Queen of the City 3: The Life of a Female Rapper, page 10
“This is a nice ass house, Lyric. Damn. Maybe we should just live here and shit.”
“Nah. This ain’t that type of house. We just here for right now.”
She walked over and sat down on the couch in the same spot I imagined Vinny was seated and with that, I went into his room. The stench of dried blood hit my nose as soon as I walked down the hallway. I was apprehensive about going inside because of the last image that was in my mind when I walked in before, but I forced myself in. His bloodstain was against the wall and on the floor in the same spot I found him in when I finally checked his room. My imagination filled the room with chaos just as it was the day that he was rushed out of here on a stretcher. I wiped tears from my eyes and backed out of the room, not knowing how much more of the emotion I could take. It was hard to understand that there could be so much peace in one room of the house, but just down the hall, utter chaos. I let Malley know I was going to Big Mama’s room to chill for a minute and in moments, I was fast asleep.
She stood just outside the door later that night, “Lyric, yo, I’m fuckin’’ starving. Let’s get something to eat.” I woke up and glanced at the time. It was almost 7 pm when I drug myself out of Big Mama’s bed and walked down the hallway. I looked into Vinny’s room but this time I wasn’t as anxious as I was when I first came in. Maybe spending some time in Big Mama’s room calmed me down a little bit. Afterward, I headed out to the front room with Malley and just a little while later we left. We drove down the neighborhoods as she glanced out the window like a tourist. “This shit kinda look like Akron,” she said as we drove past the beat down houses in the city. It didn’t take long for us to make it to Speed Queen. Speed Queen was a barbecue joint on the east side of Milwaukee, and they served some of the best ribs in the world, at least that’s what I thought. When we got out the car, a couple people recognized me. “Suzy? Damn, where you been?” one of the girls said as she was heading to her car.
“Just out, doin’ my thang.”
“You still rappin?”
“Nah, not really.”
“That’s fucked up. You had some classics out here. I still remember when you came back and took over Remy’s show. That shit was hard!”
I laughed at the thought, “Word. I appreciate you.”
“Aight. Well, I’ll holla at you.”
Malley watched her as she drove off and then turned towards me, “You used to rap, too?” I looked off to the right, “Yeah. I mean, it was a while ago, though, you know? I haven’t’ really done anything since so I don’t mention it.” With that, we headed to the front line and that’s when images of Block flooded through my mind. He was a security guard I knew from back in the day. He was the one that helped me get on stage and fuck up Remy’s show when I came back from Chicago. Maybe he could help, I thought to myself as we stood in line. He could have had connections that went deeper than mine and if not that, I know that he wouldn’t have a problem keeping us safe if need be. I just had to find out how to get in touch with him.
The sun began to set below the horizon as we sunk our teeth into the plate of ribs. “Damn, Lyric, you weren’t lying. This shit is good.” I wiped my mouth with a napkin and responded to her, “I told you. You know I wouldn’t lead you wrong.” As we ate, I thought about stopping by Onyx to see if Block was still working there. It was a long shot because most security guards don’t stick around for that long, but if he wasn’t there I was sure one of them could point us in the right direction. After we finished eating, we went to the club. I drove to the back the way I normally did whenever I showed up. I didn’t see any sign of Block once we got there, but I got out and walked to the back door as Malley walked right beside me. The man at the door stood in front of us, preventing us from going any further.
“Can I help y’all?”
I spoke up, “I’m looking for Block.”
“Who?”
“Block. A big ass nigga that works security here.”
“Ain’t nobody named Block that works here.”
“Oh?” I said, looking just beyond him, “What y’all got goin’ on in there tonight?”
“First of all, who are you and why are you asking so many questions?”
He stepped closer to us, but I pulled Malley back, “My bad, my nigga. I didn't mean anything by it; I was just seeing what was going on.” He seemed to snarl at us as the streetlights began flickering on in the alley, “Well, walk to the fucking front and find out. This back here don’t concern you.” I tapped Malley on the side and then we walked back to the car. “Muthafucka’s rude as a bitch up here,” she said, peering back at the security guard. “Something is up with him,” I said, “I could tell. Most niggas don’t act like that at the back, even if you don’t belong there.” I started the engine, and suddenly, gunshots rang out. We ducked down in our seats just as more bullets rang out. I couldn’t tell what direction they were coming from, but as soon as I heard a break in the shooting, I lifted my head up. The guard that was at the door was just gunned down as he laid right in the spot we were just standing. When I looked ahead, I saw two men in black hoodies pointing the gun at our car. I put my head down and went in reverse as fast as I could down the alley. As soon as we got to the street, I put it into drive and peeled off down the street. It was too dark to be able to see what was going on or who was shooting, but chances are, it was somebody that didn’t give a fuck about who we were, but it didn’t seem that any of it mattered. I just thanked God that we had gotten out of the way of their real target, but who knows, maybe I was the target, and he had just gotten in the way. In either case, I knew that walking around Milwaukee was no longer an option. If we were going to do anything, it had to be completely covert.
“So, it’s clear that we are going to need some guns and shit, Lyric, especially if niggas are clappin’ at us like that on a regular,” she said as she slowly lifted her head up. The windshield had a few bullet holes at the top of it but nothing too major. She was right, though, we needed weapons if we were going to be here in the city. Nas probably had everyone on alert for me if I was ever to show up again. When we got back to the house, I called Shaunie, “Hey girl, it’s me. Call me when you can.” I knew she would probably know more about the city than I would since I had been gone for almost a year. Malley sat down in the front room as I went to the hall to get some supplies to clean Vinny’s room. It was hard, almost like washing away memories, but I did the best job I could. Big Mama always kept ammonia around when she had to do deep cleaning, so I got to work. It took me about an hour to get everything as clean as I could.
Malley came into the room moments later. “You aight?” she asked just before I wiped a tear from my eye. “Yeah, I’m good. I’m good,” I said to her. She took a deep breath, “We’re going to get that nigga, Lyric. I promise you.” I took the stuff back out of Vinny’s room just as my phone rang. It was Shaunie.
“Whassup, Lyric.”
“Hey, Shaunie. How are you doing?”
“About as good as I can be right now, you know? It’s just not the same without him around.”
“I feel you on that. It’s going to take a while to get over it, I understand. He is going to be missed, without a doubt.”
“Yeah,” she paused for a moment, “but what’s up? I know you didn’t just call because you were bored.”
“Nah, I didn’t. I need to get in touch with Block. You remember him?”
“Block? Nah, not really.”
“The big ass security guard I tried to hook you up with when I got back from Chicago.”
“Oh, that nigga?” she laughed, “yeah, I remember him. Matter of fact, I still got his number and shit.”
“You do? Man, I need to get that from you. I gotta holla at him real quick.”
“Ok, but he doesn't live in the city no more.”
“Damn, he doesn't?”
“Nah. He moved to Atlanta a little over a year ago now, but I can still give you his number.”
“Aight.”
“I’ma text it to you.”
“Okay, that’s cool.”
“Aight.”
“Aye, Shaunie. Be safe, aight?”
“Shit, you don’t have to tell me that. I’m moving out of town next week. I’ve had enough of all this killing and shit. Milwaukee ain’t gettin’ no better no time soon.”
“Movin’? Well, look, I’ma talk to you about that later, aight? Make sure you text me his number, though.”
“Okay. I’m about to do it right now.”
The text came through as soon as we hung up and I called him, but it went straight to voicemail. “Yo, Block. It’s yo’ girl, Lyric. I need to talk to you, fam, so whenever you get this, please call me back, aight?” From that point, all I could do was sit and wait for him to return my call. I knew that there was really no way that I could get any weapons in the city by myself. I was sure that Nas had everything under tight surveillance, so my next best bet was Block. He was the guy I turned to whenever I got in a jam earlier in my life. He was actually the one who sold me the gun I used on the night Junie was killed. I walked over to the window, patiently waiting for him to call me back. Out the corner of my eye, I saw a car driving slowly up the street. I told Malley to shut the TV off so that there wouldn’t be any lights on inside. The car crept slowly, and when it got in front of Big Mama’s house, it stopped. It was an all-white Impala with heavily tinted windows. We both peered outside through a tiny opening on both sides of the curtain. The car stayed there for a few minutes and all of a sudden, the side door opened, and Man-Man got out of the car. He looked up and down the street and then glared at the house once again.
After that, he headed towards the front door as my heart skipped a beat inside my chest. “Shhh,” I said, glancing at Malley as we removed ourselves from the window. I heard his footsteps walk up the porch and then towards the front room window. His shadow was just in front of where we stood as he cupped his hand over the glass and leaned in. If I had a gun, I would have put it right in the window and shot him right in his forehead. Suddenly, the car horn blew, and he turned to walk away. We snuck back to our original spots near the window and watched him get in the passenger’s seat as they drove off. “That was Man-Man,” Malley said as she caught her breath.
“You know him?”
“Hell yeah. He’s one of Nas’s homies from Ohio. That nigga is a fuckin’ terror, himself.”
We sat back down on the couch, both too nervous to turn on the television or anything else until we felt it was safe. Just then, my phone rang, and it scared the shit out of both of us. I quickly reached for it on the couch,
“Hello?”
“Lyric? What’s good, Ma?”
“Shit, Block. I’m chillin’.”
“Chillin’, huh? Last I heard, you were runnin’ the city with Nas and shit.”
“Well, a lot has changed since then, Block. A whole lot.”
“Word?”
“Yeah, it’s a long story, though, you know what I’m sayin’? I’ll fill you in later, but I need to holla at you about something.”
“Well, what’s up?”
“I need some weapons, Block. Like, some pistols and shit. Automatics if you got them.”
“You know I ain’t in the Mil no more, right?”
“Yeah, but I figured you still had some connections here for that shit.”
He sighed, “I mean, I do but—”
“Block, this shit has to be legit, like… I don’t want Nas to know shit about it.”
“Trust me, I know, and the person I’m thinking of don’t even fuck with Nas. He on the south side.”
“Aight.”
“But the only thing is, you remember that house you found Prince in?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, the nigga that you need to holla at is connected to them SA’s.”
“Fuck!”
It was like every hope that I had of getting my hands on something to help protect us was shattered right in front of me. I didn’t know how I was going to get my hands on anything, knowing that those SA’s would immediately remember me as soon as I stepped foot over there. “I know, Lyric. You’re not going to want to go over there now, I mean, I know it happened a while ago but you still too hot to show yo’ face.” I sighed, “I know, man. I know.” I looked over at Malley as she scrolled through her phone and that’s when I got the idea,
“Say, Block, if I can send somebody else over there, you think it would be a problem?”
“Somebody like who?”
“Somebody I can trust.”
“Nah, I don’t see a problem with it. Just let me know who and I’ll take it from there.”
“Aight. Yo, stay by your phone, I’ma hit you right back.”
I spoke with Malley and told her the situation so she could understand why I couldn’t go over there and get the weapons myself. She understood, and she didn’t have a problem with it at all. The only issue was getting her over there, and that’s when she brought up Quandra. “Shit, if it’s not you, I trust Quandra. She lived here, and she knows her way around. Besides that, I’ve known her the longest. I trust her.” I thought about Chicago for a moment but quickly removed it from my mind. That was the past, and she told me she was different, and during the time we were finessing niggas in Rockwall, she never showed any signs of transgressing. “Aight, let’s see if Quandra will take you out there then.”
She called Quandra, and we explained the situation to her. She had moved from Rockwall to Waukegan since we both left to go to Milwaukee, but she was all for it. “That’s it? Yeah, I’ll come through for you. I fucking missed y’all bitches anyway,” she said when we put her on speaker phone. With that, I called Block again and let him know the situation. He told me to give him until tomorrow, and he would call back with all the information we needed to meet the SA and pick up the stuff. Time was running out for us, and I knew Nas had an idea that I was back in town. It was all I needed, just for him to believe that I was so I could use it to my advantage. I still didn’t know if the shooting outside of Onyx had anything to do with me or not, but if I had to guess, I would say that it did. The guard was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, but I was going to be ready if any of that shit happened again. Suddenly, I began coughing, and my stomach felt queasy, so I laid down on the couch. “Lyric, are you gon’ be alright?” Malley asked when she glanced at me. The moonlight from above us shined down on me through a crack in the curtains. I felt like it was Big Mama trying to get my attention.
“Yeah, I’ma be straight. Yo, just keep a lookout, aight? I don’t know if those niggas will make another run through here or not.”
“Aight,” she said, leaning back on the couch as she rubbed my thighs.
One way or the other, I knew I was going to see Big Mama again soon. I started to think about the God that she always thanked and prayed to when she was here, and as the thought of death began to loom larger in my mind, I knew that I was going to find out the truth about him. I became nervous just at the thought as sorrow crept through my body. I turned my head to get the moonlight off of my face, ignoring the glow as I had done for the majority of my life. Even then, the tugging on my heart increased even more, and I couldn’t tell if it was Big Mama or God himself, but either way, I felt it stronger than I had before. I coughed once more but this time it was more viscous than before. “You need some water?” Malley said as she sat up on the couch. I shook my head no and repositioned myself on the couch, away from the glow. I had to do what I came here for. This wasn’t for me anymore; this was for Prince’s safety, and I felt that no God would be able to keep him safe if Nas was still around.
Chapter 16
Quandra came by later the next day. We told her to let us know when she was on her way so we could keep a look out for anything suspicious going on around the neighborhood. “What up, Lyric? What up, Malley? I missed y’all bitches!” she said when she came in the house with a big ass smile on her face. She hugged both of us before she sat down on the couch. “Where Big Mama at, Lyric?” She didn’t know that she had passed away almost two years ago, and I didn’t expect her to know. We weren’t close at all, especially since she crossed me in Chicago.
“She died almost two years ago. Cancer.”
She put her hand over her mouth, “Are you serious? I’m so sorry, Lyric. I didn’t even know.” I glanced at the window, then looked back at her.
“It’s cool; you didn’t know. She in a better place and she’s not feeling pain anymore, so I’m good. You ready for this shit, though?”
“Yeah, I’m ready. So, what I gotta do? Just go and pick up some guns and shit? That’s it?”
“Nah. I mean, yeah, but you’re going with Malley. She needs you to take her over there.”
“Ok. You not coming?”
“Nah. I kinda fucked some shit up with these niggas a little while ago, so I don’t need to show my face over there.”
“Aight, I feel you. Well, shit, when are we going?”
Block still hadn’t called me back with the details about everything yet, so right now we were just playing the waiting game. I told him I needed a few pistols, and at least one chopper in case shit got heavy. I knew he was good for it, but right now, it was just a matter of waiting for him to call me back. In the meantime, we had to keep everything we did on the low. They wanted to smoke, so I told them to go out to the back of the garage. As much as I did my own thing, I still felt like I needed to respect Big Mama’s house when I was here. Smoking or drinking in her house wasn’t going to happen, and I made sure to keep it as pure as I could in here. I didn’t even fuck around with Malley while she was here. She didn’t understand it, but she respected it for the time being.
Moments later, they went outside to the back to blow a little bit, but I stayed inside. I wanted to make sure my mind was clear whenever the move had to be made. The weed affected me much differently than it did Quandra and Malley. They could still operate normally under the influence but not for me; I turned into a freaky ass bitch with a slow reaction to everything. There was no way I could fuck with that right now if I wanted to make sure I stayed alive. I leaned back on the couch and propped my feet on the table. I smiled when my imagination put Big Mama in the front room. She threatened to “slap me upside the head,” if I didn’t take my feet off the table. I laughed but oddly, I removed my feet like she was actually standing right there. I glanced outside once more to make sure everything was ok, and moments later, I laid my head on the pillow and fell asleep.
