Here's my life-long anthem, can't forget about you!

"These streets hold my deepest days / this hood taught me golden ways / made me, truly this is what made me / break me, not a thing's gonna break me"

These are lyrics from Nas' "Can't Forget About You". When I first heard this song, I just thought it was a hot song. But after a few listens, I realized it was a real anthem for change. I just moved from the neighborhood and house that I lived in for twenty-five years. I had wonderful memories on that block, in that hood, on that stoop, and in that house. As I look back, I realized that the time I spent in Far Rockaway made me who I am. When I was younger, my father nicknamed me Rock, a name I still go by 'til this day, because I was hardheaded. But that name means so much more to me, being that I'm from The Rock. I love my hood because it's my hood, it belongs to me and I to it. I know a lot of people think that its ignorant of me to love this place, what a slum it is. But I can tell you, I had all my first's in Far Rockaway. I was born four blocks from my first home, I went to my first school seven blocks from my house, I smoked my first blunt across the street in my cousin's stairwell, I spit my first rhyme in my aunt's living room, I had my first kiss, my first word, my first step, my first fight, the first time I got jumped, the first time I got drunk, etc, it all happened there. Those are memories that can't be erased. That's why even though my zip-code has change, I still refer to myself as Far Rockaway Rah Rah. I'm that boy spitting on the back of the Q113 until that day, I'm that dude with the headphones on the A train until they come, I'm that kid on that stoop watching the scene pass by until the moment I die. I think everybody should think back and remember that first quarter of their life and what made you who you are. They say that your first years are the formative ones, which is the truest statement to me. So every now and then I get all nostalgic and reminisce about my formative years. So don't think it immature when I say "I'm Far Rock born, Far Rock bred, and when I die I'll be Far Rock dead", it just means that Far Rockaway will always live in me even if I don't live in it. I know that everybody has that place that they will never forget, I have the Sixth Borough, Far Rockaway. In closing to all my Far Rockaway representatives, let's continue to "Rock The World".

Peace, I mean WAR!