What I remember from my days of (graffiti) bombing...

28OCT2021; 1842, THU

It's another Throwback THU (TBT) with my Black behind enjoying some 90s Hip Hop and I just spent the past 20min "[doing] my Googles" on the statute of limitations for certain crimes. Of course I used an incognito browser and the searching has nothing to do with this particular post *Smile*.

Seriously tho, the dynamic duo that I'm currently vibing to just gave a big shout out to the different tenets of Rap (Rhythm And Poetry). Of course, one of them is (graffiti) writing; tagging; bombing; or whatever you choose to call it.

Just for the sake of acknowledging the other five pillars: There's MCing/Rapping/Spitting/Free-Styling; DJing/Cutting records; Breaking/Break dancing/B-Boying/B-Girling; and (Spreading) Knowledge. Real talk: That last one really and truly seems to be lost on, as well as least important to a lot of these new school artists.

I digress. Way back when I first started getting into music for/of/by people who looked a lot like me; and right around the time that the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater video game series started allowing players to tag, I knew deep down in my heart of hearts that I'd at least be tempted to do it IRL (In Real Life).

Full disclosure: I was a weak and scrawny cat from the burbs in those days. Best believe that I had a severe dread of having to "lay down", "do a bid/stint", and/or "getting knocked".

For those not well versed in slang and such: I was terribly terrified of the potentiality for my then unbelievably ignorant and incredibly indigent self doing time, getting locked up, and/or getting fined for vandalism.

I know that it happened to at least one of my fav Cuzzos (cousins) while he was studying philosophy in The A (Atlanta). You wanna talk about a bamma being shook, or scared [expletive] when I got that call?

Thankfully, he bounced back and is living his best life for the most part. Fun fact: He's one of the only Famo who actually takes the time to reply regularly in the group chat with me, him, and six of our other male grandchildren on my mom's side.

In any event, I'm well over halfway to my baseline for my word counts on my posts and I have yet to explicitly mention any of the three times that I remember busting out the cans. That just won't do.

The initial instance was at the direction of one of my sergeants when we were still getting ready for our first and only deployment together. Let's call him "Uncle Tailor".

Not long after I was accepted into the Recon platoon of my battalion in the Army, he promptly informed us that a nearby rival unit had come to our building to put their tag on my company's pet boulder. Up until then, only companies within our battalion hand been so bold and/or given passes on such violations.

Unc let it be known that had his rank been a little lower, he would've handled that, and our new picnic tables, with the quickness (post haste). It immediately dawned on me that my rank was already pretty low, and that you need at least one "write up" if you want to have any sorta chance of making it to Command Sergeant Major (CSM/E-9) or even Sergeant First Class (SFC/E-7) in a unit full of fellow Grunts.

The other two times may or may not have taken place in a combat zone; as seen in the featured image above. Obviously, the "7" was accidentally placed on the stencil backwards.

Had it been left alone by my anal retentive self, then that particular tag might still be up and catching the eyes of my fellow "Uncle Sam's Misguided Children". Conversely, my OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) compelled me to venture out a third and final night with cans in my backpack.

Praying and hoping that none of the previous info provided leads to my incarceration; in any way, shape, form, or fashion. If it does, Heaven forbid, please cop (re: buy) something from my fledgling apparel brand to help me get my bail together.

"Link in bio". Also, I'm somewhat certain that my LegalShield (previously Prepaid Legal) will come in clutch like MJ (Michael Jordan) in the 4th quarter.

Tl;dr- "You find out who's your man when you broke, like a bad joke. It's funny; when you on, you got mad folk"- MF DOOM ('98), Rest In Power to the triple OG.

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Prayerfully, someone somewhere gets something pertinent (re: useful) from this post. If that somebody's you, then please think about considering a Like/Tip/Share/Sub, and/or checking out some of my other posts.

Also, if you're in the market for an article of clothing or two, there's a link in my bio. Please don't think for a minute that I will be unappreciative of any all who "look out for the cookout".

TIA (Thx In Advance). Peaceful Tidings.

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