Players in the Game - Part I

I don’t know if ya’ll have noticed or not..but I’ve been having a BLAST and enjoying myself lately. I give all thanks and praise to my Redeemer, for laying it down for me (and you) like He did..cuz because of Him..I have a rock foundation. I shall not be moved. Or to translate as they say in the hood, “I can’t be faded.” It’s not a boast of my physical strength or my mental prowness, but rather a proclaimation of my faith in the Savior that’s all the way real. At this point, I really can’t even gauge the servinemup.com audience anymore because it’s grown to a level where I sometimes miss the intimate crowd like we had back in the www.servinemup.blogspot days. When only my kinfolk and friends, people who knew D. Washington personally, logged in to check out what that crazy n’ga from the Southside of Houston Texas was writing about next!!

I’ve talked about a few thangs..I've broke down Prices at the Pump (don't you wish we had THOSE prices pictured today!??) and Power, I’ve dabbled into the world of street euphemisms with Hittin Licks and I introduced the world to Rev. Janky with The Rules of Flirting. From heavy theological discussion, to interviews with best selling authors, expose’s on award winning jazz singers, I’ve been serving it up to ya’ll like a real player should. Now I know some folks just got their panties in a bunch just cuz I referred to myself as a ‘player’.



Whatchu mean you a ‘player’?? You supposed to be a good Christian man, married with kids, you ain’t no ‘player’!!



So often people assume the name player refers to a ‘Casanova’ or somebody that’s ‘playin’ the ladies. That’s not what I’m talking about, I mean, I USED to be ‘out there’ on them females, but now I’m just down for one. Can’t NOBODY come up to me talking that, ‘Mane, you been messing around with my wife/gal’ type craziness, cuz that ain’t even D. Ya feel me? Anyway..it’s funny how the people closest to us have their own way of keeping us grounded to reality. Because I happened to make this ‘player’ self-declaration over at my parents house one Sunday afternoon not too long ago and my older sister started frowning up and made sure to let me know..

Player?? N’ga..you ain’t no player!!



It got so funny to her, that she started laughing out loud, almost having to restrain herself from falling over the couch. Just as I was imagining how nice it would feel if I could just mush her in her face. Then she looked at my wife sitting across the room and asked her..



Whatcho husband talking about?? This n’ga ain’t no player..is he??



Since my wife wasn’t in my direct eyesight, because I was still contemplating what part of my sister’s face would be the most satisfying to mush..whether I was grab her by the side of her head with my hand over her ear, or if I was go go full frontal and mush her nose, I briefly caught a glimpse of my wife motioning with her hands to her lips out of my peripheral vision. All my years of playing basketball and running those 3 on 1 breaks gave me an excellent training ground for honing my peripheral vision. Since I’ve been married, this peripheral vision has come in handy several times. Wives have a way of turning their lips up and looking crazy at you whenever you say something that they think is crazy. I’m already all up on that game, but since most times I really don’t give a d’mn, I usually stay quiet and act like I didn’t see it, but I couldn’t help but wonder, ‘Y tu Brutus?’ Was my wife jumping on my crazy az sisters’s bandwagon and dissin me?? When I confronted my wife about it, she started crawfishing…



So what’s that supposed to mean?



Huh? (snapping to attention, smiling and looking innocent) What’s what supposed to mean??



That thing you were doing with your hand to your lips, is that supposed to mean that I ain’t playhing nothing but my mouth now or something?



“You’re pretty smart”, she retorted and went back to talking to my mama. Those women have a way of banding together and making all men be the damn fool in the group. Fortunately, I have a treasure trove of ‘acting a damn fool’ experiences, so it’s actually an easy fit for me. And of all the people in the world, those 3 women (my sister, my wife and my mother) all know me..they’ve all seen me in action before.



My mother was the one that was usually the first to render first aid whenever I showed up in her sight bleeding or in excruciating pain from pulling a wild stunt like jumping off the top of the bunkbed like Ultraman or the time I bust my head open when I was trying to do a spin move like Michael Jackson, lost my balance and fell into a glass table head first. My sister has seen me incite a crowd by being the first one to jump into the pool, even if it wasn’t a pool party. And my wife has seen me try to run people over in my truck and she’s seen me forcefully remove somebody from the premises..so they all know I can..as my boy Ludacris say, ‘ACK A FOOL!!’ and I don’t need a big push to do it. I stay ready to clown, that’s my main problem, but God is working on me and He’s calming me down a bit, as I grow older. I ain’t even got to tell some of ya’ll, cuz a lot of ya’ll have seen the growth in D. just over these months of reading how I get down on the internet.



Which brings me to a key point I wanted to remind people of. Servinemup.com is a web log or blog. It’s a space where people can come check out how D.Washington the writer gets down with the pen..which is actually a misnomer, cuz if I had to handwrite my words with an actual pen, no one would be able to read it, because my penmanship is eerily similar to Bigfoot trying to write on a bus with four flat tires riding down the side of a cliff in crayon. If ya’ll saw my actual handwriting, you’d probably think I was retarded..or maybe a doctor..either one, my sh’t is jacked up. Obviously, I ain’t tripping on that tho’, cuz guess what? I ain’t got to write no mo!! I mean, yeah, I gotta sign my name on stuff..but everything else, I just print.

That’s another reason why I know God is so good, cuz He’s made a way for me to get down for His purpose, but if I would have been born in a time before typewriters, no one would have ever heard of D. Washington the writer..cuz they wouldn’t be able to read it. God is good ya’ll..all the time. Because since I CAN type a bit, thanks to Ms. Taylor’s Typing 1A and 1B classes at Booker T. Washington Senior High School in Studewood, Texas (I’m SOOO Glad!), I can express myself at the clip of about 45-50 words per minute on the keyboard. I ain’t got to hunt and peck with 2 fingers, I know them home row keys n’ga..ASDF JKL;..ya feel me?? People who know how to type are probably saying, ‘This n’ga is CLOWNIN!!’ and people who don’t know how to type are staring down at their keyboard and going..OHHHH…now I see what D’s talking about!! See..that’s what you call that Real Game..right there. Some of ya’ll are all into the Matrix trilogy and all the religious and spiritual undertones that the series has, well if I was in the Matrix, I’d be just like Neo. Some of ya’ll may think he’s the Saviour..or the One..but that ain’t THE One, cuz Jesus always knew what He came here to do..nobody had to unplug Him or have Him swallow a red pill of truth..Jesus knew what was up before anybody else, cuz He has always been a part of God.



No, when I say that I’m like Neo, I’m talking about Neo’s profession before Morpheus and the crew came and scooped him up from his ‘job’. Neo had a 9 to 5, but his real hustle was program writing. He was serving them up out his apartment backdoor style,



“If you get caught, don’t tell anyone where you got this.from”



Neo was writing those virtual programs to make people FEEL an experience. Just like they had the training programs to teach martial arts or how to fly a helicopter. Real Game. So that’s kinda what I do..I try to write things to make people have a better understanding than what they had before. Some people will already know some of the game I write, like that home row keys with typing, but I try to keep it conversational and cool enough, where even if you already know it, you can keep flowing with it and check me if you think I’m tripping. So that’s what I do..I write. Everybody has at least one talent or ‘function’ as Fat Pat described..”N’ga got a million dollar function..”



Some folks think it kinda eerie to always make references to dead people, but I can’t help it, all of my favorite rappers are dead. Tupac, Biggie. Fat Pat..most of the world may not know about Fat Pat, cuz he was shot and killed right when he was on the verge of BLOWING UP worldwide (even bigger than Flip), but everybody on the Southside of Houston knows about that Pat, cuz he’s a native son..just like D.



A lot of people like to get out in public and let everybody know how ‘real’ they are and how they come from the ghetto or the ‘bricks’, ‘straight out tha street’ or what have you. I don’t get down like that..cuz I ain’t got to front to kick it. I mean, SOME people do have that ghetto pedigree, but that’s not my story. I’m from the hood, but it ain’t the ghetto. All of the homies I grew up with dealt with our own individual thing..we all had clothes to wear, places to lay our head and full bellies every night..we weren’t poor. But we always knew what poor was because we saw a lot of it around us.



Even today, some of my college friends are amazed at the fact that I came back home to live less than 3 miles from my parents, literally in the same hood that I grew up in.



Why don’t you move D? Expand your horizon..you’re a smart guy, there’s a lot of opportunities out there for a brother like you.


A lot of them really can’t feel what it means to love the Southside. Being able to see your parents and relatives, childhood friends everyday. And then again, a lot of my college friends have no interest whatsoever in hanging out with their family or people they grew up with..they move away for a reason. I guess I’m not what you would consider the ‘typical’ Stanford graduate. Even amongst the black Stanford alumni, I guess most would put me at the top of the list if they had a vote for the Alumnus Who has the Most Relatives/Friends With Gold Teeth. I’d place my bet on me for that one everytime. Ya’ll know about them gold teeth people right? Those ‘players’ and ‘hustlers’, ‘pimps’ and ‘preachers’, those fly n’gaz that like to smile in your face and let that gold glisten and glean in your eyes. Those fly ladies that’s on their game and ready to curl their lips at smile at a n’ga to make him mesmerized.

Some folks see people with gold teeth or tattoos and they immediately think ‘thug’ or ‘hood rat’. When I see people with gold teeth or tattoos, I often find myself saying, ‘What it do kinfolk?’ Most of the n’gaz I grew up with in the hood have gold teeth, tattoos or a criminal record. A lot of them have all 3. These are the same n’gaz that I used to play literally THOUSANDS of games with over the years..from kickball, to dodgeball, curb ball, pinky, football, strikeout, softball, basketball. Video games, racing bikes, wrestling..whatever game there was to be played and you can bet we had a bevy of real players to make a team back in our corner of the Southside known as Sugar Valley.



So now that we’re grown, and everybody is out doing there thang as grown folks, it’s always funny to see a n’ga pull up in a police car, in an HPD police uniform, wearing a badge and a gun, and you know this is the same n’ga that was crazy enough to race his bike against a motorcycle around the block and ended up crashing top speed into a parked boat back in our pre-teen days. The thing that makes that n’ga so crazy is that, a couple of days afterwards, when he could limp outside, all busted up and holding a steak over his swollen and black eye, the first thing that n’ga said was, ‘I would have won if I wouldn’t have crashed into that boat.’

That’s being dead game right there..the pain of losing overcomes all fear, go all out like a true player mane, cuz a scared man ain’t neva won sh’t. Except for Franco Harris during the Steeler’s Superbowl run..but ya’ll people in Steel City don’t start tripping off that, I’m one of those old school Oiler- Earl Campbell fans that still gets pissed off when I see Mike Renfro’s catch..excuse me..I mean, ‘non-catch’ in the end zone in that AFC Wild Card game back in the late 70’s..so yeah, I still have isssues. But I went over to one of these Sugar Valley Players’ house the other night to hang out, drink some brews and shoot some pool with one of my podnas that I grew up with.

Some of ya’ll might be wondering why there’s a Tennesse Titan machine in a Southside Houston game room, (When you push the button, that machine pushes out ice cold brews. I thought that was nice..I pushed it a lot that night.), but us old school players know what’s up. As long as Steve McNair is with the Titans, die hard Oiler fans are still gonna have love for those Titans. Of course the Texans are now our home team..but..I dunno..I guess you just gotta be an old school Houston sports fan to feel that one. Anyway..I went over to kick it with my podna on HIS pool table.. But once you step into the game, that’s when the mind games start..n’gaz go start talking crazy to you to see where yo head is at..

What? Ya'll got D. Wash out at night to shoot some pool?? N’gaz ain’t heard from that n’ga since domnino night..I thought his wife had him locked up in the house on punishment. N’ga what YOU doin on a pool table anyway?? Ain’t you supposed to be a writer?? That’s what all them n’gaz talking about..you write right? Well gone and write about how I whupped yo az on this pool table all night long.

I had to listen to all this sh’t even before the balls were racked for the first game, but that kiinda stuff don’t fade me, cuz a n’ga can’t TALK it into the hole. But the best part about it was just being able to kick it with my homies that I’ve known since those days when we could barely make the ball reach from one side of the street to the other when we were playing curbball. And the wild thing is, although we’re older and more mature..that heart doesn’t change. And there is no greater honor that man could ever give me that could match the pride I get when all the players that I grew up with, holla at me after hearing the news of how I’m getting down with the pen these days…



D’mn D!! I ain’t even read sh’t you wrote yet..but I already know it’s go be off the hook.



It’s a great feeling when all my podnas recognize the player in D. Now as for my sister..you gotta remember..I’m her little brother. She spent half of my childhood pushing my head down and telling me that I was never going to grow..

You go be short yo whole life!! (laughing)



So, I guess you can say, I always had an increased impetus to be bigger. When it comes to competing, I’ve been known to display a competitive spirit that my wife thinks goes overboard at times. I like to win at EVERYTHING. You can blame that partly on my bloodline, but you also gotta look at my father too..cuz as a young boy growing up..whenever we played anything, he would NEVER ‘let’ me win. Whether it was dominoes, basketall, darts, foosball, ping pong, whatever me and my dad played against each other, he not only tried to beat me, he tried to DOG me as much as he could.



(Swish!) Un huh! That’s 10 right there. I’m bout to beat you 12 to zero and send you back in the house crying to yo MAMA! (Whoop!!) there it is!! That’s 11!!!..Stop holding the ball!! Give it on up n’ga! Let me gone and put you out yo misery!! Top of the key!! (SWISH!) That’s 12-0 n’ga!! WHOOP THERE IT IS!!!



There were many days that I had to stifle tears of anger and frustration cuz I just couldn’t beat him. Actually, it started even earlier than that..cuz when me and my

sister and my cousin Peaches, (who’s really better described as my sister also) used to play..whether it be Old Maid, Uno, Pitty Pat, Clue, Sorry, Payday..whatever it was we were playing..if it got to a point where it looked like I was about to lose??? They had to watch me closely, cuz I’d pull that ‘Gotta get up in the hurry and go to the bathroom and ‘accidently’ kick the board over and knock everything all over the place’ move…



GRANDMA!!! D is cheating and messing up the game again just cuz he lost!!



No Im’ not!!



Yes he is Grandma!! I saw it too.



I kicked the board on accident!!



D! (When my grandma called me, I knew I was about to get one of them lectures).come here!!



I’d make that slow trudge to the porch where she was sitting shelling peas, or beans and watching the cars and people as they passed by…



Now why are you in there actin ugly?



I’m not!! I had to go to the bathroom and I didn’t mean to knock it over!!



Now don’t lie to me..cuz this is the 5th time this week that you ‘accidently’ knocked over the cards.



We’re not even playing cards, we’re playing Pay Day



I don’t care WHAT you playin!! You know what um tawkin bout!! Now if you can’t go in there and play nice, I’m go put something on ya! You can’t win ALL the time..life ain’t like that son. But I know what yo problem is.



You do?

It’s not all your fault either..cuz you just like yo grandpa! He was the same way..whenever he was winning a game, he’d be laughing and playing, but soon as he started losing, he’d be ready to fight somebody. Just like you.



I’ve pondered that conversation on the porch with my grandmother many days since then. It’s been an issue which has come up, because I’m still a very competitive person and I still want to win at everything I do..I REALLY do. Those who know me recognize this ‘player’ instinct in me, cuz I’d rather die in the pit giving my all than to give up and lose. But as I’ve matured I’ve learned the refined art of sublimation, being able to win through losing.



So..that’s where we are. Servinemup Ink. D Washington writes. Tommy Curvey pushes it on the street. Two Southside boys doing what they do to spread that Word, or as another Southside writer/rapper Z-Ro says,



God has made a way for me to stack up my paper (paper), my moolah, my fetti

And caught this world by surprise, I KNEW you hoz wasn’t ready!!

Southside, we mob first, when we ride..

Some people questioned my choice of having an ex-felon being an integral part in my company. But when I thought about what it is I do and all the different ways to distribute these ‘goods’…I couldn’t think of a better person for the job than my boy Curvey. Yeah..he’s been to the pen for about ten, and now it look like when he get out I’m going in..holeup! That’s a Bun B lyric!..Naw..what I meant was, he’s been down on paper with the state of Texas for pulling triggers and moving birds , but if I felt that he was still married to the streets, I wouldn’t have him in on this venture, cuz oil and water don’t mix. But I know him as a man who loves the Lord and I know his street game is miles ahead of mine, and a lot of creases he discerns waay before I do. But that’s why you gotta have some real players on your team..kinda like other dynamic duos like Bun B and Pimp C, KRS-1 and Scott LaRock, Guru and Premier..I’m sorry if I lost a lot of ya’ll who have NO CLUE who any of these people are..but trust me..the people who I write for know exactly who I’m talking about and now they have a better idea of what Real Game is all about. Now the only question is..WHEN is it going to drop?? I don’t have a date yet..but everybody who has signed up for the Newsletter (Click Here to sign up for the Servinemup Newsletter!! )will be the first ones to know!! So until then, ya’ll keep riding with a player..share the link with your podnas and homies, hell, even share the link with all the haters you know!! It’ll be good for them too!! SOUTHSIDE!! We mob first, when we ride, swangin on elbows, chopping choppers when we ride, cuz we REAL, on a mission to get it can't stop, going platinum every time another book drops!