Projects to Penthouses

"We eating joe, you still saying no cobbs"
Common, Southside feat. Kanye West

Some of y'all may have mistaken it for yet another hip-hop euphamism from the oft over-ya-head Com, but Chicago's 80's babies understand why this line was so dope.

Once upon a time in Chicagoland's grammar schools (elementary for tha out-of-towners), proclaiming "no cobbs" was the only thing that stood between a lil nigga on free lunch from coming up on your fruit roll-up, capri sun, lunchable, squeeze-it, teddy grahams... I could keep going. YES, it was that serious. As a free lunch youth from time-to-time, I was one of the few overzealous students who preyed upon the unsuspecting wielder of Now-And-Laters (known in the hood as 'Niahlatas'). As ridiculous as this sounds, if we caught you slippin and called "cobbs" before you could drop a fittingly preventative "no cobbs", the unwritten law of the classroom meant you got taxed...

As random of a sidebar as this is... I'm getting somewhere with it, bear with me lol. Last night I connected with one of my guys from Wash U that now resides in the DMV. Now I havent really kicked it tough with this cat in minute, but in real nigga fashion, we picked up where we left off. Interestingly enough, he's on the corporate tip now and as it turns out, has some of the same specific aspirations I carry in terms of investments and financial education. Reflection upon our dialogue was empowering and inspirational enough to make blog two days in a row.

Bringing me back to the Common line...

As young black professionals, ranging from a variety of backgrounds and demographics, we share one consistency... someone (mother, father, auntie, tt, madea, somebody nigga!) busted their hump so we could dream with no limitations. Sadly enough, it is our audacious conservatism as a people (it aint yo fault... look up Souls of Black Folks for more insight) that keeps us so complacent with simply surpassing the next nigga or collecting degrees. We are so worried about protecting the little bit that we've accomplished that we're afraid to stray the beaten path and go for ours.

The college degree in Black America has become a symbol of status, another marker of inter-social hierarchy and is losing its dynamism. By all means, achieve and tack as many letters onto your name as you can, but instead of simpy relying upon that to promote your bachelor eligibility in a swanky nightspot; start an investment group with your bourgie-ass friends (I did), promote financial education amongst your peers and the misguided youth, start your own business, travel the world, but by all means... don't settle!

In the last few weeks, my cousin was gunned down in wanton gang violence. He was the typical black child raised by the unforgiving streets, for lack of responsible parenting. Despite the path he walked and numerous jail stints, I loved him as a brother and did everything in my power to protect him. Whereas most of my family had gotten to the point of simply trying to protect his physical, I wanted to preserve his mind. As an elementary school dropout and repeat offender, he believed that his ambition for normalcy was unrealistic because he didnt have the stats behind him that myself or our cousins carried. His death showed me ever more, the importance of claiming our destinies and pushing it to the limit.

Y'all can keep callin' "no cobbs", but I'm over here eating. The pursuit of my passions will not stop, simply out of fear for what another man thinks.