110th Street (546 hits)
Category: Sound & MusicRating: 2 on 8 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Offspring (View user info) at 2009-08-20 11:55:38 EDT
Bobby Womack is sweating soul in to my ear, professedly to me this day, "Across 110th Street" was blaring on the radio. I didn't plan on ending up here, or there, but it was like a layer of Saran wrap was snug over top of me. I could see where I was going as sure as others could see me but it was almost as if I was on autopilot, letting the car take me to where I was going.
"I was the third brother of five, trying hard to survive..."
Being in the middle is hard, some say, but I tend to disagree. I was the liaison between my two younger siblings, Eric and Jeremiah, and my two older, Nina and Shawn. All boys and one girl often made it harder for Nina but we like to think it made her tougher, showing her the real value in being a woman so she wouldn't choose guys who lusted after her sexuality.
Bobby Womack is vomiting soul on me right now.
"I'm not saying what I did was alright, trying to break out of the ghetto was a day to day fight..."
I tear up even thinking about it. I guess that's why this car has been stuck at a red light; perhaps I even sat here through two or three red lights already. I've tamped out the honking, the onlookers, the noise, everything essentially, but I know it wasn't alright.
"Been down so long, getting up didn't cross my mind, I knew there was a better way of life that I was just trying to find..."
It was simpler back then, you know, when I wasn't down. There wasn't an internet, text messaging, Facebook, online community, or need to stay connected. When you wanted to talk or needed some information, you called someone, and it wasn't to shoot the shit. You'd call and set up a meeting place and time to shoot the breeze in person. Somehow, every kid inherently knew that when the Nintendo game was giving you a hard time you took it out and blew on it before placing it back into the console. Almost every time, VOILA! There was no manual for that. It was just known. Now...now it's too god damned complicated.
"You don't know what you'll do until you're put under pressure, across 110th Street is a hell of a tester..."
Yup, that's where I grew up. Harlem. Growing up in Harlem as a white male was tough. It wasn't a choice I had though. There was selling drugs to junkies, prostitutes, becoming a junkie myself, right there in the streets.
"I got one more thing I'd like to y'all about right now. Hey brother, there's a better way out..."
Enough "jive turkey" and "flapdoodle" for you. There's always another way out, even when you seem trapped. Always.
"Snorting that coke, shooting that dope man you're copping out..."
I performed oral sex on another man for small time drugs. Looking back, not only do tears come to mind, but my gag reflex is triggered. It didn't matter if it was heroin, cocaine, LSD, anything to make me forget; I wanted it and I HAD to have it, IMMEDIATELY!
"Take my advice, it's either live or die. You've got to be strong, if you want to survive..."
You ever been shot because of your skin color? Reverse racism exists, especially in Harlem. You have to know people. You have to stay connected. You have to earn a reputation in order to keep your life intact. I've been spit on, kicked, punched, shot, stabbed, hated, jumped, loved, despised, epitomized, made an example of, told to never come back...to never come back...ha!
"The family on the other side of town, would catch hell without a ghetto around..."
Every now and again you would get out of the ghetto, whether it was to go rob a rich neighborhood or just travel out of the state. You'd see what other people live like, and oh how true! The rich people need Harlem. They need the dregs of society to exist, to sit in their houses with a false sense of security. I need the ghetto to exist.
"In every city you find the same thing going down, Harlem is the capital of every ghetto town..."
Yup.
The veil is lifted and I come out of my daze. I look up and see the sign for 110th Street, listen to a myriad of horns beckoning me to get the fuck out of the way. Wondering how long I've been sitting there I push the clutch of the Mercedes in, shift in to gear, and go across 110th street. I'm leaving Harlem, heading home.
"Across 110th Street,
Pimps trying to catch a woman that's weak
Across 110th Street,
Pushers won't let the junkie go free.
Across 110th Street,
A woman trying to catch a trick on the street, ouh baby
Across 110th Street,
You can find it all in the street.
Yes he can, oh"
User Reviews
Submitted by Danger_Ranger (user info) at 2009-08-29 19:00:46 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
why is america so dirty looking? Is it because of your rampant consumerism and you all exude filth like so many car exhausts? (except for firefly who is a sweetie). And what's with all those weird grates things that have steam billowing up out of them that I see on tv as you walk around all your grey and bleak cityscapes? Over here we don't have those we just have coconuts and palm trees.
Submitted by willartstorg (user info) at 2009-08-29 16:12:43 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
front page in the pot, nine days old.
Submitted by PlatinumScarecrow (user info) at 2009-08-23 16:15:14 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Well this was decent as well. 2 good posts on the front page so far. NICE!
Submitted by monkeyswithguns (user info) at 2009-08-21 08:44:06 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by EmissionImpossible (user info) at 2009-08-21 04:26:16 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
FUCKING WARNOCK
Submitted by Maddog (user info) at 2009-08-20 18:19:48 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
"Boats -n- Ho's"
Submitted by BLITZKREIG_BOB (user info) at 2009-08-20 13:37:06 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Fo'ties & Nines.
Submitted by BranDo (user info) at 2009-08-20 12:38:55 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Great stuff, I prefer the original Haarlem though.
I think Messmind might even live there.
You must be doing fine, driving a Daimler...