Courtesy of Compton

Chapter 1

01 x Izzy.

“Kendrick, baby, come here please!” I heard my grandmother yell from the kitchen. I sat on the couch in the living room of our one bedroom apartment, eating a bowl of Fruit Loops, watching TV. Obliging, I got up, sat my half empty bowl of cereal and proceeded to the kitchen, where my grandma, Izzy as I like to call her, was.

She was sitting at the table with a pencil in her hand as she filled out her lottery sheets. “Yes, Ma?” I ask, already knowing that she was going to ask me to walk to the store to play her numbers for her. It was a daily thing for her, so I wouldn't be surprised.

She looked up at me with her glossy hazel eyes and smiled. “Would you take my numbers down to the store for me, I would do it myself but I’m afraid these old legs of mind won’t be able to make it there before two o’clock.” I glanced over at the freshly polished grandfather clock in the living room and saw that it was almost 1:30.

“Yeah, I’ll do it.” I said, giving her a small smile. I had no problem with doing anything for grandma, considering that she basically raised me since I was a youngin’. My real mother was considering putting me up for adoption, simply because she wanted to have absolutely no responsibilities while she ran through the streets, asking for crack.

Izzy was the first one to protest her decision and took me into her care, officially making herself my legal guardian. If it wasn’t for her, I would probably be stuck in a group home somewhere.

Most people expected to me to be sad because I didn’t have my mother, nor father in my life, but I didn’t give a fuck nor will I ever. All I needed in my life was Izzy and nobody else. Though Izzy thought otherwise and hoped that I would find a girl that I could finally settle down with, I shrugged the idea off. Plus, I was only 19 and settling down wasn't in my future any time soon. Maybe later down the line, but not today.

“Thanks baby.” She sweetly kissed me on my cheek as I took her numbers, folded them and stuck them down into my back pocket. “You be careful out there, you hear me? And don’t forget I love you!” She yelled as I walked back through the living room and towards the front door.

“I love you more Izzy!” I stepped outside and immediately, I was directly hit with Compton’s 95 degree weather. As long as I lived here, one thing I never did get used to have to be the heat, maybe that’s why I continuously sweated bullets as I walked down the street in the direction of Sonny's, the corner store.

Along the way, I stopped a couple of times to talk to a few of my close niggas in the neighborhood. You could say I was well known around here. Not for my good looks, but for the undeniably hot freestyles I spit every now and then. I wasn’t tryna’ be a rapper though, but getting me and Izzy out the hood was one of my goals and the people around me would constantly tell me that if I became a rapper and stick to just that, I could move outta here.

I didn’t believe’em though.

A few more stops and conversations later, I finally arrived at the store. I dapped Sonny up as I walked in, handing him Izzy’s numbers from my pocket. “Wassup, K-Dot?” Sonny greeted, taking the numbers. I watched him as he ran them through the machine.