I was blessed to grow up in a community where we had a home base. A very notorious and legendary place called “The Garage” it was just that. A garage in an alley way. We went there to hoop in the alley, smoke, drink and do shit we prolly shouldn’t of been doing at that age. I showed up there at about 11 and prolly gained access for the first time at 12 or 13. It was a community that looked out for each other, and we kept each other safe. It spanned generations and that’s what was so special about it. Guidance from elders. I remember Stro 1 used to cuss me and lecture me about smoking weed when I was 12. He didn’t make me stop but he made me understand what I was doing. The consequences and my realities. Inside those walls were life lessons and tbh... Hip Hop. The Garage introduced me to graffiti and rap music on another level. The older heads would school us and teach us about what came before. I was always a student in that place, albeit not for all the right things but none the less ...