section of Philly and to get to her crib I had to take a bus and a train and walk (or I could take another bus, but the chances of getting robbed goes up while waiting for a bus) 10 blocks through one of the illest parts of Nicetown and every weekend when I did this, “Just To Get A Rep” was my theme music in my head. So, to survive in my hood as well as traveling throughout Philly’s most infamous stick up spots (Ogontz Ave, Broad & Olney, City Hall, etc.) I had to learn to keep a constant eye out for stick up kids. It also didn’t hurt that a lot of the cats that I ran with were stick up kids themselves, so they would school me on what they were looking for when they were plotting on somebody. And even though I’m FAR removed from the parts of Philly that I grew up in, that sixth sense of knowing what and who’s around me at all times still lives with me to this day. And if ya’ll have those same instincts (and if you don’t, you better get ‘em), ya’ll better start using ‘em cause stick up kids are STILL out to tax….just instead of trying to steal rope chains, dookey earings, 8 ball jackets and alpinas they’re out to steal our families.

Don’t believe me, bet money that at least 3 outta 5 of the peoples in your crew are either cheating or being cheated on. The same way that back in the early 90’s I could bet money that at least 3 outta 5 cats (if not all 5) were getting robbed in my neighborhood late night after that 10pm movie at Cheltenham Mall let out at midnight and cats were waiting on the 6 bus to go back home. Why can I bet money on that? Cause cats have been plotting on other people’s stuff since day one. You think it’s a coincidence that “thou shall not covet” is one of the 10 commandments? So keep in mind that somewhere, someplace there’s somebody out there who wants your spouse. Yup, that spouse that you treat like a 2nd class citizen and take for granted cause ya’ll been together for a minute. Yup the one who you think that nobody else wants…that one…yup, somebody’s plotting to scoop them from right under your nose. So stop sleepin’ cause the only time my dudes who had that sixth sense got robbed out in the streets was because they were sleeping. Yeah, they knew about the stick up kids but they got lazy and stopped paying attention and Nas told us all what the cousin of death is. So to all ya’ll husbands and wives out there ya’ll better stop sleeping before you’re crying cause you got your ish took.

And then there’s the other side of the game, cause you got two different folk when it comes to getting robbed. You got the cats who get robbed and just take the loss and then you got your thug dudes, who go back to the crib, get that hammer and go back out and get their stuff back by ANY means. So this week’s challenge is to anybody out there who’s gotten their stuff took, to man up and go back out there and get your stuff back! Your husband or wife not coming home? Go find 'em and bring ‘em home. Your teenager’s acting a fool? Man up and go get your kids back. I hear too many people talking tough about everything they would do blah, blah, blah and then somebody takes their stuff and they just go home and cry and start talking that non sense like “well, if they were really mine, they’ll come home.” Man, get off that bullshucks and come with that rough ish like Hurricane G told Redman! Folk gotta come to the reality that sometimes you’re gonna have to go and drag your husband up out the strip club and when you get him home, YOU give him a lap dance and give him a reason to not make it rain on Honey, Candy and the rest of those strippers with your child’s college fund. You better go grab your wife from happy hour or the club with her girls and take her home and start spending some quality time with her. You better go down to the corner and drag your son or daughter home and start paying them some attention. So, for my peoples out there who’s got some stuff missing out your crib, all I gotta say is stop acting like a punk and go get your stuff back and don’t forget, as long as you got nice stuff… those stick up kids are out to tax.