Featured Story, Hustling & Hip-Hop

Real vs. Fake by Fridge

We used to say things like, “playas have fun/and suckas have none” or “real niggas don’t tell, we go to jail” and things that meant something like “the game is bought, not taught, sold; not told” and the classic that has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the subject “pimps up, ho’s down.” Still get a kick outta that one.

These saying had meaning clear into the 90’s when hustlers still had some rules and morals about themselves. Now the game has gone to shit and none of it means anything anymore.

My nigga Sherman Giles, Short North’s finest was released on FRIDAY THE 13TH (which is appropriate) 2012!!!! This is a nigga that copped out to 25 years in order to keep his manhood intact. Snitching was not an option for old Sherman, and it’s good to see the Game God finally giving one of the realest niggas on earth his due. We were on the 6th floor of the Columbus County jail when he plead out to it. As one might imagine it was a tough pill to swallow, but he did and he survived his ordeal He did it without  throwing another man under the bus or destroying another hustler’s (or square nigga’s) life. Nope, Sherm’ did his in the raw like a man is supposed to do it. Sherman could’ve made a serious dent in crime by bitching out. Many non-street people wonder, why? Why would a man go and throw the best years of his life in the garbage for niggas that really cared nothing for him? Because Mr. Giles knows what all real men know. It’s not about what others think, it’s about you! You being a man. You taking responsibility for your actions and suffering for your transgressions.

Let’s face it slinging yay is a man’s last attempt at NOT being a bum-ass-nigga. It’s a chance to recover from the virus that the public school system and systemic oppression served you up. It’s a chance to be, THE MAN. We gambled on a table that was absolutely loaded, and lost. No need in crying once the milk hits the floor, bone the fuck up and get to fighting the good fight.

But there is also a hidden agenda with this thing called mass incarceration. The draconian sentences that were passed out to us separated us from an entire generation. Now look at things. The young homies don’t have ANY race pride anymore, and all the rules I recited in the beginning of this piece are a thing of the past because we didn’t give them to the little homies because we’re rotting in cells across this nation, now look at the streets.

For example there are bitch ass niggas in Charlotte, NC (for example) that would rather let a bitch-ass-niggas run their turf and shit on real niggas. It’s a known fact that these niggas (Antonio “T-Dog” Cunningham,  Darren “D-Dog” Rosebougho and Marcus who wrote Creeping On A Come Up; just to name a few) are niggas that told and came home to more love than they had before telling on every-fucking-body. Young muthafuckas out there are allowing these clowns to walk around with boss status instead of condemning these whores! In my city Columbus, Ohio and everywhere it seems, the same thing is going on. Bitch niggas winning!!! In ’09, I put a few sluts from my hood on blast, Derrick Russell, Jim Brown, to name a couple, get the same standing ovation. The shame and the glory have been sadly misplaced.

It’s simply the wrong message. Look at the rappers! T.I. is my greatest example. He made a public service announcement about calling the cops in Atlanta when a crime is seen. Then he testified in the homies trial in Cincinnati for 40 minutes and didn’t free the nigga! That’s rat shit! Many are commenting about his plea deal with the FEDS. Those of us that have suffered Uncle Sam’s wrath know what it looks like, his ass is supposed to be under the jail. Here’s the real, UNTIL THE PAPERWORK COMES OUT, IT’S WRONG TO SAY HE DID THE NASTY WITHOUT PROOF! I don’t care how suspect it is, it’s wrong to put a bone on a man because it looks fishy, he’s done enough wrong without having to fabricate shit. That’s how the real-est niggas carry it. Next example. Enter Paul Pierce. Paul, who is an Inglewood nigga, did everything right in his life. He played college ball, he pays his taxes, he’s married, and when a nigga stabbed him and almost took his life, Paul got on the stand, put his right hand on the bible, and said-

 “That’s not him!!!!!”

See, if a nigga gets on the stand against another man, his job is to free him, because it’s not about the crime, it’s about the skin! It was about NOT delivering your brother into the hands of our former slave master’s, a concept lost on the black youth of Amerikkka. We handled our business our way, it wasn’t an officer’s business PERIOD! Because the goal was to be a man independent of THE MAN. But that got lost when greed took over, I’m just reciting the rules as written, rather they’re followed or not. It’s all rooted in oppression, sad really.

Young niggas see rappers and think this is how business is supposed to be handled. Problem with all that is none of the real niggas are there to tell them how the game goes for real, then life imitates art and the real lives of the rat ass artist.

See, rappers are representing US and OUR former or present lifestyles. If I were to come to a hood that’s bangin’ talking about “I’m from here!” They would kill me for false flaggin’. But a rapper can lie about being a street nigga, often times stealing names and whole personas, and there is no repercussion. Some say, “It’s only entertainment.”

Yeah? Then why are these niggas catching cases? Another rule of the game, “In for a penny, in for a pound.” If they catch the same cases you catch, street nigga, then they are bound by the same rules! When they turn state’s, and the street niggas of Amerikkka say it’s okay, then it’s becomes okay for everyone and then the honor becomes lost.

So one might say there’s no honor amongst thieves. Well, if that’s true then why did George Bush pardon Scooter Libby, his main man after the feds sentenced him to jail time? I’ll tell you why, because honor and loyalty means everything! Their objective is the same as any street muthafucka’s anywhere in the U.S. GET DIRTY MONEY! When it comes to niggas, we’re always encouraged to show ZERO loyalty to one another. That’s the real, and that’s why I hate fake muthafuckas. So when Niggas like Sherman (Suga Shack) Giles from the S.N.P make it home after 17 years, it does my heart good.

Score: Real niggas 1  Bitch niggas  3,433,133 and counting.