The Day Hip-Hop Saved My Life

It was May 12, 1998, two months after my tenth birthday and a week before DMX’s debut album, It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot, was set to crash-land in stores. In Brooklyn, five-dollar bootleg copies of albums lined the display cases of street vendors well before Tower Records could slap a $15 sticker on them. Occasionally, when I wasn’t sure if there was enough food in the fridge for my mom to scrape together dinner, I would swipe a few copies from downtown Brooklyn to sell to my neighbors back in East New York. Typically, I’d end up with six dollars, earning enough to cover the cost of four chicken wings with shrimp fried rice from the local Chinese food restaurants that outnumbered grocery stores in my neighborhood. That was my goal that day; hunger was all that was on my mind. A Black vendor, likely three times my age and bodyweight, was tending to a customer when I saw my opportunity to snatch a few CDs and run. Before I could push off my heels, he latched on to my wrist and put me an eyelash away from the barrel of his pistol. My whimpering apologies fell on deaf ears as he kept asking why I would try to take money away from him. I froze. Handling this type of situation never came up in textbooks or family advice. Pedestrians scurried away with the typical aloofness New Yorkers adopt as a means of self-preservation. My mind was blank. I didn’t know if it was because humor was instinctively my third (and preferred) option after fight or flight, but all I could muster was, “I’m just trying to make a dollar out of 15 cents.”   [View in Browser]( [Men's Health]( [SHOP]( [MVP EXCLUSIVES]( [SUBSCRIBE]( [Alternate text] THIS WEEK'S MUST-READ [Alternate text] [The Day Hip-Hop Saved My Life]( [The Day Hip-Hop Saved My Life]( [It was May 12, 1998, two months after my tenth birthday and a week before DMX’s debut album, It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot, was set to crash-land in stores. In Brooklyn, five-dollar bootleg copies of albums lined the display cases of street vendors well before Tower Records could slap a $15 sticker on them. Occasionally, when I wasn’t sure if there was enough food in the fridge for my mom to scrape together dinner, I would swipe a few copies from downtown Brooklyn to sell to my neighbors back in East New York. Typically, I’d end up with six dollars, earning enough to cover the cost of four chicken wings with shrimp fried rice from the local Chinese food restaurants that outnumbered grocery stores in my neighborhood. That was my goal that day; hunger was all that was on my mind. A Black vendor, likely three times my age and bodyweight, was tending to a customer when I saw my opportunity to snatch a few CDs and run. Before I could push off my heels, he latched on to my wrist and put me an eyelash away from the barrel of his pistol. My whimpering apologies fell on deaf ears as he kept asking why I would try to take money away from him. I froze. Handling this type of situation never came up in textbooks or family advice. Pedestrians scurried away with the typical aloofness New Yorkers adopt as a means of self-preservation. My mind was blank. I didn’t know if it was because humor was instinctively my third (and preferred) option after fight or flight, but all I could muster was, “I’m just trying to make a dollar out of 15 cents.”]( [READ MORE]( [Alternate text] [Amazon Is Slashing up to 50% Off Cole Haan's Dress Sneakers]( [Amazon Is Slashing up to 50% Off Cole Haan's Dress Sneakers]( [Snag the brand's best-selling styles at big discounts.]( [READ MORE]( [This Guy Shed 45 Pounds by Working on His Diet and Mental Focus]( [This Guy Shed 45 Pounds by Working on His Diet and Mental Focus]( [Meal prep and a mental reminder helped Joshua Cox drop pandemic weight and get lean.]( [READ MORE]( [Alternate text] [Alternate text] [19 Comfy Elastic Waist Pants That You Can Wear to the Office]( [19 Comfy Elastic Waist Pants That You Can Wear to the Office]( [No need to sacrifice style for comfort, or vice versa.]( [READ MORE]( [Here's How Often You Should Really Poop]( [Here's How Often You Should Really Poop]( [You're probably more normal than you think.]( [READ MORE]( [Alternate text] [Alternate text] [Amazon's Hidden Warehouse Is Loaded With Savings Ahead of Prime Day]( [Amazon's Hidden Warehouse Is Loaded With Savings Ahead of Prime Day]( [What if we told you there was a way to save even more at Amazon?]( [READ MORE]( [Alternate text] [How Boxing Legend Oscar De La Hoya Stays Fit at Age 50]( [How Boxing Legend Oscar De La Hoya Stays Fit at Age 50]( [The world champion shares the diet and workout that keep him in fighting shape.]( [READ MORE]( [Alternate text] [Improve Sleep With Blue Light Blocking Frames From Men's Health]( Follow Us [Unsubscribe]( | [Privacy Notice/Notice at Collection]( menshealth.com ©2023 Hearst Magazines, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Hearst Magazines, 300 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019