"Money walks… broke niggaz talk!” That was Harlem's father’s motto, he lived by that and by that he died.
Freeze constantly uttered phrases but, "kill or get killed” and "never is the outcome more important than the doing," were the last words that he heard his father utter.
Harlem took Freeze’s death extremely hard; words couldn't express how hard he took it. Often, he'd utter; "never is the outcome more important than the doing, kill or get killed." Each time his mother heard him say it, she’d say, "success is a journey, not a destination"
That was how she summed up Freeze’s life.
While, Harlem's father already reached his destination Harlem's journey had yet to begin.
Freeze gave him the maze (game) exclusively. He taught him everything that he knew about the street and "Tha Streets," which he assured Harlem were definitely not the same.
At the time of the teaching, Harlem failed to understand all that he stood under but he appreciated it all the same.
Harlem loved his mother to the death of him, just as much as he loved his father. He was torn between the two; if asked to pick one he'd most likely pick his mother. Although he was definitely his father’s son, and it was beginning to show.
Darcel Harlem mirrored his father’s exact image, tall with an athletic build and skin the color of smooth, dark Hershey chocolate. He had dark piercing eyes and a smile that could send a shiver down any women’s spine.
His demeanor was mysterious yet sexy, a vibe that attracted a great deal of attention. He was the complete package and then some.
Harlem could only be described as MILITANT, INTELLIGENT, and MASHED POTATO SMOOTH WITH WOMEN. The full package was completed by a look of pure innocence, something that he used to his advantage often.
Women couldn’t help but be intrigued while men couldn’t hide their envy.
Physically he appeared almost incapable of harming anyone but, he was in fact everything that his father was, COLD-BLOODED, MANIPULATIVE and SEXUALLY OBSESSED.
I guess what they say is so, or is it? "Like father, like son."
With his father dead and gone, things for him changed dramatically and although Harlem was not ready for those sudden changes he was somehow prepared, or rather he prepared himself.
For a small amount of time after his father’s death, Harlem searched for direction like all faith filled teenagers.
Full of life, he set his sights on becoming C.B.O of his own record label "Sum Like It Hot," but "Tha Streets" had other plans for him and a record label were not in those plans.
With what was running through Harlem’s veins coupled with being young, black, and only a 9th grade education, there would be no record label for him; not in the late Nineties and definitely not in Baltimore, Maryland, (a.k.a) BODYMORE, MURDALAND.
That was asking a bit too much.
Back then, Baltimore's heart was as cold as steel. It was tough for even the best of them and obvious why it had been dubbed "BODYMORE, MURDALAND."
To make matters worse, the city was divided into quite a few other aspects, known as "GANGS." It was also the fastest and largest growing home of snitches perhaps in the nation.
Consequently, the only label that Harlem would receive and carry was "Ringleader" of the "DUKELAND & HARLMBOYZ," which was given to him by the Baltimore City Circuit Courts. That label was the spark that ignited the eternally burning flame.
Harlem's father’s quotes became Harlem's quotes and just like his father he uttered them often and he lived by them.
His most said quote became the motto that he would live by "MAN'S SOCIAL BEING DETERMINES HIS THINKING," and he was thinking that he needed to be living it up.
If you weren't living, you simply just survived. "SURVIVING IS EASY, LIVING IS DIFFICULT," that's what his father always told him and if you took the easy way out, you were weak because nothing ever came easy for black people.
All he wanted to do was live, just like the Jay-Z song said "CAN I LIVE?" That was Harlem’s favorite song; he adopted that song as the sound track to his young life.
Jay-Z was his favorite rapper aside from Gangis Con. When it came to Jay-Z, "CAN I LIVE?" was the song he listened to, related to and loved.
When it came to Gangis Con, he listened to, and related to "LOST & TURNED OUT!"
He loved those songs so much that, “CAN I LIVE?" became his response and "LOST & TURNED OUT!" was his reply to just about everyone and everything.
He even uttered those same words to his mother a few times, and each one of those times his mother responded, "Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." Yeah, his mother always had a phrase to utter and most of them countered Freeze’s phrases.
If memory serves me right, Harlem was out in Miami with Keisha and Ro-Ro, at this salon called “SOME LIKE IT HOT,” when it all came to him.
Keisha and Ro-Ro were his sisters though none of them were actually related.
They were both beautiful women in their own right. Keisha was brown skinned, only five feet tall and shapely. She had an ass that made any man do a double take. She was his girl since elementary school crazy as hell and a “tomboy”. Keisha was always down for a good time.
His girl Ro-Ro was thin and tall with skin the color of milk chocolate. Always on top of the latest fashion, Ro-Ro stayed dressed to impress.
Anyway, "Some Like It Hot," was home to some of the most beautiful and bootieful women a man could dream of.
Among the visitors were Kelly Rowland, Kelis, Beyonce, etc. There was always a star in the place.
Cookie was the stylist and Elizabeth the colorist extraordinaire. It was at this salon where Harlem heard all that he felt he needed to hear, and in that time spent waiting on his sisters to get their hair done, it was clear that "Some really did like it hot."
It wasn't long after that, that Harlem set out to live. His visit to that salon with Keisha and Ro-Ro made him realize that, all he was doing was surviving and that if he didn't start living soon, he wouldn't ever get the chance. First, he had to deal with his mother.
Momma Harlem was the absolute opposite of Freeze. It was quite puzzling that the two ever connected but they did at one point in time. She kept Harlem on a tight leash, ensuring that his, “living for Harlem”, theme was surely curbed.
That short leash, while it lasted, was the balance that kept Harlem from behind the prison's walls. Despite all of his parent’s early teachings, he was destined to live the very life they cautioned against.
Regardless, Harlem was determined to live the life he chose, but for better or for worse, was the question?
Harlem never really respected the law especially the police because in his opinion, their jobs were to govern the ideas of the outsiders.
They were people who looked into his neighborhood and passed legislation, laws, and judgment on his race, culture, and its realities.
Momma Harlem was the only law he respected and Freeze was the only government that he acknowledged, but with Freeze dead and gone, Momma Harlem had to make the laws and govern them.
Picture a woman trying to teach a boy to be a man on her own. It wasn’t an easy thing to do.
She stayed on top of him as best she could, and constantly preached to him about becoming the SOLUTION and not the PROBLEM he swiftly became. Harlem was as determined to live as she was determined that he was going to be a part of the SOLUTION and not the PROBLEM.
Living, for Harlem meant that he had to get a life. A life that was fearless, a life that would not be burdened by failure and most importantly, a life that knew the value of SILENCE in the face of others’ missteps.
As anyone who has ever achieved the impossible can tell you, to move forward you've got to step out and do or say something that may not make sense to anyone except you.
"Mom! I’m moving out”, Harlem announced to his mother, expecting the worst but praying for the best.
At seventeen, with only a ninth-grade education, a little black notebook of raps, a few named brand clothes, some sneakers, and a plan, he was taking a risk.
Many would claim that he was taking a leap of faith or that he was just plain crazy and had lost his mind.
Rarely, are you forced to jump without a safety net.
"Go right ahead, Mr. Man," she responded. That’s one less mouth to feed”, his mother told him. “So, you think that you can survive out there huh?” she questioned.
She shook her head in annoyance, taking him and what he said lightly but literally.
"Surviving is easy. I’m about to live”, he replied with a smirk, on his face.
Harlem was actually shocked that was all she had to say. He expected for her to flip out on him and get religious on him like she had done so many times before. Yet, that was all that she said, “go right ahead, be my guest. I just hope that you live longer than your father did”, she added sadly.
He didn't reply, Harlem just simply finished his food, got up from the table and made his way to his bedroom.
Momma Harlem didn't really mean what she just told him, but she definitely felt that way and she knew her child. She knew that one way or another, he would find a way to do whatever it was that he was thinking.
She had already tried just about everything and she would still try anything to reach Harlem and redirect his energy.
He reached his room and started dancing, happy that things went the way that they did. The wheels in his head were already turning and he had a definite plan. Hustle, save his money, and start his own record label. He flipped open his phone and called Beans.
"Hello!" a voice answered.
"May I speak to Beans," he asked respectfully.
"Hold on....
"BEAAAANNNNNNNNNNSSS" The voice yelled out. "Pick up the phone.
"Yeah! Who this?" Beans came onto the line.
"Who this? Nigga please! You ain't got no bitches and I’m both of your two friends, nigga. Who the fuck you think it is?” Harlem said jokingly.
"Ah! Nigga fuck you, I got bitches,” Beans argued.
"Whatever…hater!", his friend responded laughing. “Slim! Guess what?”, Harlem teased.
“What?”, Beans asked. “I am moving outta my mom's house”, he said proudly.
"Nigga is you stupid or just dumb? Where the fuck is you gonna stay? Plus, I know that she flipped out on you. Does she know?” he asked
"She knows! And she’s cool with it nigga. DAMN! Can I live Nigga? Talking bout where am I gonna stay? Wherever nigga, you already know LOST & TURNED OUT”, he responded.
"Yo, you’re really crazy, I was just playing at first... but you are really fucking crazy. Well, I know where I’m bringing all of my bitches”, Beans teased.
“The fuck you think my shit is gonna be nigga? Anyway, listen... I know that I said before that I wasn't with that hustling shit and all, but Slim realistically, look around you. Everybody is living except us. Don't you think that something is wrong with that picture, everybody doing them except us? I was with Keisha and Ro-Ro when they were getting their hair done, and shit came to me. Remember I told you about all them Shawty's that had come through? Slim, everybody is getting it out there. ‘SOME LIKE IT HOT was a wakeup call, we gotta get up and get out there and do us like we should have been doing”, he said.
"Maaannnn" Beans said, sounding uncertain.
"Slim, rapper's and all, everybody came through that spot, and guess who the bitches was acknowledging? The hustler’s nigga, them dudes is living”, Harlem said to Beans picturing them living it up in his head.
"Whatever happened to you doing the rap thing and shit?”, Beans asked.
Harlem considered the question for a moment, and then answered his friend. "That shit ain't got a nigga shit yet, and when I move it definitely ain't gonna pay no fucking bills”, he responded.
"That’s because you can't rap.” Beans laughed, “let’s hear you spit something”, Beans said in disbelief.
"Slim, You ain't said shit, listen; YO' IF IT WASN'T FOR THIS- IT WOULD BE NO THAT/ AND KNOW THAT- I SEE YOU LIKE YOU CAN'T SEE YOU/ MY SHIT SHARP LIKE'A JINSU- SIX HUNDRED SIXTY SIX TIMES EVERY TRILLIONTH OF A SECOND, NIGGA I BEEN KNEW/ (plus) I GAVE WHAT YOU GIVING- YOU JUST LIVING MY LIFE/ I been there, did that, got head, split that/ and you made’er your wife- "Real talk, I never change, still pitch like'em pro/ top rank, cut throats & stack stack's like'em broke....”, he said feeling every word he spoke.
The bars he spit had Beans nodding his head, feelin it. He cut Harlem off and hyped him. "Oh shit Nigga! Yo' I didn't know that you could go like that. That shit was tight, we definitely gotta get on our music grind nigga”, Beans said excitedly.
"Nah! Fuck that! I am not with writing rap going to war for no crown, trying to get someone to put me on my feet. Fuck that, nigga I am out there, you out here with me or what?” Harlem asked Beans.
"MMAAANNNNNW! I don't know about that shit. You know I ain't really with that hustling thing. Look at what happened to Freeze, and if it can happen to that nigga, it definitely can happen to us”, Beans warned him.
"Slim, if you scared just say you scared, nigga”, Harlem said angrily.
"Nah man I ain't scared... I am just saying... NEVERMIND FUCK IT! I am out there with you”, Beans said halfheartedly.
"That’s my dude! I knew you was out there with me nigga. Slim, I got a plan but, for now, I gotta get off this phone because minutes ain't even free no more,”,he laughed.
"Ain't nobody tell you to move outta your mother’s shit”, Beans uttered.
"Whatever Nigga! Just remember this; Being a man begins with your ability to define the world on your own terms, I am out! The future begins right now! One!”, he said.
With that, their call ended.