Getting It Right (BOOK THREE)

Chapter 26

"It's about time you answered the phone." Marcus barks once Keenan answers. He was busy trying to beat his high score in a racing game on the Xbox and decided to ignore all incoming calls until he succeeded.

"I was busy, what's up?" He shoves a handful of Cheetos into his mouth.

"Look, you gotta come through to club Essence tonight."

"For what?" Keenan says with his mouthful.

"Cuz I gave one of the DJs your song and they agreed to play it." Marcus tells him, "This is the moment for us to see if its really fire like we think it is."

Keenan scratches the back of his neck, "I don't know..."

"Man whatchu scared of?" Marcus ask.

"I'm not scared," he snaps defensively. "I'm just nervous. This is the first time people other than family and close friends are going to hear my music. I don't know how they're going react, what if they hate it?"

Marcus sighs into the phone, "You'll never know what happens if you don't try. And even if they don't like it, at least we know what we need to change in order to appeal to them. Come on Keenan, you can't get cold feet now."

"Don't be a wimp Keenan!" He hears his sister yell in the background.

He smiles and dusts the crumbs off his shirt. "Alright fine, I'll be there. What time?"

"Be there by 9 at the latest, and if you don't show up you can forget about me helping you again." Marcus warns, "Dress nice, no jeans."

"Fine, see you later." Keenan says goodbye then ends the call. He has three hours until its time to head to the club and needs something to do to kill the time. His stomach is in knots just thinking about letting the public hear his music.

"Keenan?" He turns to see his mother standing near the stairs holding the laundry basket in her arms. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, why?"

"You're staring into space with the game paused on tv." She says.

Keenan blinks and turns off the game. "I just got off the phone with Marcus, his friend is a DJ at club Essence and he agreed to play my song tonight."

"Really?" His mother drops the laundry basket and runs over to hug him. "That's great baby!"

"Thanks," he pats her back. "It's just nerve racking, what if other people don't like it?"

"Well that's a shame because its a really good song. Better than those rappers we have today talking about drugs and sex." She screws up her face in disgust.

"Yeah," His father adds in, coming from the kitchen. "Tupac and Biggie rapped about things that actually mattered like poverty, police brutality, equality. Now we have the youngins rapping about cocaine and strippers. Your generation of music has gone down so much."

"I see where you're coming from pops. But what about Kendrick Lamar, J.Cole and Childish Gambino? Their raps still strike a chord in the heart."

"They'll never compare to Biggie and Pac." His dad chuckles.

"Point is," His mom intervenes. "Maybe this song is your start to be the new face of hip hop. You can change the game and make people focus on the bigger things in life."

Keenan laughs, this is all too much for a little night club premier. "Well at least lets get my song heard first before we talk about changing the game that I'm not even in yet."

"True true, I'm just proud of how hard you've been working." She hugs him again. "I've never seen you so motivated about anything before, it's nice to see you channeling all that has happened in a positive way."