[Intro] I'm from Spanish Harlem, yeah I'm from the Barrio, yo
[Verse] My pops was a deacon Only seen him on the weekends Only seen him when he sleepin' Yo, my pops whipped my ass He'd rather use his belt instead of quality time I still love him though, I still hug him though He never spoke about women, never gave advice I don't remember if you taught me how to ride a bike I can't remember if you even taught me how to fight I still love him though, that's my dad When I see him, still hug him though, I can't blame my dad For my upbringin', the church was so corrupted We had a pastor that told him beat his kids for nothin' Still love him though, I'ma keep repeatin' I'ma keep rebukin', holy spirits speakin' Uh, yo, holy spirits speakin' He told me stay in school, though you gotta work Tuesday, Friday, Sunday went to church I'm from 119th, shout out to G.O.D That's George, that's Ed Black [?] Told me if I sold crack on the block, he would help I was misguided, but I wanted money I seen KC, and I like it like that Lookin' up at bro, I wanna get it like that Shout out my homie, Stacks, I know him as Ralph Shout out to homie, Hum, I know him as Jeffrey And his brother, Victor, we was all amigos You can ask our 'migo, my nigga Super Dave I'm from 119th, Ray Ben's mother yellin' out the window Playin' baseball with Jor' Salito I'm from 119th, buildin' 222, they killed my homie, Lucky When he was fifteen, shout out to Erika That's Lucky little sister, we the same age Apartment 1D, I was born and raised The crack era, Rudy Giuliani days I could see it now, jumpin' over vows I'm talkin' Ted Smooth, or the Renegades [?] my brother, Stevie Green Eyes I'm from 119th, PS 96 I had Ms. Centron, me and Erik We call him Neeso, y'all call him Segal I'm from Spanish Harlem, Taino Towers Shout out to Gusto, that's my heart, for real My nigga, Cold BZA, he made it out the steel Shout out my homie, Mikey, shout out the homie, Joe Shout out my brother, Papi, that's my nigga, yo He used to hold me down, my brother, Kyseen He used to play ball, L I mean I'm from 119th, shout out to Luka [?] I'm from East Harlem, shout out to Purple City Before Shieste Bub, remember Wu-Tang? Shot a video on 2nd Ave, what's it called? "Ice Cream," right in front of Wagner Right in front of Tainos, I'm from Spanish Harlem Went to boy's club, shout out to Ray and Gill Rest in peace Boogie, I knew him as Josh Shout out to Ms. D, and the drama class I'm from the boy's club, R.I.P. Alonzo He always smiled and laughed, shout out to Jessie Sap Shout out my brother, Bucky, can't forget Joell My first girl, Yolanda, puppy love for real Shout out to Evon, she was one of the baddest Up in El Barrio, I'm from Spanish Harlem 2nd Ave Sadonia, that's my church's name Rest in peace Ms. Franko, I miss her dearly She taught me everything, the book of revelations Church on Sunday, nigga, my brother played the drums Now he's my engineer, I went to church on Sunday I took the bread and wine, I was baptized At the age of twelve, I went for church on Sunday They used to laugh at me, I was so embarressed Never hid my Bible, never worship idols I used to preach the word, in front of my peers They would speak in tongues, jumpin' out of chairs That's the holy ghost, I used to go to church I'm talkin' every Sunday, and couldn't shut me up I was askin' questions, breakin' all the rules I was so bad up in Sunday school I'm from Spanish Harlem
[Interview: Bodega Bamz, Ohla & Frank the Butcher] Now being that they were, you know, your parents were strict, or your father was on the stricter side and religion played such a role in your house, obviously, it's not that no more. So if this culture, this street culture, even the way you guys — your appearance and the way you look, tattoos and — I mean, I ain't even realize Ohla has tattoos inside of his ear, right? Mm hm Yeah, ha ha So it's very common today. I mean, we're all tatted, we live a different life, but when you started makin' the transition into those types of things, when you started tattooing and outwardly, you know what I'm sayin'? Outwardly, you start looking like how you feel on the inside, right? Word "This is who I am." How did your parents, how did your father especially, how does he react with that? Oh, man. I remember when I first got my tattoo, I was uh, I got, I had a tattoo on my arm, we both got 'em, and we Same time? We still lived, we still lived with our parents. I think I was like seventeen, and uh, I hid my shit for like a week Yeah Like when I go, when I go in the shower, I come out with uh, with a joint and then when he seen it, I think he just looked at it and shook his head Mm hm He just goes pffft Even the earrings, when we had earrings, same thing Earrings too, he just, he just shakes his head, like he's not gonna tell us dadadadada Yo bro, what's even more crazier, bro, is that I have friends who grew up with me, in church, who have tattoos on their body, and they father still ain't see them, and they had tattoos for ten years. That's the, the, the discipline that they have — that the parents have that's distilled in a child. Like they, they respect they parents so much They're adults and they still have it They're adults now and they will not show their parents what they got when they was eighteen years old, nineteen years old, five/ ten years ago. Like still to this day, you know what I'm sayin'? They still hide they tattoos and shit So you guys, I mean, after that point at fifteen years old, when your dad kind of uh, let you know that he's on your side, you know what I'm sayin'? Mm hm I mean, I think we got too big for the beatings Yeah, ha, that too I mean, even just in terms of like "I'm gonna accept you guys for who you are" Mm hm Yeah, you know like, he's like You know what I'm mean? "Okay, I see you" It became more of a connection at that age He, he also told me, yo, too that it had a lot to do with the church he was in. Like, you gotta understand like, we [?] you know what I'm sayin'? That's the religion that I grew up in and um, you know Christianity, and there's certain churches that are far more strict than other churches. There's certain churches that don't even let you wear earrings Absolutely Or shorts And he — or shorts Or listen to music Or listen to music, so he was — we came from that type of church Yo, we came from a church where the husband couldn't sit with his wife Yeah, it was, it was separate It was damas and caballeros, left and right, women and men So the, the moment he left that church — not to say that God wasn't in that church, but it was just a different kind of discipline in there Absolutely So the moment he left that church and went to a more, uh, free church, that's when he started lookin' at his sons like "nah, they not that bad, man. My kids is good" It's like he was measuring you by the strict guidelines of this church Yeah, his leader, the leader Remember how I told you, when I was a few months old, he asked that pastor "how can I raise my kid with" — you know what I mean, "how can I raise him correctly?" And the pastor replied, "raise him how you were raised." You know what I'm sayin'? So that was the kind of mentality about your child, like, you know what I mean, like it was more like, they can't do this, they can't do that. "You're goin' to Hell if you eat meat on Sunday." It was that type of shit, you know what I'm sayin'? Like, that was, they were very, very strict, and I got — once again, not to say there wasn't love in there Absolutely, yeah, yeah, yeah It wasn't God's love, but, they were almost like, like fanatico, it was fanatics Well, at that point, it's not — you know what I mean? Believing in God is one thing, but to, like you said the discipline, the [?] around that particular religion, that's when you forget that it's not God, it's the man creating the system to support their belief Exactly, exactly And you guys were kind of caught, caught in that Exactly, yeah
[Outro] This concludes the first part of this cassette. Please turn the cassette over and begin againTeksty umieszczone na naszej stronie są własnością wytwórni, wykonawców, osób mających do nich prawa.