PODCAST : in Atlanta

If you want to know about the city of Atlanta, it will truly depend on who you ask. As a resident of Atlanta, I have a different perspective. Atlanta has been called “Black Hollywood”. Atlanta is many things. To me…it’s home.

Check out the latest episode of the 12kyle Podcast as I give you my perspective…in Atlanta

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ALSO...

*editors note * - during the podcast, I referenced a blog post about Freaknik.

Here's the post...

http://the12planet.blogspot.com/2015/07/freaknik-94.html

LISTEN BELOW

throwback thursday (allergic2crazy)

*re-post from 2010*

I don't have any allergies...

Well...I do have one

I'm allergic to crazy people. Crazy women in particular. I had an allergic reaction to one. Wanna hear about it?? Of course you do!

Back in '98, I was a young bachelor who had just moved to Atlanta. Since I was new to the city, I felt the need to branch out and meet new people because I didn't know anybody. I was working for a finance company at the time. I liked the environment and I liked the potential growth.

One day at work, my supervisor advised me that we would be having lunch with some clients. I really didn't feel like going to lunch with the clients that day because I figured that I'd be meeting with a bunch of old stiffs who wanted to talk about the stock market all day. I wasn't interested but I had to go. To my surprise, there was a young lady at the lunch meeting. Her name was Toni. I was surprised to see her because the lunch meetings usually consisted of men. Toni was cute, too. We sat next to each other during the meeting. She told me that she had graduated from Spelman College. She was enrolled in the Masters program at Georgia Tech. When she saw my championship ring, she asked where I played football. She told me that she was a big football fan. Over the lunch, I realized that we had a lot in common. After the meeting, we exchanged phone numbers.

I took her number because I wanted to get to know as many people as I could. I wasn't looking for a girlfriend. I had just broken up with my girlfriend (now wife). So, I was a free agent, right (lol)???

Toni called me a few days. We talked on the phone for 2 hours. The conversation started out on a professional tip. She changed it quickly made it personal. I was ok with that. We discussed our likes/dislikes and previous relationships. We talked the next day for 2 hours. I learned a lot about her. And I'm sure that she learned a lot about me. A few days passed...I didn't hear from her and I didn't call her. That was cool with me. I was busy with work. Then, one day at work...I got 2 voicemails while I was at lunch. The voicemails were from Toni. I'm not sure why she was calling. I was swamped at work that day so I didn't get a chance to return her calls.

I worked late that day. It was a Friday. As much as I wanted to kick it with my boy JFresh, I was tired from work and I wasn't going out. I got home at 7:30. When I checked my caller ID box (ole skool), I noticed that Toni had called me 5 times. She didn't leave a message though! I found that to be weird. I sat down on my couch to watch tv. All of a sudden, I heard a knock at my door. That was strange. Nobody knocks at my door because nobody knew where I lived except JFresh. I lived in an a gated apartment complex. I dunno who it was. I opened the door...and it was Toni. I was shocked!

Me : Toni!?? What are you doing here?

Toni : You told me that you lived on Candler Road. I was in the area so I figured that I would stop by to see you.

Me: How did you get into the gate?

Toni : Oh...the gate was broken. I drove around and I saw your car. I saw an old man outside and he told me where you lived

Me : Yeah, that was my dude, Amos. So...why are you here???

Toni : Do you want to hang out with me tonight? Do you want to go to dinner or something?

Me : Um...

Toni : You don't wanna hang with me? Is there somebody HERE? *she starts to look around my apartment as if she was my momma*

Me : Nah. It's not that. I'm 'sposed to be hanging with JFresh. He just broke up with his girl and he's gonna need somebody to talk to. Tonight is not a good time. I'll call you later

I proceeded to PUSH Toni out of the door to my apartment. I couldn't believe that she tried to blow up my spot like that. Keep in mind that I had only known Toni for a total of 6 days and 4 hours of telephone conversations. Ten minutes later, my phone is ringing. It's Toni. I don't answer the phone. She leaves me a nasty voicemail...

"Kyle...this is Toni! I don't know what your problem is. I thought you were different but you're just like the rest of these men around here. You didn't even have enough manners to walk me out to my car! You aint shit! You're just like the rest of them! *CLICK*

Wow! Maybe I should have walked her to her car because Candler Road in Decatur, Ga is STRAIGHT hood! However, I don't know how I got to that point with her. I guess she was right...I'm like the rest of them.

Allergic 2 crazy people!

the genesis...

August 4, 1991

I had waited for this day for a long time! I couldn't believe it was finally here. I remember it like it was yesterday. Two months prior to this day, I had graduated from high school. But this day had come...the day that I was to leave to go off to college. 

Some people would be nervous or anxious about leaving home. Not me. I had mentally prepared myself for this day for a long time. My school, South Carolina State University, was located just an hour and a half away. Not too far away from home...but not too close either. Graduating from high school wasn't a big deal for me. As much I loved my days at Wilson High School, I wasn't sad to be leaving. College was the place that I had dreamed of being. When I watched "A Different World" on tv, I envisioned my college experience being just like that. It wasn't far from it. LOL. Nevertheless, I was eagerly anticipating college. I had my concerns about leaving my mom and my brother, who was entering his sophomore year at Wilson. I knew he'd be fine. I knew mom would be fine. She had prepared me and we both knew it. My only other concern was my crew. We had become so close over the years. We all were headed to different colleges. Two of my other boys were headed to the military. I had my cousin, Eric, with me at South Carolina State and my boy JFresh was next door at Claflin University. I wanted the crew to remain as close as we had always been. I wasn't sure how it was gonna happen. There was no such thing as email nor free long distance calls. I also had football. I knew that it would keep me more than busy. 

Back to that day, I remember going to church then coming home and eating dinner. I remember the mood in the house was very weird. We didn't say much at dinner. I packed the van and my mom was going to drive me to school. My brother, Damon, didn't come. I remember walking out of my room and down the hall to his room. I was going to tell him goodbye. Deep down, I was dreading that walk. It seemed like it took me forever just to take those few steps. I walked in his room and he had his head down. This would be the first time that we would be apart. We had endured our parents messy divorce together. He lifted his head and I could see tears in his eyes. My eyes welled up. I gave him a huge and I gave him a quick pep talk that any big brother would. I told him he'd be ok. I reassured him that I was just a phone call away. I walked down the stairs and jumped in the van with my mom. That was the last day that I lived in my mom's house...last time that I lived in my hometown, Florence, SC...last time in the nest. It was time for me to go.

Although Eric was going to be a freshman like me, he didn't have to come to school for another 3 wks. I was on campus early because of football camp as we were preparing for the upcoming season. When I got on campus, I didn't know anybody. There were no other students on campus...just the football team. There is a HUGE difference between high school football and college football. I found that out very quick. For the first time, there were players REALLY better than me. Doubtful thoughts crept in. I was beginning to feel a little homesick. I remember wondering out loud if I was cut out for college football. I called my parents. Two phone calls...one common theme...you can do anything that you want but you have to work at it. And they were right. By the time school started, the homesick feelings left. I learned that I would be red-shirted (meaning I could practice but couldn't play in the games until the next year). It gave me a chance to get stronger and better. I needed that.

They say you learn more between birth and the age of 6 than you learn for the rest of your life. Well, I think I learned more during my freshman year of college than you could learn in two lifetimes. I learned...how to have productive days on very little sleep...how to party...about people and their ways...about the game that I fell in love with...about family...about women...about love...and so much more. I thought I knew it all before August 4th...but I knew very little.

More importantly, I found me and I was slowly becoming the man that I was raised and groomed to be. 

youcanfindmeinthaA

July 24, 1997

I remember that day like it was yesterday.

It was the day that I loaded up all of my stuff on a moving truck and moved to Atlanta. 

I had just graduated from South Carolina State in December of 1996. I was still living in Orangeburg, SC. I had a few job offers in South Carolina but nothing that I really wanted. I was working as an assistant manager at a video store. It was cool but I knew that I couldn't put my marketing degree to use at that spot. I was contemplating my next move. I knew that I wasn't going to move back to my hometown, Florence, SC. I loved my hometown but I knew that the day that I left for college that I would never live there any more. It was time for the young bird to leave the nest and fly. And I did. I had my sights set on Atlanta. 

In the spring of 1997, I wasn't sure how I was going to get to Atlanta. I had put off going to grad school. One day I called up one of my partners in crime, JFresh. Me and JFresh have been friends since we were 6. We went to high school together but different colleges. He too had just graduated and moved back to Florence. I mentioned to him that I wanted to move to Atlanta. He said he wanted to live there too. He suggested that we move there together and get an apartment together. I thought about it for a second. Fresh is my boy but he is by far the weirdest cat that I know...but that's my boy. So, I told him that we should do it. As July moved closer and closer, I thought that JFresh would back out at the last minute. He didn't. 

I had no long term plans about being in Atlanta. I had fallen in love with the city when I was in college. It was a place that represented upward mobility for young black people like me. The hip hop scene was bubbling at the time. While acts like Outkast and Goodie MoB were on the scene...others like Ludacris (a radio personality on Hot 97) and T.I (I saw him perform at an underground club but didn't catch his name but he ripped it)...had yet to blow. I came to FreakNik in 1994 and I told my friends that I would move here after college. Growing up, the only place that I had envisioned myself living was New York City (Manhattan). I love New York. I couldn't imagine wanting to live anywhere. But Atlanta just felt comfortable. It didn't take long for me to feel at home. In a city with 5 million people in the metropolitan area, the only person that I knew was JFresh. We didn't know our way around but we both had a great sense of direction so we knew we wouldn't get lost. We rented a townhouse in a north Atlanta suburb. It was the typical bachelor pad...TVs and electronics...but very little furniture. LOL. We figured that the best way to get familiar with the city...was to party! And we partied! Sometimes we would hit parties on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, AND Sunday nights! And we soaked up all Atlanta had to offer.  We lived together for a year before I moved to the east side of the city but we still hung out almost every weekend.

Years passed. I would eventually would settle down. I got married and started a family. Fresh moved to LA. But this place had become home. I felt as comfortable in Atlanta as I did Florence. I adopted the Atlanta Falcons and the Atlanta Hawks as my teams that I would support (not the Braves, though). I had my oldest son in 1999, got married in 2000, and then bought my house in 2001. Little did I know, I had planted roots here. The foundation was set. The thought of raising kids in city like this is challenging. Growing up in Florence, I could go around the corner and nothing would happen. That's not the same when you live in a place like Atlanta. Anything can happen. That's a scary thought as a parent. But this is where I wanted to be. Over the years, I have thought about leaving. But there's always something that convinces me to stay. Sometimes, I think about how life would be in Manhattan. But the cost of living in NYC is unreal! Unless, somebody wants to pay me a LOT more money...I'm not going anywhere. You can find me in tha A!  

F#%k tha police

F#%k the police comin straight from the underground
A young brutha got it bad cause I'm brown
And not the other color so police think
they have the authority to kill a minority - Ice Cube (F#%k tha Police)

I don't like the police.

Never have. Never will.

I know that they are here to serve and protect. I know that they have a thankless job. I know that 99% of cops are good people. I guess I'm just a magnet for the 1% of cops that are racist assholes. Let me take you back to the summer of 1998 when a young Kyle got pulled over THREE times in ONE week for the same offense...DWB (driving while black)

SUNDAY

I was riding in the car with my boy, JFresh. We had just come from downtown Atlanta and were headed to our townhouse in nearby Marietta. We were waiting at a traffic light when we saw a cop get behind his car. As soon as we made a right turn, the blue lights came on. JFresh, who was driving a sleek black Acura Integra, was calm. He showed the officer his papers and license. The police officer NEVER said why he pulled us over. He just asked if he lived in the area because J's drivers license and license plate were both from the state of South Carolina. He told him the officer that he was a student at Georgia Tech (which was a lie). The officer let us go. All we could do was shake our heads. There was so much crime in Cobb County at the time but WE get pulled over?

WEDNESDAY

I was driving alone. I was on my way back to my apartment after leaving the movies. I was on the same street that I was on just a few days earlier. I made a right turn at the same light. Same results...blue lights! The cop was nice but never said WHY I was pulled over. I didn't ask. Didn't have to. Wrong color.

If I was old, they'd probably be a friend of me
Since I'm young, they consider me the enemy - Ice Cube (Tales from the Darkside)

FRIDAY

I left Atlanta that day and was headed to my hometown, Florence, South Carolina, for the weekend. I'm cruising down Interstate 20 with the windows down. I'm driving through Madison County (about an hour outside of Atlanta) when I see a cop "hiding" in the bushes in the median. I look at my speedometer and it's reading at "60 mph" and the speed limit is 65. I drive past the cop. He sees me and pulls out onto the highway immediately. I saw him pull onto the highway but I didn't know he was coming after me. The next thing I know...I see the blue lights...AGAIN!!! The officer asks me for my information and I give it to him. After a few minutes, he comes back and here's what he says...

Cop: "Sir, where are you headed?"

Me: "I'm headed to Florence, SC"

Cop: "Where are you coming from?"

Me: "I'm coming from Atlanta." (Why do you wanna know asshole?)

Cop: "Can you step out of the car? I'd like to search the car...if that's okay with you, sir."

Me: "Sure. If you want to search it...go ahead." (What the hell you think you gonna find fatboy?"

I step out of the car and stand in the grass as this dude looks around my Nissan Sentra (not a Bentley but a Sentra). At this point, I'm sure that SEVERAL of my civil rights have been violated.

Cop: "Can I look in your trunk?"

Me: "Yeah." (I hope you don't see the dead body back there)

I open the trunk. Nothing back there but my bag

Cop: "Sir, can I open up the bag? I have to ask first...do you have any drugs or guns in this bag"

Me: I chuckled. "No, l left them at home."

Cop: "I'm sorry to have inconvenienced you. It's just that we have lot of drug trafficking between here and Texas. We have been cracking down on it."

Me: "I would never sell drugs." 

Cop: "You are free to leave, sir. Have a good day."

I wonder what was the dead giveaway that day. Was it my hooptie? Was it the Yankees fitted hat that I had on backwards? I know what it was. And so do you. How else would somebody explain getting pulled over by cops 3 times in a week? I did what my parents always told me...1) be calm & cordial 2) always let them see your hands 3) never ride with more than 3 other black kids in a car because you WILL get pulled over.

I have 3 sons. What will I tell them about the police? I'll tell them this story as well as my other run-ins with the cops. I would like to think things will be different for them.

I doubt it.