Kindergarten had just begun and, boy, was it an adjustment.
None of my pre-school buddies had followed to my elementary school and I was huge compared to my classmates. I was a gentle giant, not a bully in any way, but I was kind of awkward. Not personally awkward. But like huge. When kids are that young they are scared of someone their age that much bigger. I always played house really nice with everyone but even so, they were distant. I couldn't blame them.
On the playground I was instantly attracted to the basketball court. You see, I absolutely hate grass and dirt. I like feeling fresh. Don't get me wrong - it got grimy on the court and knee scabs were god awful, but I'll take my chances with that against having little pieces of grass following me into my bedroom after school. No!
I was given every type of ball growing up, but I always just liked playing basketball more. I loved that I could dribble on my own, shoot on my own, and most importantly I could stay the hell out of the mud, grass, dirt, etc. Full disclosure, I never played soccer because I was always kind of a bitch about getting my shins kicked. I liked football a lot but I really wasn't getting around that well, I was pretty worthless out there.
The ball was my friend.
After about a month of school had passed, I found myself sitting with the same two gentlemen each day at lunch - Big B and Von.
Big B was enormous just like me. At that time he reminded me of a slimmer, baby version of Fat Albert. Big B had a kind heart, and he, too, had to order two entrees at lunch to keep filled for the day despite multiple snack times - we had the same, err, metabolism? 6 nuggets becomes 12 nuggets, but then we could always sneak 2-3 more underneath and you really are looking at 2.5 entrees. We got it in.
Von was the quietest guy, and unlike Big B and I, he was absolutely tiny. He came up just over my hip. We were pretty much polar opposites but Von and I were a package deal. If there was a pickup game on the courts, me and Von took the worst three other players up and still gave it to cats. At this age, the only time I got confrontational was when someone would try to punk Von. No sir. I felt empty when we weren't in the same class 1st and 2nd grade, but we would still run the courts during recess, before being reunited in 3rd grade.
Von had a cassette player that he would share with me every now and then. If you recall, back then they had the plastic one-piece headphones so he had to give the whole contraption to me and he would get to hear nothing. Von had an older brother who he really looked up to. Because I felt so strongly about Von, I, in turn, respected his brother, whom I had never met. Von would take a few of his brother's cassettes and bring them to school on occasion, several of which I can vividly recall. You have to realize I would hear just :20 second snippets. Von wasn't a giver, but he wasn't an idiot and knew batteries are of the essence. Just tastes if you will.
The first tape I remember was Eric B. and Rakim - Let the Rhythm Hit 'Em:
These two were gods, I wasn't feeling this (blasphemous, I know, and yes I love Eric B. and Rakim now). "I'm the arsenal, I got artillery, lyrics of ammo." Yes, he did. Arguably one of the best lyricist/producer combinations of all-time.
Secondly, I can remember listening to LL Cool J - Mama Said Knock You Out:
I think the reason I can remember this is the hook is pretty prominent and he says the same thing over and over again. When only getting a small piece at a time this worked to LL's favor. He was a filthy lyricist.
But it was the third :20 second, hook-only snippet that still resonates to this day:
I still cannot listen to this song without smiling. It happened then and it will probably happen when I'm 80. Don't let me fool you into thinking I knew all the words to this song, I knew seven.
Just a taste, but I knew I was hungry for more.
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