DRE THE BARBER: December 2010

Whats good world, this is a story about a young man some of yall may know and might not know, but let me take u on a ride of this person life. This young man was born in March 1982 and raised in Little Rock, AR in the southside of the city. The middle child of three, had a older brother Chris a little sister katheryn, his single mother Wendy was so beautiful, hard working, church going, and could sing her but off, had one of the most beautiful voices u would ever hear, she took care of her kids on her own, made sure they was takin care of, his brother Chris had a different daddy , him and kat had the same daddy, there daddy Ramon was a preacher and was part of a gosple group, his dad side of the family was into church heavy and could sing good as well, i guess thats how his mother and dad met, just about every weekend he would go spend time with his dad and his dad mother Mae, kat was too young so she really couldnt come, there dad mother just loved the boys , she didnt really care about the girls, but he use to go be with his dad watch him sing and play drums, and sometime lead the group on a song or two, his mother didnt really care for him, she would sometime keep them from seeing there daddy, calling him Reverend Low Down, i guess she had personal issues going on with him, sometimes his dad wouldnt show up when he say he was coming, he would just have a fit and cry, he just loved being around his dad so much, as the years got older, the streets start taking a bad turn in the late 80's, the drugs and gangs was on the rise, his brother chris was slowly gettin into the streets, he was hangin with his neighborhood friends, they all went to Mitchell Elementry, they hung out everyday, played for a little league football team called the Sunset Tigers, one day his brother and friends got together and made up a posse, this was during the time gangster rap was takin place, u had ur N.W.A' s and other groups etc, his brother Chris, and couple friends Alex, Harold, T.J. , Bobby , Frankie, and Ant use to hang on this corner called shillier, and on this corner the street number was 23rd, these boys decide to take 23rd and make it into a posse, they was kicking people butts, and stealing, they were during tattoos with erasers puttin 23rd on there arms, the click took a turn in the early 90's, some of the friends went there ways, the posse started to grow, turning into the crips, Alex, Ant, Frankie, and Bobby Remain 23rd and his brother Chris, Harold, TJ became 8ball Bloods, later in the years the friends became enemies, as the years past it got worse, its the early 90's the streets wasnt safe anymore, u had bloods around the corner, and crips on the next, it was drive by after drive by, killing after killing, so there mother moved around quite a bit, but not out the area, his brother Chris would go spend time with there mothers mom Henrie lee and there uncles Willie, Mooney, and Kwanis, and Aunt Edwina to try to keep him out of trouble, but that didnt help anyway, Chris was gettin into alot of trouble, so they moved to 29th and summit in a big beautiful house on the corner, but across the street there was the sunset projects, the whole block was full of bloods and vicelords, drug dealers, killers, crackheads, anything and everything u can name was on that block there was sumtin going on, Chris started to really change, he started selling dope heavy, gettin busted, the streets just took him under, there mother Wendy started to change to, she was a janitor for the school district makin good money , but lost her job, cause the streets was gettin to her, things just started to change for the worst, she later on became a crack addict, his brother friends was serving off there porch, and serving his mother Wendy too, they where finding crack pipes all around the house, seeing there mother sleep with all kind of man, walking in her room seeing her lay across the bed butt naked sleep with a crack pipe on the side of the stand, Winter came they would have no lights, water, gas also roaches and maggots in there food, only surviving off of fago pops and hot cheettos, asking the neighbors for drinking water, rats done chew up there clothes, So one day his grandmother Henrie lee just got sick and tired, came and got him and kat, they both was still in elementry school, His Brother Chris was in jail for beating up a teacher at Southwest Jr High, Grandma Henrie made sure him and Kat was good, showed dem how to respect others, and how to takecare of themselves, his mother Wendy continued to stay in the streets, and got really bad, real skinny, wasnt looking like the mother he known, she looked like she could die any day, As this young man enter Jr High at Hendeson, he also had one foot out of being in the streets like his brother or grow up to be a good young man, one day he got caught throwing up gang signs, sombody told his uncle Willie which had became a police, his uncle got on him tuff, and put a whippin to his backside, told him he will not let him end up in these streets like his brother Chris, he just didnt want to loose another nephew , so he did what he could to save him, by this time it was the late 90's, he was entering High School, his grandmother sent him to live with his uncle Willie and his wife cause she felt that he needed a father figure in his life, and she thought that Willie was the best fit, well Willie took him in and showed him how to be respectful, and a clean responsible young man, and Willie did a good job at it, in high school his mom had went to prison, the drugs did her so bad, and she just didnt want help, she was in jail his last two years of high school , hoping she would get out by the time he graduated in 2000 but she didnt, his mother sent him a letter tellin him how sorry she was, and he was just in tears, people in high school never knew what was going on in his life cause he never showed it, he dressed nice he always kept a smile on his face and kept people smiling, laughing just being silly, also the life of the party, but his brother Chris was out in time to make it there, his uncle Willie wife was trying to get him to go to college heavy, had him applying for schools after school, he love drawing, and he was looking at art schools, but there was sumtin diffrent he wanted to do, he wanted to cut hair, never in his life he ever picked up clippers, so he told his uncle wife he wanted to go to Barber school and she just shot his dreams down, she said that he will never make it in cutting hair, theres no money in it, cause she came from a family that went on to school, so she figure thats what he needed to do, so he went and talked to his grandmother, she told him to be what he wants to be, if thats being a barber then do it, she said he would make it and be ok, so he had a talk with is uncle, he just kept it all out real, he said college is not for everybody, if u feel thats not for u then dont do it just do sumtin productive, that was like the best advice he ever heard, so he went and applied and got excepted, his uncle wife didnt like it at all , they end up gettin into it and she didnt want him living there anymore, and said that he was the problem that she and his uncle wasnt working out, so decides to bounce and go live with his brother Chris, his brother made sure he was straight, but his brother was selling drugs real heavy, and most nights they had to answer the door with guns, crackheads running in and out, his brother sold everthing u can name, and things was gettin worse, he end up moving out of the apartment from his brother because of safety, by this time its 2001 he had a girl by the name of Shae, she was fresh out of high school, the two end up gettin a place together in the same complex that his brother Chris was staying in, he was still in school, but after school he would drive her car around and cut hair for $5 while she was at work, she held him down she payed the bills until he was out of school, she worked long hours, his brother was keeping the drugs and guns at his house so the cops wouldnt kno where to find if they busted him, his brother was gettin big time, he was making all kind of money, and things just started to change in 2002, his brother started messing with the wrong people, friends and family got jealous, people was gettin over on him, his brother Chris and his cousins had the city on lock, things went sour, his bother Chris end up catching a attemped murder charge, for shootin a chick 7 times, and got into it with more people, it got so bad that his brother Chris told him and his girlfriend to move somewhere else cause he didnt feel that they where safe staying over there, and told him to give the drugs and guns to there cousins so that they can come up on some money to get him out, so he got out on a $250,000 bond he was out of jail only 3months, Chris had a talked with him, and told him the reason why he sold drugs and did what he did, cause we was struggling and wanted to see the family bouce back, then a couple weeks his brother Chris got killed, he was found shot dead in a ditch on July 4th 2002, he lost his only brother, and there cousin was killed the day before, Grandmother Henri lee died a couple months later, then lost his bestfriend Braylon that summer all in one year , then broke up with his girlfriend Shae of 3yrs due to the pressure, he end up getting out of school in 03, becoming one of the citys highly talked about barbers, done traveled around the nation cutting all kinds of celebritys hair, wining the best barber award in 06, he also became a rapper and has one of the best songs that came out in the city called "do the Jumprope" hit mainstrem performing on MTV Sweet 16 , opening up for all kinds of bigtime artist, then there was a bigger picture he had drawn out, he decided to moved to Atlanta in 08, he jump out on faith left everything behind , his worrys, his stress, his losses, and just started over.

Well this story was about my life and my struggles i went through to get where i wanted to be, it was nothing but the grace of god that got me through this, for the people who always looking on the outside, u never kno what that person is going through on the inside, and what i did i showed people that no matter what happens in your life it can get better, and im a witness to that, alot of u thought u knew about me, but really didnt kno me and now that i told u here in this story, now u can see why im blessed and why i draw people to me, cause i put my mind on being successful and to be the best i want to be, that stuff i went through in my life i used that as motivation, and i feel that yall should do the same and stop making excuses, and also my mom just went back to prison this year, i use to be so upset at her, now i have let it go, and let god handle it, cause thats still my mom, and u only get one and for her to get better shes gonna need me and my sister to hold her down and be there for here, so to all of u thats going through it, its up to yall to get up and get it, stop blaming the next man for ur stuggles, this is my story hope yall enjoyed it,

SHOUT OUT TO MY FAM, THE DAVIS FAMILY, and HUNTER FAMILY, Also my SISTER KAT, Baby i love u so much eeeeeeeeeeeh!!!!!! and my Uncles WILLE, MOONY, KWANIS, DADDY FOR GIVING ME THAT CREATIVE SIDE, AND MY BEST FRIEND SHAE I LOVE U GIRL, I OWE U THE WORLD, AND ALL MY FRIENDS THATS BEEN THRU THICK AND THEN WITH ME, UNTIL THEN IM GOING TO CONTINUE TO BALL OUT AND BE THE BEST #POW!!!!! U CAN HATE ME OR LOVE ME!!!!

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