Still Hood

by K'wan

  “Girl, you see the size of that nigga’s chain?” Roxy tapped Sugar. A blonde China doll wig covered most of her face, but you could still see the sky blue feather dangling from her right ear. She was wearing a one-piece gold body suit with the matching thigh-high stilettos. The front of the suit was slit to the point just above where her pubic hairs would start, if she hadn’t shaved.

  “Shit, niggaz in the Stuy can see it, the way that muthafucka is shining,” Sugar said. The denim mini she wore covered her ass but left little to the imagination.

  “I wonder if it’s real.”

  Sugar gave her a funny look. “Girl, of course it’s real. I did my homework on them niggaz before we stepped out. You know I got the main line on everybody. Long story short, them niggaz getting cake.”

  “I can believe it,” Roxy nodded. “So, you come up with a way to get close to these niggaz yet?”

  “I ain’t think that far ahead, but what nigga don’t love pussy? Shit, who got a better shot than us?”

  “Not a bitch out here!” Roxy said with conviction.

  “That’s what I’m talking about. I ain’t sure yet, but by the time they break to shoot the final scene up this bitch, I’ll have figured it out.”

  Chapter 19

  FOR THE NEXT HOUR AND A HALF JAH WATCHED them perform the opening scenes of the video over and over, each time fascinating him more than the last. For someone who had never been out of the ghetto, the work that went into creating a video was simply amazing. As he watched Stacks Green strut through the projects like he owned it, kicking his verses, he felt a presence behind him. This time Jah wouldn’t be caught off guard as he spun with his gun drawn.

  “I surrender,” Spooky said playfully, raising his hands in surrender.

  “Big Spook,” Jah said with a broad smile. “Boy, I see you still ain’t got no sense of time. You’d probably be late to your own funeral.”

  “Bull shit. I wouldn’t show to my funeral at all, cause ain’t a nigga hard enough to kill me,” Spooky boasted, hugging his comrade.

  “If that’s how you greet ya friends, I’d hate to see how you greet ya enemies,” Shannon said from the sidelines.

  Spooky introduced the newcomer. “Jah, this my nigga Shannon, from the Stuy. And I know you remember Big Nate.”

  “Big bro, what da deal?” Jah gave Nate a pound.

  “Same shit, different day,” Nate replied. “I see you still out here slinging iron.”

  “You know how it goes in the jungle, Nate, only the strong and the armed survive,” Jah told him. “What took y’all so long to get up here?”

  “Had a little mess to clean up,” Spooky said casually. “I see you, Tech, what’s good?” he asked the youngster.

  “Trying to be like you when I grow up,” Tech beamed.

  “Nah, you don’t wanna be like me. I’m barely old enough to drink and I feel like I’m pushing thirty.”

  “The life will do that to you,” Nate added.

  “So, what y’all doing over here in the cut, plotting on a vic?” Spooky asked.

  “Nah, just taking in the show,” Jah replied.

  “The boy, Stacks, got skills for a country nigga,” Shannon said.

  “He a’ight.” Jah cast a glance over his shoulder to where the video was being shot.

  “I see them Big Dawg niggaz is still out here stunting.” Spooky eyed Don B, who was bopping back and forth in front of the camera with a bottle of champagne in his hand.

  “Them boys is shining something mean,” Shannon said with a greasy look in his eye.

  Spooky caught the look. “Nah, fam, they ain’t for us. Don B and his team ain’t nothing like them simple-ass niggaz in L.G. They jewels is heavy, but so is they muscle, and we don’t need them kinda problems.”

  “Anybody can get got,” Shannon said.

  “They ain’t for us,” Spooky said in a tone that let him know it wasn’t up for discussion.

  “What’s up wit all these fine-ass bitches out here? Jah, I know you and the boy Tech been out here macking all day,” Nate said.

  “I got at a few of them, but you know ya boy Jah gotta behave, unless he want Yoshi to run up in his shit,” Tech said.

  “Oh, ya girl is in the video?” Shannon asked, checking out the different chicks trying to figure out which one Jah was claiming, so he could peruse the rest.

  “Nah, she works behind the scenes doing makeup and wardrobe,” Jah replied.

  “Yeah, sometimes a nigga forgets that Yoshi squared up. Where is she, anyway, so I can say what up?” Spooky asked.

  “She round here somewhere.” Jah looked around for her.

  “Looks like they’re about to break. Yo, lets get closer to the action, I wanna see who out here is holding.” Spooky moved deeper into the crowd.

  “This nigga is thirsty,” Shannon said before following him, with Nate, Jah, and Tech creeping behind.

  “GOD, I THOUGHT I WAS gonna faint when the cameras started rolling,” Dena said excitedly, while fanning herself.

  “Yo, my girl was on her gangsta shit for real!” Sharon said, mimicking the pose Dena struck behind the wheel of the Cadillac.

  “Dena, I can’t even front, you looked way natural in front of that camera. Maybe you found your calling,” Mo said.

  “I couldn’t have done anything without Yoshi. Thank you so much.” Dena gave Yoshi a warm hug.

  “Girl, I didn’t do anything but bring out what was already there,” Yoshi said modestly.

  “Group hug!” Cooter said, intruding on the girls’ space.

  “Cooter, get yo ass outta here.” Yoshi swatted him away. Of Stacks’s whole crew, she found him the most offensive.

  “Yoshi, you know I got a secret crush on you.” He winked.

  “I don’t care what you got, but you need to stay the fuck outta my space,” she said seriously. Cooter looked like he was about to say something slick, but a stern look from Stacks kept him quiet.

  “Sorry about that, Yoshi. You know Cooter don’t know when to quit playing,” Stacks said easily, stealing away some of the tension that was hanging in the air.

  “Check ya boy, or do I need to?”

  “Nah, I don’t think that’ll be necessary,” Stacks said, trying to hide the amusement in his voice. He knew Cooter was an animal that could tear Yoshi’s ass up, but telling her that wouldn’t help the situation. “Look, we about to motivate back to the trailer and sip a lil something before we gotta dip to the next location. Y’all are welcomed to come.”

  “Nah, I think I’ll pass,” Yoshi said.

  “Come on, Yoshi. I know you ain’t too good to have a drink wit a nigga?” Stacks asked.

  “Stacks, you know I ain’t on it like that, but as soon as I get comfortable these people are gonna be calling me to dress the girls for the next scene.”

  Stacks gave her a look. “Baby, if that’s the only thing stopping you, then you ain’t got nothing to worry about. I’m the boss, remember?”

  “I don’t think so, Stacks.”

  Stacks moved closer to her and draped his arm around her. Though he didn’t do it in a sexual way, Yoshi knew what was on his mind. “Baby, one drink ain’t gonna kill you.”

  “Nah, but her boyfriend might,” Jah said, scaring the hell out of everyone. “Am I interrupting something?” His voice wasn’t threatening, but there was something dangerous lurking beneath the surface.

  “Jah, what’re you doing here, baby?” She shrugged Stacks’s arm off and went to her man.

  “I came through to talk to my girl, but if you’re busy I can come back,” he said to Yoshi, but he was looking at Stacks and his crew.

  “Ain’t nothing, playboy, we just out here jawing,” Stacks told him. “Say, man, I’ve been trying to hit you on the Jack for a minute. What, you ain’t fucking wit me no more?”

  “Yeah, I’m fucking wit you, Stacks. A nigga just been busy, feel me?”

  “Yeah, I know how it is, man, but the offer still stands if you want the paper. I’m
gonna be here all week and can always use an extra gun.”

  “I’ll get wit you on it.”

  “Jah, what’s good, nigga?” True stepped up.

  Jah’s face softened a bit seeing True. “True, what it is?” He gave him a pound.

  “Out here trying to eat, like everybody else. Yo, I ain’t know you did security work?”

  Jah shrugged. “I split a nigga’s shit from time to time when the paper is right, you know how I do it.”

  “If I had known that, I’d have been fucked with you, kid. Devil and Remo is good, but them niggaz is way crazy,” True joked.

  “Crazy kept yo little ass outta the emergency room this long, T,” Remo said, reminding everyone that he and Devil were shadowing them. Unlike True, he and Devil felt the heat coming from the young cats and positioned themselves accordingly.

  “Fuck you, Remo,” True said playfully. “But Jah, you need to come out and fuck wit us one night. Shit, the life might loosen you up a bit.”

  “Man, I be paying that muthafucka top dollar and he still act like it ain’t enough bread,” Stacks butted in.

  Jah turned his cold eyes to him and said, “It ain’t always about the paper, Stacks. For me to pop my gun I gotta truly believe in the cause.”

  Those last words brought down an uncomfortable silence. Stacks’s lips were curled into a smile, but his eyes flashed menace. He was a king and used to being spoken to as such. Jah’s face was neither pleasant nor aggressive. He stared at Stacks blankly, but his eyes never wavered. It was only a matter of time before the two trains reached the station prematurely and there was a wreck.

  “Nigga, stop acting like we ain’t damn near fam,” Don B cut in, patting Jah on the back. He didn’t miss the fact that Spooky tensed when he moved, but Jah remained completely at ease. “Jah, I remember the day when you and True got caught selling chopped-up aspirin on Convent,” Don B reminded him.

  True laughed. “Yo, that was some funny shit. Them big-head niggaz from up the block wanted to murk us, but Big Paul stepped in and deaded that.” The moment True finished his sentence everyone stopped laughing. “Damn, my fault, Jah. I ain’t mean to—”

  “It’s cool, man. We all had love for my brother,” Jah said with conviction.

  “Bless the dead,” Don B said, pouring some of his champagne on the ground. “Check it though, Jah, you know the dawgz always had love for you, cause you one of the last stand-up niggaz in the hood. You know how the Don do it, so refreshments will be served in the trailer. You and ya boys are more than welcome.”

  Jah nodded in respect. “I appreciate the offer, but let me mingle wit my peoples for a minute and see what’s good.”

  “Nuff said,” Don B gave him dap.

  “Jah … ,” Yoshi began.

  “Let me get wit you for a minute.” He took her by the arm and led her off to the side, leaving everyone else standing around quietly. It was young Soda who lightened the mood.

  “Well, the last time I checked, we was about to get faded. Who’s with me?” Soda asked.

  “We wit it,” Sharon spoke up.

  THE CREW HAD GOTTEN ALL the shots they needed of the St. Nicholas projects and were packing up to move to the next location. It had been a hectic day, filled with ruined shots and improvising, but they managed to get the perfect shots for the video. Young ladies of different shapes and sizes were hand-picked by Soda and Cooter, while Don B and Stacks disappeared into the trailer. Bringing up the rear of the groupies were Roxy and Sugar. They had slipped behind the barricade and melted into the throng of women from the video. The way Sugar and Roxy were chatting it up with Peaches, it looked as though they were a part of the shoot. Unfortunately, the set security officer wasn’t so easily duped.

  “Hold up, where are y’all two going,” the muscular black man in the too-tight T-shirt asked, as he stopped Sugar and Roxy at the door.

  “Inside, where do you think?” Sugar tried to step past, but he blocked her path.

  “I don’t remember getting the nod about you two. Who sent you?”

  “My man over there with the chain.” She pointed at Cooter.

  The man gave her a disbelieving look. “Yo, Cooter!” he called, getting the man’s attention. “You know these two?”

  Cooter squinted at them from across the park. “Man, if they legal let they asses in!”

  The man gave Sugar and Roxy the once-over before stepping to the side to let them in. As Roxy passed, he grabbed her arm. “Ima see you later, ma.” He patted her playfully on the ass and slammed the trailer door behind them.

  A FEW YARDS AWAY, DENA was talking to a lanky black kid who claimed to have some type of connections. Like the five that had come before him, she took his card and tucked it into her purse. She was about to brush him off and catch up with her girls when Lazy and Chiba walked up.

  “I need to holla at you,” Lazy said, giving his back to the kid Dena had been talking to.

  “Damn, ain’t you got no manners?” Dena snaked her neck.

  “Listen, man—,” the kid began, but Chiba waved him silent.

  “Dawg, this ain’t ya concern, so I suggest you keep it moving,” Chiba said seriously.

  Though the kid was dressed the part, white T-shirt and baggy jeans, with a fitted cap, that was the extent of his thug nature. He knew the real thing when he saw it and really didn’t want any part of the two Harlem teens. “A’ight,” he nodded, trying not to sound too defeated. “Shorty, give me a shout when you get a minute,” he slunk off under Lazy’s murderous gaze.

  “Yo, you outta bounds right now!” Dena said to Lazy.

  “You out here talking to niggaz and playing video ho, and I’m outta bounds?” Lazy snapped. Before he even saw her move, Dena slapped him flush in the mouth, drawing stares from the crowd.

  “Let me tell you something, Lance, I don’t give a fuck how you talk to ya little sideline bitches, but for as long as your ass is black you better respect me.”

  “Is you fucking crazy? I should knock ya fucking head off!” Lazy went to rush her but True jumped in between them.

  “Son, what is you doing?” He held Lazy back.

  “Nah, shorty on some bullshit!” Lazy struggled against him, but the heavier True held firm.

  “Homey, you the one on some bullshit now. Laze, it ain’t none of my business what goes on between you and ya lady, but it is my business to make sure you don’t play ya self and wind up in jail. Did you forget where the fuck you are?” True nodded to the police who were now watching with interest.

  “You right, I’m bugging.” Lazy took a deep breath. “Dena—”

  “Lazy, miss me with whatever the fuck you’re about to say, cause I don’t wanna hear it. You’ve made a fool of me for the last time!” she shouted.

  “Why don’t you shut the fuck up and listen for a minute!” he shouted back.

  “Nigga, you ain’t got no papers on me, so I ain’t gotta do a muthafuckin thing except stay the fly bitch that I am. Now, if you’re finished embarrassing yourself and me, I’m going back to the trailer with my girls to get fucked up.” She started towards Stacks’s trailer.

  “Dena!” he yelled after her.

  “Kill ya self, nigga!” she said over her shoulder. Lazy moved to follow her, but Chiba grabbed him by the arm.

  “Dawg, she hot right now. Let her cool off, then try talking to her,” Chiba suggested.

  Lazy stood there for a minute, just staring at Dena’s back until she disappeared into the trailer. “I need to go for a walk.”

  “A’ight, why don’t y’all niggaz gimme this walk to the store. I gotta get some more Dutch’s,” True said.

  “Come on, man,” Chiba steered Lazy towards the avenue.

  DENA HAD AN EXTRA BOUNCE in her step, walking to the trailer on 131st, between the blocks. Inside, she felt like she could die every time she thought about Lazy and the lil bitch from the ave, but she refused to show him that. Being weak for a man was what had her ready to break down in the first place. She
had an idea that Lazy was fucking around, but seeing it live and direct just did something to her. Then he had the nerve to try to act like she was the one with the attitude. “Wrong and strong,” she mumbled.

  There was a barrel-chested man wearing a tight T-shirt with the word SECURITY scrawled across it. He had a smooth chocolate face with a clean shaven head, putting one in the mind of Tyrese, if he were forty pounds heavier. When he saw Dena approach, the scowl on his face turned into a charismatic grin.

  “How you doing?” he asked.

  She shrugged. “Been better, but I’m here.”

  “I know that’s right.” He looked her up and down. “Yo, you did ya thing in the video, ma.”

  “Thank you, I was nervous as hell,” she giggled.

  “You’d never know it. I’ve worked on a lot of videos, and you played to the camera better than a lot of chicks I’ve seen.”

  “Maybe because I’m not a chick, I’m a lady,” Dena told him.

  He raised his hands in playful surrender. “My fault, ma. Didn’t mean to offend.”

  “I’m not offended, sweetie, just telling you like it is,” Dena said.

  “Fo sho.” He stepped to the side so she could enter. As Dena passed he touched her hand to get her attention. “Are you gonna be in the next scene at the 40/40?”

  “I don’t know yet. Why, you working that location too?” she asked.

  “Oh, I’ll be there, but I won’t be working. Me and my business partner, Mark, are supposed to be meeting up for some drinks. You should come hang out with us if you’re not doing anything.”

  “I’ll think on it,” she said with a slight smile.

  The man handed her a gold business card. “Well, the name is Raheem and this is my contact info. Don’t think on it too long though.” He winked.