You are not from New York

From Good Time Hood Times

You have to be conscious of what you're wearing in Los Angeles. The following story will be told through the eyes of a colleague. The following events occurred all because of the New York Yankees.

I had a fun filled weekend ahead of me. My homeboy Steve was coming over to spend the weekend, I had just got paid and Steve and I were going to a party. I was super excited. I started off the weekend by visiting the mall. I had to buy some new clothes for the party. I got the clothes and I got the shoes, now I just had to get a matching hat. I went over to Lidz to see what new hats they had. I didn't really see much of a selection. I had enough LA hats and I wasn't interested in the NBA hats. I wanted something simple but stylish. Then I saw it. Usually this hat comes in navy blue but they had one more in black my size and it would go perfect with my outfit. It was a slick New York Yankees hat. $40 is a lot to spend on one accessory but it made my whole outfit that much better. All I had to do now was wait on my dad to get home so we could go get Steve.

My dad got home around 6pm. He came upstairs, changed out of his work clothes, and we were off. It was the start of a good weekend. You know one of those weekends where your teacher gave you a lot of homework and you bust it out Friday night so your whole weekend is free to party. My dad seemed pretty happy about something too. I don’t know what it was why but it didn’t matter. It was just cool to see everyone happy about the weekend.

We arrived at Steve’s without a hitch. The plans for that night was to pick up Steve, go pick up our girlfriends, then go to the party from my girlfriend’s house. My girlfriend stayed in LA on 62nd and Vermont (Harvard Park Brims). I didn’t have much information on the party. All I knew is that it was in some location in LA. Before my dad dropped us off at my girlfriend’s house, he had to make a stop in Compton. I can’t remember where we were going but I think it was on Greenleaf by Wilmington (Spook Town Compton Crip). We pulled up to a duplex on Greenleaf. Steve and I waited in the car while my dad went into the house to take care of whatever he had to take care of. It was a tough looking area but I wasn’t worried because we were on a main street. I was sitting in the front seat while Steve was in the back on the driver’s side. We were still talking about our plans for the weekend. The only mistake we made here was that we weren’t paying attention to our surroundings. I heard a noise. It sounded like someone threw something at the car. One rock turned into a few more. I looked up and saw two guys walking bicycles. One had on a Seattle Mariners hat. The adrenaline was pumping. I was still processing what was happening. Then I heard one guy yell, “Fuck Neck bones cuh!” "Neck bones" is a "diss" to Nutty Block Compton Crip. I knew this was some gang shit. I really didn’t know what to do. We didn’t have any weapons but they didn’t seem to have any either. They got on their bikes and hit the corner fast. I knew they were going to get backup. So I got out the car and went to get my dad so we could leave. I just went to the door and knocked to hurry him along so we could get to the party on time. I won’t say that Steve and I were frightened but more nervous. We knew those guys would be back. About one minute later my dad finally came to the car. When we pulled off and made a U-turn on Wilmington, I saw the two guys we met earlier walking back down the street, along with five of their closest friends.

At the time I was more hip to LA gangs than Compton gangs. I told my dad what happened with those guys. "Oh, its because of your Yankees hat" he said. "They don't get along with nutty block over here". I was not aware of my surroundings, which would have been a costly mistake. I was "doomed by my own ignorance". My dad continued, "if you walk around with that hat on, people are gonna think you're special. You are not from New York.” Heed the word of the brother.

We finally arrived at my girlfriend's house. I had already taken my hat off when we exited the 110. We walked in and were pleasantly surprised to see that these chicks were not ready. Steve had brought his xbox so we kept ourselves busy with that. By this time we were laughing about the situation in Compton. I'm sure it wouldn't have been so funny if something would have went down but nonetheless it was the past. After about another hour and a half, the girls were finally ready. My girlfriend’s mom was giving us a ride. She had a huge Astro van, which can seat about 8 - 10 people. The van was about to be tested. My girlfriend yelled, "oh we have to go get so and so". She just started naming off these names of people we had to pick up. It was already 10:30 p.m. and the party started at 9. We were going to be even later. Her mom tried to contest but my girlfriend is very persuasive. Her mom didn't fight long. I was so surprised in myself for not complaining. I guess it was because I accepted the fact that we were already late so there was no use crying over spilled milk. I was also emotionally drained from earlier. I just put my hat over my face and fell into a light slumber.

It seemed like I was asleep for about 30 minutes but apparently it was only 10. When I awoke we were at the party. There we tons of cars which meant there were tons of people. We got out the van and walk to the entrance. We didn't have a set time limit on how long we were going to stay. We could call my girlfriend’s mom whenever we were ready. I was getting into party mode. The music was loud and everyone was feeling good. I put on my hat and we went into the party. It was packed. We were just trying to find a nice spot to chill in before we got our groove on. It was sort of an underground party so they couldn’t serve alcohol most likely because they didn’t have a license. There was a particular group selling drinks though. They were selling cran-grape juice and vodka.

We didn’t drink too much while we were there. We all had one cup. Then something caught my attention. This guy walked past me and gave me a slight bump on the shoulder. I didn’t pay any attention but I did notice him. This guy was wearing a hat over his geri-curl. I was thinking to myself, “This can’t be right” Here it is 2008 and this guy is wearing a hat over a geri-curl. This made me pay more attention to my surroundings. I looked back over at the guy and noticed he was wearing a red T-shirt under his jacket with a red Texas Rangers hat. I was nothing to be alarmed about but again, as a young black man you must be aware of your surroundings. About two hours in I started talking to my girlfriend about the venue. I don’t know what streets we were on at the time but we were right on the edge of Rollin 20’s. I guess I got thrown off because of the area’s neutral look. All of a sudden the music stopped and the hostess walked up on stage. She grabbed the Microphone and everyone and started hyping the crowd up. “What’s up y’all?” The crowd responded with a roar. “Ay, it is crackin’ up in here” The crowd went crazy. She continued, “Ain’t it crackin’ up in here? Look at all these people! We got the Westside rollin’ 20’s up in here, we got some east coast crips, six oh crips, got some stones.” Then out of nowhere someone in the crowd hollered, “Hoooooovaaaaa!!!”

I can’t imagine what compelled this lady to basically give shout outs to all the gangs there. When she ran through the different sets, their perspective members would celebrate. What did she honestly think she was doing? That’s not the way you hype up a party. All she did was get the gang members fired up. After she exited the stage the music was turned back on. There was a tension in the air. Not as many people were dancing now. I knew something was about to go down. We had to get out of that place. The girls of course couldn’t understand why we had to leave. They wanted to stay and dance. I had to sneak and call my girlfriend’s mom to come pick us up. It was around 1 am at the time. Thank god she was still up. Even though you could feel something was about to go down, you still have to keep your cool in these scenarios, especially with women. So to throw them off we continued to dance until our ride came. I figured it would be safer to stay in our little corner and wait than to go outside and risk getting banged on.

Her mom called around 25 minutes later to let us know she was outside. Around the same time we started to exit a fight broke out. Security closed us all in because there were people outside trying to jump in the fights. We were on the far left side of the exit. The fights were more to the right. Unfortunately, there weren’t any other exits available. So we had to blend in and exit with everyone else. While squeezing through the door, I had to pay attention to what was going on still. I saw a group of bloods approaching the exit just when we were. I didn’t make any eye contact. I just wanted to make sure we got through the narrow exit with no confrontations. The exit was so narrow that I was forced to bump shoulders with one of the fired up bloods that was squeezing through along with us. He looked me up and down and said “Fuck Naps blood!” That’s when it hit me; I still had on my New York Yankees hat. “Naps” is a “diss” for any Neighborhood rollin’ crip gang (NHC). They also wear New York Yankees hats. He stared at me waiting for a response as we continued to walk. I uttered the well-known universal phrase, “Oh, I don’t bang man”. It didn’t seem like he was content with that response. He demanded satisfaction.

He walked closer to me and started flashing his gang signs. I didn’t gangbang. All I wanted to do is make sure we got home period. All I was doing was looking for that white Chevy Astro Van. I took my hat off to avoid any other confrontations. “Ed!” I heard. It was Steve and his girlfriend calling me out of a white Astro van.
I hadn’t heard about anything going down at the party in the parking lot. I’m sure the police were quick to arrive none of us were hurt thank goodness. I wondered how my friend and his girlfriend got out before us. I remember us being together at the exit. I guess they managed to find another way out.

A few things to remember here is that if you’re a young black man in Los Angeles, you have to be aware of gangs. It’s unrealistic to say that you have to know every single set in existence but you have to have basic knowledge. You should know basic things like colors, accessory association i.e. hats. Having basic concepts of reading graffiti is also important. Again, just basic knowledge is essential. For example, if you are observing graffiti on a wall, what does it mean if a “B” or a “C” is crossed out or has an “X” in it? These types of things will tell you how to govern yourself in these neighborhoods. A lot of people who claim they can go wherever they want still follow these basic principles. Not every neighborhood in Compton or Los Angeles is a warzone either so don’t be afraid to visit friends or do business in these areas. Whether you’re in Watts, Beverly Hills, or Palos Verdes you should be aware of your surroundings at ALL TIMES no matter whose neighborhood you are in. You don’t’ want to be “doomed by your own ignorance.” Chance favors the prepared mind.