Did you ever feel self-conscious about being poor growing up ?

[Nefrodamus]

Even though everybody weren't well off in the hood, nobody wanted to admit they weren't caking around their friends. My father was a business owner so we weren't struggling terribly, but we still lived in an apartment where the lights would occasionally go out & all that good stuff.

I never signed up for that price reduced lunch at school because of my ego

PS 111 had free lunch
Embarrassed but managed to get a plate
We was kids hungry
Mom's working, I was famished
She getting home late
So I decided now I'm in charge
Either stay full or starve

-

 

[Ricky Church]

I was upper-middle class growing up. but far from rich.

 

[kp404]

Everyone in my neighborhood was working class, so nobody was stunting on anybody; I did hate seeing all the stuff on tv that I wanted but could not get; it was rough, but it made me appreciate life and not consumerism;

 

[Doin2Much Williams]

Holly Park Projects.

Remember every Christmas we would go to the toy bank to cop that annual pagan gift from the section 8's community service programs.

The toys were serviceable for what they were (free)... and i always appreciated having it.

Food wasn't always abundant. Truly remember the struggle meals and momma saying that we didn't have food that day and waiting for dad
to go make it rounds.


Fukk man... just thinking about those impoverished years and folks tryna make ends meet. I feel real bad for my parents cuz they gave up so much.

They had nothing when they reached american shores breaighs. I'm talking zero dollars, the clothes on their backs and the endorsements of their sponsors.


When we finally got housing, i remember going ham on some Value-Paks as an adolescent and watching that Sesame Street just to stay away from the streets.


We had this native american family next door that used to shoot up, this somoan family across the street that always climbed the walnut tree and sang 80's tunes
(primarily The Jets).


Remember my sister having to walk me home from school cuz of the gang activity in the 'jects was too real.



My XJ900's were my primary source of transportation.

Spoiler

I'm sooo damn appreciate of what i have now and try to help out those who are less fortunate.


You don't know that feeling until you've gone through it yourself.


.

 

[Non Sequitur]

I was spoiled as shyt growing up, but now I'm a broke, lazy and entitled adult if that makes y'all feel better

 

[Doin2Much Williams]

And to answer your question... naw, it never crossed my mind.


Being self-conscious is a luxury poor people can't afford to ponder.


Your stomach and basic needs become the only thing on your mind.


But when you're as young as i was, and around people that were just as in the struggle realm as yourself... you're in a blissful state of poverty
(or what one Newark group referred to as "Poverty's Paradise").


Since you have nothing, you don't miss anything. You just continue to strive for a betterment of lifestyle and ensure that your fundamental requirements
are met.


In that 2 room housing project. It was my parents in one room, my 3 uncles in the other (one eventually moved away a year later, the 2nd 2 years later,
the third lived with until 94, when we finally sponsored his family to the states).


Any who, pardon the digression.


But let me tell you something; being poor and living in the 'jects - honestly... was the HAPPIEST TIME IN MY LIFE! Everything was so new to me! Seeing cable tv,
going to the local carnival, eating Fruit Roll Ups, using a microwave, seeing a white person, etc. All that shiit... at one point - fascinated me because my parents
tried to shelter me so much during my adolescence, that when i finally ventured out and saw the world - it was like a new adventure everyday, b.


.

 

[Nefrodamus]

I was upper-middle class growing up. but far from rich.

This question is directed to my nikkas from the slums

There are probably some other threads for you suburban nikkas to reminisce on

 

[Ricky Church]

This question is directed to my nikkas from the slums

There are probably some other threads for you suburban nikkas to reminisce on

so your parents can have comfortable money in the bank and can't live in the "hood?"

 

[kp404]

This question is directed to my nikkas from the slums

There are probably some other threads for you suburban nikkas to reminisce on

Carlton with the coli sweatshirt :deadjackson:

 

[Deluuxe]

Even though everybody weren't well off in the hood, nobody wanted to admit they weren't caking around their friends. My father was a business owner so we weren't struggling terribly, but we still lived in an apartment where the lights would occasionally go out & all that good stuff.

I never signed up for that price reduced lunch at school because of my ego

PS 111 had free lunch
Embarrassed but managed to get a plate
We was kids hungry
Mom's working, I was famished
She getting home late
So I decided now I'm in charge
Either stay full or starve

-

growing up? what about now, clearly you havent been to a black club, nothing changed

 

[Nefrodamus]

so your parents can have comfortable money in the bank and can't live in the "hood?"

fukk you nikka, you dont know what its like to cop the generic pop tarts

Yummy Tarts....

You was prolly that lil nikka who came through with the latest J's after christmas & shyt

 

[Ricky Church]

fukk you nikka, you dont know what its like to cop the generic pop tarts

Yummy Tarts....

You was prolly that lil nikka who came through with the latest J's after christmas & shyt

don't be mad cause I drank the finest breast milks bruh.

 

[Ruck]

true shyt: the 2 years my fam was on welfare, was the best years of my childhood. we were middle class white folk in which my pops supervised a cement plant and moms was a manager at woolworth. when woolworth folded, my mom just became a stay at home mom because my dad was making really good money and didn't want her working. i guess you could say i was spoiled as i had everything a boy my age would want. but i didn't really value material things as i was more into hanging with my boys and building club houses, playing sports and shyt.

during those times, my dad was out fukking other bytches, while my mom became a alcoholic and gambling addict because of it. lo and behold, my pops stuck his dikk where he wasn't suppose to, and got fired. pops became depressed and we went from moving to a 4 bedroom house in union city to a 2 bedroom apt in the hood of hayward. pops was working as a mechanic and going to community college at the same time, but still didn't want my mom to work so we had some guv'ment assistance to get by. but as humbling as that was, my family became closer because pops stopped cheating, mom couldn't support her habits so she was more stable, and me my sisters became more responsible.

i remember my mom and sisters being too embarrassed to go grocery shopping and using the food stamp books(lol remember that) so me and my dad did the shopping cuz we didn't give a fukk. sure, it was an adjustment, but i didn't look at it like the world was ending. i looked at it like, damn my dads is home every day now. or shyt, my moms sober. it was stuff like that that made me appreciate being in that situation because id rather be poor in a apt with a family that loves one another, than in the suburbs where you feel like something is missing. eventually my dad got another position at a different cement company which paid him more, and we were back to the suburbs. my dads trifling ass was apparent and my mom said deuces and they were divorced (that's when i felt the world was ending ). those experiences really shaped who i am today, and that's why i really don't understand how people are obsessed with money, status and the so called bullshyt american dream. if you don't realize what you have, and what is more important, than you will lose everything you stood for.

 

[Nefrodamus]

true shyt: the 2 years my fam was on welfare, was the best years of my childhood. we were middle class white folk in which my pops supervised a cement plant and moms was a manager at woolworth. when woolworth folded, my mom just became a stay at home mom because my dad was making really good money and didn't want her working. i guess you could say i was spoiled as i had everything a boy my age would want. but i didn't really value material things as i was more into hanging with my boys and building club houses, playing sports and shyt.

during those times, my dad was out fukking other bytches, while my mom became a alcoholic and gambling addict because of it. lo and behold, my pops stuck his dikk where he wasn't suppose to, and got fired. pops became depressed and we went from moving to a 4 bedroom house in union city to a 2 bedroom apt in the hood of hayward. pops was working as a mechanic and going to community college at the same time, but still didn't want my mom to work so we had some guv'ment assistance to get by. but as humbling as that was, my family became closer because pops stopped cheating, mom couldn't support her habits so she was more stable, and me my sisters became more responsible.

i remember my mom and sisters being too embarrassed to go grocery shopping and using the food stamp books(lol remember that) so me and my dad did the shopping cuz we didn't give a fukk. sure, it was an adjustment, but i didn't look at it like the world was ending. i looked at it like, damn my dads is home every day now. or shyt, my moms sober. it was stuff like that that made me appreciate being in that situation because id rather be poor in a apt with a family that loves one another, than in the suburbs where you feel like something is missing. eventually my dad got another position at a different cement company which paid him more, and we were back to the suburbs. my dads trifling ass was apparent and my mom said deuces and they were divorced (that's when i felt the world was ending ). those experiences really shaped who i am today, and that's why i really don't understand how people are obsessed with money, status and the so called bullshyt american dream. if you don't realize what you have, and what is more important, than you will lose everything you stood for.

Wow.

As for the bolded, I think its a matter of the grass looking greener. I know I want to make some money when I'm older so my family can see that I made it & they're support wasn't in vain.

 

[yo moms]

i didnt feel the slightest bit self concious about stealing lunch everyday at school from the canteen.