DEADASS, CAN WE SMILE?

Pardon my language, but as I pull up to the baseball field to write this, I’m driving past my cousin’s old crib, basically mine too, on the late night.

Right when I hit the corner, a Black cop is checking a young one’s pockets.

No lights on. One cop. But still, even one cop feels like a posse sometimes.

Just seeing the car in the rearview got ya body shaking like when the Knicks won!

But that same presence, 53 years ago, of the boys in blue, Black, or whatever color with the badge of “protect and serve,” is still in existence and hasn’t evolved.

I have homies that are within the organization, and I know their heart. But that doesn’t change the presence that’s associated with the badge.

It’s always love, but still, it’s the reality.

I wasn’t supposed to go there to kick this off.

But this is what’s happening while I’m still living in my dream.

Can’t run from what’s in front of you, even if your faith is strong.

Nah, but back to regular scheduled programming.

Thank you for checkin in. I really appreciate it.

Finally got a scanner. Shout to my guy Edgar for the alley.

Now I can finally start sharing these smiles.

I wanted to share this today, August 17th, because it’s the same day Yo! MTV Raps got off air 31 years ago. I feel like these SMILES give you a glimpse into culture just from a pic.

This one is like a freestyle, just like their first episode. Just not live and droppin the next day.

Because I’ve been recruitin smiles like Ludacris over the years and gettin them in flow.

I’ll do a formal intro to what this is later.

But let’s just start from scratch and get to it.

What was written prior to open up was definitely in the moment.

Now let’s run this back.

Can we SMILE?

That’s a real question.

Can we find joy in seeing more in life experiences, through everything that’s going on in this infinite but finite space called life?

And I think we can.

These smiles you are about to experience are a witness to it.

Because all we need is us coming together.

Even if music, sports, fashion, or wellness is the entry point.

It’s wild that the Knicks won in 1973, and it took them 53 years to do it again.

You have to have faith to see more in all those life experiences of losing.

Besides that, and as I hope we all know now, 1973 is the same year Hip Hop started partying.

But the funny thing is, it’s also the year George Steinbrenner brought the Yankees, and the dynasty I would grow to admire like the ’90s Bulls was born.

Shoutout to the Bronx.

You can never front on their influence on the world.

Everyone knows the Yankees, and everyone is living off Hip Hop one way or another.

Okay, but back to the question.

Can we SMILE?

More specifically, fifty-three years since Hip Hop started, can we still smile?

All they needed from the beginning, while navigating their personal trials and their city literally burning and cops wildin on bridges, was a turntable, records, and people to chill out and party.

From there, we are now living in a global culture that we have been manipulated to think is simply “pop culture,” when really, Hip Hop is the case study for so many of the influential products and experiences that we consume today.

These smiles represent that joy of being just us in culture every day, seeing more in life experiences through sharing our art and being our individual selves.

The way the culture is supposed to be lived.

Doing our own thing.

Evolving.

Competing.

But pushing one culture forward with all the best artists and creatives.