Page 25 of Love U Down II

“Man, stop fucking playing. You know that shit was good.” Shade grinned.

“You need a lil work but I think you’ve got what it takes as long as you’re open to being molded and can take criticism and instruction.”

“I can do that.”

“Cool.” I dapped Shade. “We’ll set an official meeting up then.”

“A’ight.” He nodded and I hit him on the back as he pivoted and left me and Dashawn alone.

“So you think he’s got what it takes?” Dashawn glanced up at my childhood home.

“I see a lil bit of me in him,” I admitted. “He just needs a little support.” I crossed my arms while I looked at the house as well. After my parents moved, I’d purchased it so the yard was kept up even though the inside was mostly empty. “We went through a lot to get to where we are and I remember having to claw my way up from here. If I can give somebody from the old hood a leg up, then I will. Worst case scenario, I have to cut him loose, but I’m at least going to give it a try.”

“I fuck with that.” Dashawn glanced at me. “We used to dream of giving back to the hood.”

“Yeah, of taking care of our families and traveling while we performed together and shit.” I chuckled. “All of it is coming true now.”

“Almost all of it.” Dashawn shifted on his feet. “Seeing Shade rap in person was cool and it got me thinking about all the shit we said we wanted when we were younger and how hard it was to keep that shit going.”

“But we doing it.” I sighed, turned around, and collapsed on the top step of the house.

“Almost.” Dashawn exhaled. “I don’t know, man. I think I may want to get in the studio and just see what happens. I remember when rapping was all I wanted to do but then the gang shit and making sure I could provide for Hazel had me feeling like I couldn’t really take the time away from work or the streets to throw money away in the studio.”

“Nigga, I would have fronted you some studio time.” I looked at his ass like he was dumb and he mirrored the expression.

I scoffed, looked down, and shook my head.

Dashawn was proud. He’d always been proud. He didn’t accept money from me that he didn’t feel like he’d worked for, and even though I said he didn’t need to pay me back for shit, he always kept score regardless. I hated and respected it.

“Well fuck it, I got a free studio you can use in the label’s building now, so let’s get to work.”

“Fuck it. Let’s do it.”

I smirked.

Just like that, I’d filled two of my three rap artist slots.

CHAPTER 6

MYOME

Itapped my dad’s contact then backed out. I exhaled, shook my free hand out, and tapped it again. I didn’t know why I was so nervous about this. There was nothing to be afraid of. I just needed to rip the Band-Aid off. If everything fell apart, I’d eventually be okay. Drix, Charm, and his family wouldn’t let me fall apart. I knew that.

I tapped the call button and put the phone to my ear. It rang four times and I was getting ready to hang up when my father’s gruff voice came through.

“Hello?”

“Hey.”

“Hey, baby. What’s going on?”

“Uh, nothing. I was just wondering if you and Mom may want to get dinner or something with me and Drix.”

“With you and Drix?” he repeated.

“Yeah. We, uh, had my brothers out for my album release party and it went well… so I don’t know, I just thought maybe we could all meet up and see if things work out this time.”

“I mean, yeah, sure. When did you want to get together?”