Monday, May 01, 2006

35 and Writing Under the Gun



One of the things that I’ve learned about the art of writing, is that it is very important to make sure that my audience can feel me.

It is part of my job as a writer, to give you the reader, glimpses of reality as I understand it to be.

There’s different ways to get personal with someone.

You can be all the way real and let them into your life, into your mind. What you really think and what you really believe. It can be a very revealing and intimidating experience.

And despite the fact that I’ve written on a wide range of the different aspects of my life, the character attribute which always draws the most scrutinizing attention is the fact that I 'call myself' a Christian.

I’m not the only person on this earth that has proclaimed the name above every other name. But the thing is, despite the inclusive revelation of the Holy Spirit, we all grasp our faith with grips as various as fingerprints.

My father and I worship the same God, but yet we don’t always agree on what thus saith the Word when it comes to theological interpretation.

Once saved always saved?

Could Jesus have sinned if He wanted to?

Where does predestination stop and free will begin?


This explains why we have so many different denominations in the Christian faith People break off from the group and start doing their thang a lil bit different.

But yet, there is one faith and one Lord, Jesus Christ.

So then folks try to figure out what kind of Christian I am, which is one of the reasons I posted a Statement of Faith on www.servinemup.com. For all they know, I could go to one of those churches where they handle snakes and drink poison!

And although God has never led me to handle snakes or drink poison, there are some things about my lifestyle that some Christians don’t agree with.


I believe in exercising my right to bear arms as a United States citizen and also as a Texas resident. Turn the other cheek does not dismiss defending yourself. I know all Christians don’t agree with me on that, and that’s cool. Because there’s a place for all of us at our Lord’s table. But we know that even the disciples were armed, as shown when Peter sliced off the soldier's ear with his sword when they came to arrest Jesus. Pete had a gat.

I believe there are some of us who have never and will never have to be in a position where they have to defend themselves against some type of wild animal (which does include sharks, wolves and dopefiends.) And then those are others who our Lord has commanded that one sword is sufficient.

I can remember standing on the back porch in Arkansas as my father and my uncle ‘shot the guns’ into the woods. My uncle James Edward from Baltimore had the most beautiful .357 magnum. It was so heavy I had to use both hands to pick it up. But the smell of that gunpowder and the sound of that force reverberating in the air when they pulled those triggers. BOOOOM!!!! I knew there was a place for those who were prepared to bear arms if the need arose. We need them on that wall.


When I posted Popping My Collar, a lot of my homies from Sugar Valley hollered at me. They were excited to see me representing the hood. And they all can feel me, because every family in Sugar Valley had a gun somewhere in the house. Most of these parents were country folks, used to keeping a .22 rifle above the kitchen sink. Just in case they caught a fox trying to sneak into the chicken coop.

Now, guns have gravitated from meaning protection, to being more closely affiliated with aggression. Blasting fools. Flashing your gun in the air just to try and impress some n’gaz.

The Bible tells us that those who live by the gun shall die by the gun.

More importantly, we should seek to arm ourselves with the sword from the full armour of God. The Word. We need to keep our minds meditating on that Word, day and night. It’s where we stay sharp. It’s the only weapon we have to fight against the enemy.

Don’t be that n’ga in the gunfight who ain’t read his Bible.

It’s not just guns either, folks also bring up issues with my beliefs on the subject of wine and strong drink.

Everywhere I read in the Bible, it says we should not be given to much wine. We shouldn’t be drunkards and revilers. But it doesn’t say that drinking wine is forbidden.

Then you have folks who claim that Jesus only drank that ‘new wine’ which was non-alchoholic, more like grape juice.

Mmmhmm..I see ya new wine. All I know, is that Jesus’ first miracle was at a wedding, turning water into wine. And the wine He made, was a lot stronger and more potent than what they had already been drinking!!

But I can understand the argument against drinking. Cuz I know some folks who don’t need to drink AT ALL!! Not even a spoonful, because it makes them turn into a completely different person. Just like the fellaz who have to stop drinking 40’s, because they know that there’s a crack rock at the bottom of it.

Everybody needs to know thyself.

Soo..that’s about as radical a Christian I am. I don’t believe in protesting and boycotting and being in marches to legalize marijuana, there are more pressing issues to champion. Although I believe marijuana is a lot less dangerous than alchohol, it’s currently illegal. Jesus says that we should give Ceaser what is his and that we should obey the laws of the land. Pay your taxes and don’t be breaking them laws mane!

Now of course, these same rules applied when Prohibition was enforced in America. And if I would have been around then, I probably would have been buying a bottle of corn squeezings from the bootleg man or making my own home brew every now and then. So, I ain’t tripping, I’m just keeping things in perspective.

Because I do know a lot of people who started out just smoking weed, but they kept chasing a stronger high or Hector laced their joint with something and they got caught up in some other stuff that required medical attention and strong prayer to get out of.

They have a saying, ‘Don’t do as I do, do as I say do!’

You’d normally see a parent puffing on a cigarette and giving this command right after they forbid their child from whatever bad habit has control over them.

When you know what right is and you know you’re not doing it.

It can be a sobering reality when you’re trying to teach others the difference between right and wrong.

I’m 35 now. I’m married with 2 children who I am training to grow stronger in the Lord. I train my kids in the Word and I pray that they grow up to be game for the Lord.


And since I am now a public writer, I have become ever so conscious of the responsibility that I have been called to assume.

I can influence people with my pen. I can encourage, I can enlighten, I can enrage, I can make folks laugh or cry just by words that I write.

But I grew up in the hood, surrounded by some real characters that are more colorful and more elaborate than anything I could dream up. Real pit bulls. Game dogs.

All of the boys on the trunk of this car are from the bloodline of the late Bishop Sam Scott. All of us have been frowned at, or made to feel ashamed of ourselves for doing something we knew we weren’t supposed to do, ‘Specially since you one of Bishop Scott’s grandsons!!!??!!”



Even though our grandfather was a preacher, we still had to deal with divorce, rape, murder, drug problems, alcoholism, grand theft charges and a myriad of the other issues that young black boys must deal with everyday.

The beauty of it all, is that despite the busload of real life pains and heartaches that can be told from the closeknit menagerie of hard heads in the picture, we all are grown men standing up and proclaiming that Jesus is Lord. As you can tell by my stance in the picture, God put on my heart at an early age that I would be a king.

King of what..I exactly don’t know yet.

Maybe when Real Game drops and I go gold (500,000 copies) in 12 months of selling out the trunk, Lil Flip and Lil Keke will invite me to be the newest pen in the Screwed Up Click.

But what all those rappers and supposed Kings of the Southside don’t understand, is that they’re not stacking their paper like I’m stacking my paper.

They may have waaay more sales numbers, larger appearance fees and more cars and jewelery than I have. But they’re not adding on my scale.

My scale doesn’t weigh in until Gabriel blows his horn and the Lord calls us up to glory.

That’s when that real scale kicks in, because only those who believe in the Resurrection will be in that line to Heaven for made n’gaz. The scale doesn’t weigh your works to see if you make it in. That scale is just a marker of what kinda crown you’re going to have.

How many seeds did you plant or water that God increased?

Were you a good and faithful servant??


That’s when those chips get cashed in and that’s where D.E. Washington is grinding to have the fattest stack.

So that’s why I come like I do.

It’s a blessing to be able to write words that encourage and strengthen the soldiers out fighting everyday.

But God has yet to put on my heart for me to get up and feed the congregation. Instead He called me to serve on a seek and rescue mission. There are many brothers from my hood who are lost and their souls thirst for the Word, but yet they don’t even know it. So they never go to church and they never study the Bible. But they do like to talk about stuff like guns, money and/or pit bulls.


I see most young black men just like pit bull puppies. Sniffing around, curious, ready to wrestle somebody. Putting their mouth and tasting any and everything, cuz they’re just naturally nasty like that. What they get turned on to, they get turned ON to.

Ride or die!

Represent yo city!!

This is for my n’gaz!!!

So my purpose is to get them turned on to something that’s real. Something that will last.

I celebrated my 35th birthday this past year and I had a whole different realization of what it means to be 35.

Since the average life expectancy of Black men in America is around 72 years old (those who don’t have HIV or haven’t been murdered), turning 35 is like coming into halftime.

Everyday, the law of averages is telling you that you’ve lived more days in your past than you’re going to live in the future. It can make some folks start freaking out and hyperventilating.

I was in the bathroom the other day and discovered 2 pimples on my face and a long gray hair that I pulled out of my nose. Welcome to 35.

The best thing about being 35, is that it’s a great age for networking. You’re in touch with the baby boomer generation and you can hang with the X-generation..it’s a flexible position. And a lot of the people you grew up and went to school with are striving toward their prime in the space that they work in and you can help each other.

Most business deals are made from relationships. People have to know who you are.


Like we say on the Southside, ‘you gotta be known’.

Fortunately, I grew up around a few Southside legends who have put me down in their circle of influence. Curvey isn’t the distribution manager because he can read good. Curvey is the distribution manager because when it comes to moving a product on the block, he knows how to get it done.

“Ya’ll heard about that n’ga D.Wash from Sugar Valley? Mane..that n’ga is SERVINEMUP!!”

Happy 35th to my podna Big Fella Lair. What’s up to them Reedwood n’gaz like Pooh and that n’ga Leroy. Dogman!!?! A lot of n’gaz have forgot that you was one of the first Southside n’gaz they ever had on City Under Seige, but I’ll make sure your story gets told.

Wazzup to the Lily of the Valley women’s prayer group. Ya’ll keep praying for me now!!
Thanks to all those out there from Sugar Valley, Blueridge, Reedwood, Cloverland, South Park, 3rd Ward, Hiram Clarke, Mo City, Yellowstone, Shadow Creek Ranch, Pearland, Northside, Sugarland, Dallas, Woodlands, Katy, Port Arthur, Beaumont all ya’ll folks who have been supportive of Servinemup Ink, I thank you. I really do. Your support strengthens me and helps me get out there harder.

Thanks to the entire Scott family for having my back (ya’ll n’gaz are WILD..who ain’t paid their dues yet? Cuz we’re having some FUN in St. Lou this year!!)

Thanks to all the families and descendents of the late Rev. General Washington. Thanks for passing the http://www.servinemup.com/ link to the military crew Ash!

Thanks to the fellas from Booker T. Washington and the High School for Engineering Professions. Thanks to the Ultimate Players Club for preparing my pen for public scrutiny.

Thanks to all the bruh’s and the families from Stanford University. Gooch gave us so much game, it still seems a shame, man I miss his flame. Let’s all keep our eyes on the prize, God has bigger things in store for us. Boop-boooop!!


And most of all, I’d like to thank the family of Believers out there for all your prayers, emails, letters and book pre-orders you have sent in. Your support has given me a stronger sense of confirmation. I understand everyone doesn’t agree with all of the tactics and ‘stunts’ pulled here at Servinemup Ink, but if you ever find me misinforming someone about what the Word of God says, please, correct me.

Let’s see here..35..guns..writing..pit bulls..Real Game pre-order sales..yeah..that’s it. Oh..wait!!

One more thing.

It’s easy for a lot of folks to look outside in and assume things. God has put me and my wife in a blessed position. There’s not a lot of couples who’ve been through what we’ve been through that made it to where we are. I thank God for my wife, because I know that she was the woman He meant for me to marry. She is the only woman that could bring the best out of D.

In case I forgot to tell you.. baby doll.


I love you.

You my nicca fo real!! :)