I Can't Help the Poor If Im One Of Them...

"And i cant help the poor if I'm one of them 

so I got rich and gave back to me thats the win/win..."

This post is going to discuss this idea that in some way getting money, having a desire for success and moving from where you grew up is "selling out". I think that has to be one of the most ignorant things I have ever heard. I hear it a lot in Detroit (where I'm from) sometimes even from my family members, you know "oh you too gooooodd for Detroit now" or "you lived here all them years you were growing up, must not have been THAT bad" and my response is always the same: I learned a lot from the cards I was handed in the game but now that I get to choose the deck, I'm not making the game that hard for myself. I have so many hopes and dreams for my future and most of my hopes include giving back to not only those people struggling to get by in Detroit but all around the world. But how can I do that, if I had never stepped outside my neighborhood?How can I give to someone when I cant give to myself? How can I change the world if I cant afford a ticket to other side of the globe? It makes me really sick to my stomach when I see a hip hop artist, actor, athlete, etc...ridiculed for growing up and moving on and even making different choices with how they look to reflect the blessings God has bestowed on them. Prime examples...I heard a woman talking about Keyshia Cole and how she has "changed" and she said "she dont look as down anymore she aint even representing like she used to?" WTF? You think all those years she was walking around with that gap thinking "I love this even when I get money Im gonna keep this to remind me that I could never afford braces?" NO! What sense does it make to continue to look, act, talk or be in the mindset of where you've been instead of where you're going? The people who dont ever get the hang of that very idea are the people who get caught up in trying to remain "down" and do something stupid i.e. Michael Vick (who I agree didnt deserve the treatment he got from dog fighting BUT if he had left that ghetto stuff behind him maybe he wouldnt have been in that predicament). 

So in thinking about what I want for my life and legacy, my future family and my family now I decided that I am going to work as hard as I can to end the curse of poverty, oppression and "lack of" that has loomed over my family for many generations. I was blessed to have parents who introduced me to the "real":  being educated, visting different places in the world, appreciation for all types of artistic expression and helped me to develop my very own blessing of artistic creation and I will NOT pretend like they didnt so that someone standing on Kercheval reading the latest issue of King Magazine thinks I am "down". So I am telling you now that when I blow Detroit will never be looked at the same...as long as its associated with me :)

"I dont be in the project hallways, talking about how I be in the projects all day...that sound stupid to me..."