Keepin' it Real... what?

Okay, they got me today.
The Homies scared me today.
Normally, I just see 'em and I don't see 'em.
But today, they got me.

I was getting off the subway on my way to work. I was approaching the top of the escalator and my face was buried in my newspaper. Just as I stepped off I heard this loud voice next to me shout, "I'm losing my signal, I'll call you back!" I jerked my head and saw this tall brother, about 6' 3" with this wild assed hairdo.

He had his hair in hundreds of thin braids and all of his braids were pulled into two clusters that shot out about 10 inches from the sides of his head. in each cluster he had about 40 or 50 little red and blue beads. His clusters bounced wildly as he jogged down the escalator.

I try to just ignore these new, girlish hairdos that many of these brothers are wearing these days. I wish I could say it was something the young guys do, but I'm seeing guys in their 50's sporting braids, plats, twists, beads, clamshells and all this other shit on their heads.

Okay- I'm gonna say it: MAN UP FELLAS, AND QUIT LOOKING LIKE A BUNCH OF DAMN LITTLE GIRLS!

Ahh, that felt great. Say it to yourself a few times - you'll enjoy it too!

I try to accept that it's just a fad, or an expression of independence - but when every asshole on every corner is trying to look even more foolish and more outlandish than the next asshole on the next corner. It saddens me.

Black men have enough going against us. Why bring more stupidity into our world. I'm all for freedom of expression - regardless of how this sounds. But when 80% of the guys are all doing the same thing - wild hair styles, white T-shirts, extra baggy jeans, oversized jerseys, black on black baseball cap on sideways and walkie-talkie cellphone... you have no independence. You have no originality. You have no style of your own. You are a fucking clone!

WAKE UP BLACK MEN!
WAKE UP AND FIND YOUR OWN STYLE!

There is no shame in being different. Just look around at the carbon copies you see everyday all day. It's no shame in being different from them. You don't have to be rude and crude. You don't have to be a thug, you don't have to dress like them and you don't have to scare grown folks with your wild assed hairdo!!!!

Just, wake up! Just Be Real!!!