King's Disease (a Nas Story)

TWO

Jungle | Date Unknown

"We ain't know what the fuck a divorce was."

I spoke as comfortably as possible in front of my youngest niece. I vaguely remembered moms crying as she filed the paperwork downtown. My moms hands were shaking hard while she was filing out the sheet and shit. 

"You know, Nas didn't like seeing moms hurt. Anybody that hurt me or moms, it was off with their head." I said as I loosened my shoulders beneath my black leather Avirex. 

"But I remember Nas being completely cold towards pops after we left that building. That's for damn sure."

Nasir | September 1985

"Yo, Nas!"

Will was running towards me after I hopped off the city bus. School had just let out and it was time to head home and clean the kitchen and living room before mom got off work. Jabari would be getting off the bus shortly, so I waited for him on the corner so we could walk back to Vernon together.

Not too far behind him was Cory, sporting a Polo button up in navy blue and blue jeans. He wore a navy Yankees cap over his cut and a devilish grin over his lips.

"What-up?" I shook hands with Will and bumped my shoulder with his. Mega gave me a dap immediately after I let go of Will's hand.

"Just got off the train." Will said, holding onto the strap of his backpack.

"Mega, where you been?" Will asked Cory. We formed a rap crew and each came up with our own names once we got to middle school. Cory went by Cormega, or Mega for short. Will would pronounce himself as our DJ, and would go by Ill Will.

As for me? I thought Kid Wave was kind of fly. My real name is too hard for people to pronounce anyway.

"You know where I've been—" Mega said with a million dollar smile. "—With ya moms, nigga!" He laughed while clutching his stomach in his grasp. Will hit Mega upside his head, causing his Yankee brim to lean a bit. Mega's face straightened up, making me laugh at the two of my boys bicker amongst each other.

"But seriously, when are we going to ask our moms for some studio money?" Mega interjected between their tit-for-tat. We stood their silently, trying to come up with how we were going to ask.

"I don't know, y'all. Money kind of tight for moms right now." I told my friends.

"My mom, too. She had to go down to the office again." Will said.

"Well, how else are we going to record our tape?" Mega asked us while lowering his brim over his brows.

"We can ask some small shops if they need an extra hand? See if they're willing to pay us cash." Will suggested.

I stood on the corner with my arms folded with my eyes glued on my baby brother who was unloading the city bus from across the street.

"I mean, what other choice do we have?" Mega asked as he pulled on the straps of his book bag. I watched the pedestrian light turn green for Jabari to run across the street to me safely.

"Jung!" Will called out to my baby brother as he ran into my chest. I grabbed his coils with my hands and cradled the back of his head as he wrapped his arms around my torso for a hug.

"How was school, kid?" I asked him as Will and Mega patted him on the back of his book bag.

"Boring!" Jungle said as he stuck his tongue out. We all laughed at him as I grabbed his hand.

"Let's get home before mom whoop both of our asses. We left the house a mess this morning." I said to Jungle. He shook his head and walked along side me. Will and Mega followed behind closely as we took up most of the sidewalk.

With my guys around me, it felt like the entire state of New York was ours for the taking. We would stop by Will's crib and use his stereo system to write rhymes to his vinyl records that came with the instrumentals on the B-Sides. 

Once we reached our apartment building, we told Mega that we'd catch up with him tomorrow. Will walked with us up until the fourth floor. He bid us a goodbye and told me he'll see me tomorrow morning at the bus stop. After one last flight of stairs, we were staring at the front door of apartment 5D. I dug deep into my pockets and felt for the key to to unlock the door. Jungle, without knowing what I was doing, turned the doorknob and the door swung effortlessly. 

"Ayo." I called out into the house. I wasn't sure if we were being robbed or if mom was home early. I pushed Jungle behind me. "Get back." I commanded in a slight whisper. He kept quiet and did as he was told. 

I slowly crept inside of our unit with my little brother grabbing at the strings of my backpack out of nervousness. 

"Whoever in here, let it be known!" I bucked my chest up at the possible threat, slipping past the living room and grabbing the biggest knife from the wooden block it was nestled in. 

I could hear my mom's bedroom door creaking slowly down the dark, narrow hallway. 

"Jabari, keep that front door open." I yelled out to my brother. "Got it!" He responded. 

The dark figured moved closer towards me before I could make out a face. 

"Did I scare you, son?" 

Nasir | Date Unknown

"My pops would show up whenever he wanted, like that nigga didn't give a fuck about a divorce being filed on him." 

Bridge chuckled a bit at how I said it, but it was the truth. 

"My mom forgot to tell maintenance to change the locks that day. I almost stabbed that nigga." I laughed at my scrawny ass trying to hold it down with my baby brother behind me. 

Jungle | Date Unknown

"That's a fact! Nas grabbed that knife like he was Michael Myers, yo! I was thinking in my head 'This shit could go down right here, and I'm only nine. I can't carry a fucking body five stories down!' Then I'm thinking about when Ma get home, what they fuck we gon' tell her?!" 

Nasir | Date Unknown

"Keep in mind, Jung only nine at the time, I believe. So even if I were to stab that nigga right there? How was he going to help me carry him down those fucking stairs? I was better off calling Will." 

October 1985

The night that Olu would use that key to get inside of Fannie's apartment would be the last time Nasir would ever see his father as an adolescent boy. He would sit Nasir aside from Jabari and talk to him, man to man. 

He would instruct Nasir that the New York schooling system wasn't helping him or his brother none and that he should take the list of books he had prewritten to a librarian to read and study. He urged him to drop out if the curriculums didn't suit him or Jabari. Fannie got word of it and wasn't having it. 

Olu and Fannie argued for weeks until she came to an agreement. She told Nasir that if he decides to drop out at the age of thirteen, that she will home school him and that he will have to find jobs paying cash only to help out with groceries or electricity. He couldn't just sit in the house all day. 

Nasir agreed. 

The young boy from Queens would find a side hustle, busting tables at the local Indian restaurant just two blocks away from the Queensbridge Projects. The store owner was an older man with a much younger wife who ran the front of the store, named Riya. Riya agreed to pay Nasir in cash if he helped on Saturday mornings and Sunday afternoons before closing took place at seven o'clock in the evening. 

Nasir's starting rate was twenty-five dollars. The more efficient he was at cleaning and serving, she would increase his pay five dollars more. By the time he was fourteen, he would be making sixty dollars every weekend. By then, Nasir felt that this job wasn't enough for studio time and new gear. He felt that he was man enough to stop lending a hand and decided to lend a hand to someone else. 

Supreme.