TALIB SHABAZZ the King of Jennifer Court


When I was 16 years old I was a lopsided Afro in a land of crisp high top fades. Dusty karate shoes in a land of Super Tims laced up to the knees.
A "HEAD" up to my NECK in hip hop culture at a time when go-go music had everyone in DC on lock, I was THE DEFINITION OF THE WORD BAMMA (I'm gonna find & post a picture of myself in full 80's Boogaloo-Shrimp regalia before "behind the music" puts it out there).

One of my best - my only friends was this cool-ass cat named Talib Shabazz who used to come down every summer from New York & stay with his Mom who lived next door.
He was tall & lanky, had a complexion ravaged by adolescence, but wore cool-ass caps & Cazals, owned a couple of adidas suits and called me "homeboy" all the time.
He was the coolest motherfucker on planet earth as far as I was concerned.
His younger sister Shakira was VICIOUS-LEE-FYNE on some "just another girl on the IRT" type time, but she understandably treated me just like the last-dragon-looking bamma that I was. Luckily, I never allowed my hormones to make me look too much of a fool in front of her.

Every summer morning with the dew still fresh on our mailboxes I'd drag out the boombox & he'd come out with the oh-so coveted KISS-FM "pause tape" mixes by the Latin Rascals, DJ Mister Cee & Marley Marl or else live shows of Cold Crush & Biz Markie. And there we'd be for hours. Popping & breaking & rhyming in our parents driveways until they pulled up at the end of the day & we had to move the cardboard. I had never been to New York at that time but you couldn't tell me I wasn't living hip-hop - I realized that I didn’t HAVE to wear fat laces to be hip-hop.

That's also when I started calling KRS-ONE, "Kris" - like I knew him...

Fast forward almost 2 decades later, and brothers are doing well for themselves. I'm... well this aint about me, y'all should know me, but my boy Talib is now known as the Godfather and is THE man behind one of Atlanta's largest urban music outlets. He gets shouts from the Roots and other artists on their albums. He spins all over the country.
He makes me proud to say I know him.

We speak only once or twice a year & If I'm ever coming ATL way I'll hit him up. We haven't hooked up yet, but it's good to know that he's still there, still hip hop & no doubt still slapping someone on the back smiling wide & calling them "homeboy".

Word up that's one of my influences right there...

Tell your sister I "got a little older/a tid bit wiser/gained 20 pounds/& six inches higher…"

nah on 2nd thought, just tell her to come to a show & eat her heart out...

Pic!

blackpicasso - 10:23 AM
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