by Tranay Adams
“Limme show you the footage these clown-ass niggaz posted up all over social media, dawg.” Big Will pulled out his cellular and pulled up footage on VladTv of Killa Tay getting stomped out and robbed for all of his jewelry.
Te’Qui watched as Killa Tay walked out of the Galleria Mall with shopping bags, heading towards his vehicle. Just as he reached his car, out of nowhere two dudes came out of nowhere. The larger of the two fired on Killa Tay. The swift blow sent the gangsta rapper spilling to the ground, spilling some of the contents out of his shopping bags. The nigga filming the whole shit hollered out ‘WorldStar’ as soon as the gangsta rapper was dropped. From there, the other masked fool joined the fray. Together, they stomped, kicked and punched the multi-platinum rhyme spitter. They snatched off all of his icy gold jewelry and his presidential Rolex watch. They then, grabbed his shopping bags and kicked him in his side as he struggled to get to his feet. The impact from the kick dropped him on his back, where he lay bloody and bruised. The nigga’z face looked like bloody hamburger meat and shit.
The nigga filming it all ran over to him and got a good close up of his face, telling anyone that would eventually view the footage what rapper it was that had just caught the L. Right after Killa Tay was stomped in the stomach, and the screen went black.
“You see that shit there, Blood? Mothafuckaz done my nigga dirty. This whole shit, makes my company look bad,” he put his cell phone back inside of his suit’s jacket. “So, I need for you, for a nice price of course, to make my company look good. You feel me?”
“Niggaz caught me lacking, but that shit won’t ever happen again though. That’s on mommas.” Killa Tay spoke up once again, holding up his Glock and wagging it. He then glanced in the sun-visor mirror to check out his wounds.
“Niggaz wouldn’t have caught chu lackin’ if you woulda took unc witchu, like I told you to. Instead of tryna play supa gangsta and shit.” Big Will frowned up at him. “I told you once you signed on that dotted line that cho life was finna change forever. You can’t be out in the streets, kickin’ it in the hood and in hole-in-the-wall fuckin’ clubs, when you done sold twenty million records and shit, dawg. Youa mothafuckin’ celebrity now, so these clout chasers, overzealous fans and goon-ass niggaz are gon’ be lookin’ to make yo’ ass go viral. But, nahhhh, yo’ hardheaded ass don’t wanna listen to me. You know every-fuckin’-thing, but I bet that ass listen now, though.”
“Whatever, Big Will, I’m not tryna hear that shit!” Killa Tay made a nonchalant face as he waved the boss of his record company off.
“Whatever, Big Will, my ass! I’ll tell you what, you gon’ and get cho ass smoked out here. Everybody knows a dead rapper makes mo’ money than an alive one anyway,” Big Will mad dogged Killa Tay as he slipped on a pair of shades, covering up his blackened eyes. Soon after, the gangsta rapper held down the button that made his window go back up. Once he’d done this, Big Will focused his attention back on Te’Qui. “Anyway, Blood, I need you to check these mothafuckaz for me, and get it all on video so we can upload the shit. I gotta show the world what happens when you put hands on one of mine, you feel me? I put my gangsta on the shelf once I started this label, but niggaz and bitchez gotta know I can pick it back up whenever need be.”
“You know where these niggaz hang at, Big?” Te’Qui posed the question as he folded his arms across his chest again.
“Yeah, I know where they at. Mothafuckaz onna Gram been hittin’ up Tay with some of everywhere these niggaz be at since the video went viral. I can give you this dumbass nigga’z password and shit,” the giant looked at the passenger side window that Killa Tay was behind, heatedly. He wanted to open the door and smack fire out of his smart mouth ass, but truth be told, he loved the young nigga. He wasn’t just his artist; he loved him like a brother. It hurt his heart having seen what those fool-ass niggaz had done to him at that parking lot at the mall. “So, you can hit the field with ‘em.”
“Alright, I can fuck with that.” he rubbed his hands together in anticipation.
“Cool. How much you tryna get for this work?” Big Will inquired as he took the time to pull out a big ass Cuban cigar and light it. He took a pull from the end of it, causing its tip to turn ember before blowing out a cloud of smoke. He then watched as Te’Qui massaged his chin, thinking of how much he should hit him over the head with for the job he was asking him to do.
“Hmmmm,” Te’Qui continued to massage his chin, as he stared out of the corner of his eyes, deep in thought. His mind was on what kind of time he’d be faced with if these fools he was going to holler at on the behave of Big Will decided to snitch on him, or if he got bagged by The Boys. Having finally coming up with a fitting price for the assignment, he dropped his hand at his side and addressed the giant. “Slide me a hunnit kay, big dawg.”
“Okay. You got that.” Big Will nodded. He didn’t even bat an eyelash as he agreed to Te’Qui’s payment. The young nigga gathered it was because he was a multi-millionaire, and one-hundred grand was a drop in the bucket to him. “I’ll hit chu with half of that tomorrow mornin’ and the other half once the job is done.”
“My nigga.” Te’Qui said in the same vain as Denzel Washington as he dapped up Big Will. “I’ll hit chu up with the address to the meet spot once I get back to the crib.”
“Fa sho’.” Big Will took another pull from his Cuban, causing smoke to waft around him. He then looked beside Te’Qui and waved at someone, smiling. When Te’Qui looked to see who he was waving at, he found Kesha. She had her eyes on him and her hand inside of her purse. “That’s yo’ queen, homie?” he asked Te’Qui about Kesha, pointing with the hand that held his cigar.
Te’Qui turned back around to Big Will and said, “Yeah, that’s my queen.”
“You keep that one, dawg; lil’ momma a rider, fa sho.” Big Will said. He’d noticed Kesha clocking him since she and Te’Qui had pulled up. This let him know that she was looking out for her man, and if some shit jumped off, she’d lay down that hold parking lot just to protect him. He had a wife that was ride or die just like that. He loved that gangsta love. To him, there wasn’t anything like it. Fuck what you heard!
“I already know. I’ma gon’ and get outta here, man. Shoot me ya man’s password and shit so I can get at these fool’s for y’all.” he slapped hands with Big Will and patted him on his back.
“I got chu.” Big Will watched as Te’Qui jumped into the front passenger seat and slammed the door shut. Right after, Kesha was driving off with him.
Big Will took another pull from his cigar and blew out a cloud of smoke. He then climbed inside of the Escalade truck. Drama slid in behind the wheel, cranked that big mothafucka up and drove out of Denny’s parking lot.
The next night
Kesha lay in bed counting up the bag that Te’Qui had gotten, which was his first half of the payment for the job Big Will had hired him for. While she was busy doing all of this, Te’Qui was standing before the nightstand mirror strapping on his Kevlar bulletproof vest. He looked to each side that he strapped down, with red webbed, weed slanted eyes. Once he finished putting on the body armor, he adjusted it so it would fit him comfortably. Next, he slipped a black sweatshirt over his head and tucked his red ski-mask into his right back pocket. He grabbed his Glizzy and slid it inside of his deep pocket. Then, he picked up two extra magazines and slid them into his other pocket. Right after, he picked up the throwaway cellular that Big Will’s people had dropped off along with the money. He was to use the cell phone to record the shit he was going to do to them old buster-ass niggaz that had ambushed Killa Tay. He had already gotten the username and password to Killa Tay’s Instagram, so he was ready for the night’s mission at hand.
Te’Qui sat down on the bed and looked at Kesha count up the last of the money. Once she was finished, she wrote the amount down on the small notepad lying beside her leg. Once she finished, she scooted over to Te’Qui and showed him the total amount he’d saved. Smiles spread across the couples’ lips staring at
nearly one million dollars.
“You see that, babe? We’re $350,000 away from your goal.” Kesha put her arm around Te’Qui’s shoulders as she held the notepad before his eyes. He took the notepad from her hand and took a good look at it.
“That’s hard work right there, baby, hard-mothafuckin’-work.” Te’Qui declared, still looking over the numbers before him in black and white.
“Yep. My baby don’t play when he sets his mind to something. I got myself a hard working, strong, handsome black man,” she stared at him admiringly. She genuinely loved any and everything about him, even his flaws. Little momma couldn’t see herself being with anyone else besides him. As far as she was concerned, he was going to be the man that she spent the rest of her life with.
“Once I get that million, I’m done. We gettin’ the fuck outta the hood. We gon’ raise our lil’ family in the A.” he switched hands with the notepad and rubbed on her stomach. Kesha chuckled and rubbed the opposite side of her stomach, looking down at it smiling.
Te’Qui had been knee deep in the streets snatching up every dollar that he could to obtain that million dollar goal. The plan was for him and Kesha to move down to Atlanta, buy a nice affordable six bedroom house and a Benz station wagon for their family. They had it in mind to open up their own soul food restaurant. It all had been Kesha’s idea. She had wanted to be a chef and run her own spot ever since she was twelve-years-old. Now, here Te’Qui was, trying to make it all come true for her. There wasn’t any wonder why she loved the young nigga as much as she did.
Kesha put the rubber bands back around the money she’d counted up and shoved it inside of the Gucci knapsack that Big Will’s carrier had brought it in. She then passed it to Te’Qui who carried it over to the closet, opening it. Once he pulled the drawstring that turned on the light bulb hanging from the ceiling, he moved the clothes back that were hanging on the rack. He then kneeled down to a digital safe, glancing over his shoulder to make sure Kesha wasn’t there trying to get a peek at the pass code he was about to enter. Although little momma was his heart, he wasn’t anybody’s fool. He knew a mothafucka, no matter how much they claim to love you, would body your ass for enough money.
Once he didn’t see Kesha peering over his shoulder, Te’Qui went back to the key-pad before him. After he cleared his throat, he punched in the code to access the digital safe. The door popped open, and he started placing the g-stacks inside of the safe, alongside the other stacks of money already there. Once he was done unloading the knapsack, he sat it inside of the closet and shut the door of the safe. He put the clothes on the rack back in their rightful place and shut the closet door behind him.
“Baby.” Kesha called out to the father of her unborn child.
“’Sup, momma?” Te’Qui asked.
“Well, you said there gonna be like three niggaz you gotta G-check, right? Well, I was thinking that maybe you should holla at T.J. You know, to have someone there to watch cho’ back? You know he ain’t no punk about his shit, and he won’t hesitate to bust them thangz if he gots to.”
“Hold up. You holdin’ this nigga’z dick or somethin’?” Te’Qui gave her the side eye. He wasn’t feeling her complimenting another nigga’z gangsta.
Kesha’s brows furrowed and she waved him off like he was talking non-sense, saying, “Boy, please. Only nigga dick I’m holding is yours. All I’m tryna do is look out for you. I don’t want nothing to happen to yo’ black ass ‘cause I know I’d be sick.”
“Ain’t nothin’ ‘bouta happen to me. I’m straight. You just worry too much.”
“With the life you caught up in, can you blame a bitch for worrying about chu. The last thing I want is for something to happen to you and our child grows up without a father, like I did. When I think about him or her growing up without a father, it breaks my heart all over again and I get sad, babe. Real sad.” Her vision obscured as her eyes pooled with tears and her bottom lip trembled. “Why you think I’m always tryna roll with you to have yo’ back? At least I know if something happens to you, then I’ll be there. That way, if niggaz take you out, then they gon’ have to see me to. ‘Cause I’d rather be dead than live in this world without chu.” She became teary eyed.
“Lil’ momma,” Te’Qui stared into her eyes as he caressed the side of her face. He watched as she blinked back tears. “You ain’t ever gotta worry about livin’ in this world without me. ‘Cause I ain’t goin’ nowhere without you and that lil’ one of ours. That’s on my momma and daddy’s grave.”
“Promise me, then.” she said. Her eyes were focused on the collar of his sweatshirt as she fondled with it.
“Promise you what, beautiful?”
“That chu never gonna die, and leave me and our baby alone.”
“Look at me,” Te’Qui told her. She looked right up at him. “I promise I’m not gonna die and leave you and our baby. I’ma real-ass nigga, and I’m too hard to kill. These busta-ass niggaz I’m goin’ to holla at can’t fade me.”
After telling her that, Te’Qui cupped her face and kissed her on both cheeks and then her forehead. Afterwards, he threw his hood on his head and grabbed his trench coat from off the bed. After he slipped the trench coat on, he lifted up his mattress and removed the long, black shotgun with the strap. Chick-Chick! He cocked that fat mothafucka and gave his lady a kiss goodbye. Heading towards the door, he hid the shotgun inside of his trench coat and kept on strolling. He’d almost disappeared through the doorway when Kesha called him back, stopping him in his tracks. He looked over his shoulder at her.
“What’s up?” Te’Qui asked as he threw his head back.
“I love you.” she told him as tears rolled down her cheeks.
He grinned at her and said, “I love you, too. I’ll be back soon. Okay?”
“Okay.”
Te’Qui flashed her a smile and she flashed him a weak one back. He then continued out of the door to carry out his mission.
***
Te’Qui hit up all of the locations that Killa Tay’s fans had DM’d him through his Instagram. The last one he went to was a house below the poverty line. The house looked like it was in terrible need of a paint job. Its fence was rusting and it had a dirt patch lawn. A ‘76 navy blue Buick Regal on “24 chrome rims was parked inside of the driveway. The lights were on inside of the house and Te’Qui saw someone walk past one of the windows. Seeing this, he knew that there was a good chance that the fools he was looking for were inside. So he parked two houses down from the house he was scoping out and murdered the engine.
Te’Qui popped open his glove-box and removed his red ski-mask. He then hopped out of the car and slammed the door shut. He walked around to the rear of the vehicle, opened the trunk and pulled out the shotgun. Once he held the shotgun down low, he looked around to make sure that no one had seen him remove it from his trunk. Having seen the streets was clear of lurking eyes, Te’Qui moved up the sidewalk cautiously, keeping a close eye on his surroundings. He snuck inside of the yard of the house that the fools were at that robbed Killa Tay. Hunched over, he hurried over to the side of the house and pulled his ski-mask down over his face. Using one hand, he adjusted the mask so that he could see out of the eye holes. Once he’d done this, he turned around and slowly peered over into the window. Through it, he saw a nigga playing X-Box while another one was cooking something on the stove. Exactly what he was cooking? He didn’t know, nor did he give a fuck. He was there to make an example out of niggaz.
Te’Qui took his head from out of the window and crept to the front of the house. He placed his ear to the door and listened in for a minute. He could hear Future’s Fuck up some commas, as well as Madden which homeboy was playing from the couch. Te’Qui cradled his shotgun and took a step back from the front door. He lifted his leg and bent it back, aiming to kick the door in at its lock.
Boom!
Te’Qui kicked the front door in and nearly knocked it off its hinges. His forceful entree caused Mann to drop his controller and say ‘Oh shit�
��. When the nigga went for his gun, which was lying on coffee table, Te’Qui blasted the table top. The pint of Hennessy it held exploded and the shreds of a magazine went up into the air. Seeing Skinny, the nigga who was standing over the stove cooking something, move out of the corner of his eye, Te’Qui whipped his shotgun around. As soon as he did, Skinny threw a coffee pot of murky water and crack at him. The coffee pot connected with his head and he let off a frivolous round at the carpeted floor. Te’Qui staggered back, wincing. By the time he regained his equilibrium and turned around, he discovered the nigga that was playing Madden charging at him.
Before Te’Qui could blast on his monkey-ass, Mann was grabbing hold of his shotgun. The men gritted and frowned at one another as they tussled over the weapon. While they were in their power struggle, Te’Qui saw Skinny pull his gun from the small of his back. He observed him cock it and point it. A danger alarm rang loud and angrily inside of Te’Qui’s head. He saw Skinny with his gun trying to draw a bead on him. Acknowledging this, Te’Qui tried his best to keep Mann within firing range of his homeboy’s gun. That way, he wouldn’t wind up getting shot himself.
“You fucked up and broke into the wrong house, cuz! Now, that’s yo’ ass!” Mann told Te’Qui as they wrestled for control over the shotgun. “Skinny, shoot ‘em! Shoot this mothafucka!”
“I can’t draw a bead on ‘em! You in the way!” Skinny said, trying his best to get a shot at Te’Qui. “Fuck it.” he lowered his gun at his side and sped walked towards them so he could shoot Te’Qui in the head at point blank range.
“Awww, hurry up, this mothafucka strong!” Mann called out to his homeboy.
Seeing that Skinny was getting dangerously close to them, Te’Qui knew he had to do something fast or that was his black ass. He kneed Mann in his balls which doubled him over, making him grab a handful of himself. Right after, he blasted Skinny in his leg. The nigga threw his head back wailing at the top of his lungs, displaying all of the teeth inside of his mouth. He then fell to the floor, dropping his gun and bawling in pain.