Home

I only got to spend a couple of months in L.A, before I had to move back. Sometimes, I still mourn the life I feel like I wish I'd had, if housing hadn't been an issue. But the fact is that the 2 months I'd lived there taught me a lot, and helped me realize a lot about myself and the city that I currently call home. Living in Atlanta, I'd taken it for granted that we often meet one another so easily, and quickly build friendships. Only once I'd moved to a different city did I realize that welcoming the welcoming nature of Atlantans is not a universal trait. In L.A., you can meet someone, have a great conversation, and they have no desire to build a further friendship, they'll just shake your hand and walk away. It's truly maddening.

I was meeting with a buddy recently, where I'd started to notice that we'd occasionally throw names around, of people that we'd mutually been acquainted with. I actually became a bit fascinated by the fact that even though we didn't know those individuals "together," we both had known them and managed to share great memories with them. I'm always kinda blown at how much many Atlantans on the music/party scene seem to know one another, even in passing.

It almost reminds me of high school. I've said to many individuals how living in Atlanta, when you start mentioning certain people and our various memories of one another, it feels like we all grew up together, and in some ways, we did. I mean, sure we were legally young adults when we all came into the fold, but many of us came into actual adulthood together. Some people moved to Atlanta to attend college, while others of us were born here, and/or got here way before college age. I've said before how many times I've watched new people come to Atlanta and immediately want to be introduced to the heavy hitters, and I will explain to them that it doesn't work like that around here.

I mean, sure, I can introduce you to my people. But my connection to them ain't gonna be like your connection to them. You see, me and those people have broken bread together. We've had genuine laughs. We've slept on one another's couches and watched one another's kids. We've given one another our last $20. So you may be the dopest m.c., but trying to get into the fold, based on your skills alone, ain't gonna cut it. You get into the fold by spending time and showing your character. No shortcuts to stardom. And strangely enough, we like it that way. 

When I hung with my buddy recently, I'd marveled that I'd known him over 20 years. I can't believe that we'd seen one another through various seasons of life. How many of us were just young knuckleheads, new to life and figuring it all out. And now, many of us are ADULT adults. Like we've got good credit and own houses, and our cars are no longer held together with duct tape. We value our peace. And even though we're grown now, there is always an underlying love and understanding of who we are, because we've walked through the trenches and grown into it on our own. And together. 

Cuz this is home. You just had to be there.