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

[koopz]

nope i wasnt self concious enough actually. like a friend would ask if im getting so and so game and id be like "nah my mom said we poor folk this month i cant get no games " with my mom just looking at me like . but that was when i was younger i got more self concious when i got older.

the school district i was in had us in uniforms for just this reason so when we moved i started getting self concious cause i had to wear the clothes i was wearing to grandmas house and the park to school now
i remember once i was dreaming 6 juicy scrumptious burgers were circling my head. i reached for one and my hand went through it . i used to always be that kid who has to tell everyone my shytty ass dreams but i wasnt telling anyone that one

 

[Uncle Kingpin]

I had to wear bobo sneakers, straight from the bin at the supermarket next to the encyclopedias. What yall know about digging in a barrel to find the matching right foot shoe? I swear they made ten lefts for every right smh.

What yall know about polos with the elephant or panda, when it was supposed to be a tiger or crocodile like the designer shyt? Only two pairs of pants, one jeans one courdory neither fashionable, rotating them so nobody sees you wear the same pants twice in a row?

One big pot of Oatmeal/Pasta/Rice and Beans that was breakfast lunch and dinner every day until it was all gone. Free lunch being your only meal for the day. Yeah it gave me a complex, that i'm just now getting over. I got more shoes and designer clothes than a boutique. Eat filet mignon, shrimp and lobster regularly. But being poor and getting picked on made my tongue razor sharp - you can diss me but i learned how to exploit peoples insecurities. Also made my knuckle game top notch cuz a fight usually follows a good diss. So I regret nothing.

 

[Groanman]

Nope. The whole neighborhood was poor.

It was very common to see friends in the corner store with a book of food stamps.

 

[RTF]

I felt self-conscious about stretching my mother's resources. Eventually, she would get me anything I really wanted. Looking back, I know it stretched her having to drop 3-400 on those PlayStations... even if it was 2-3 years after they where initially released.

Always made sure I had at least 1 pair of fresh kicks.. no matter the price. I remember she copped me some $200 kicks when I was like 12 for my b'day because I really wanted em. Looking back now - that must've been a week's wages just to see me smile. That's love my brehs.

I love that woman mayne

 

[lakinta]

"poor" wasnt even in my vocabulary till i was 11 or 12.

I remember I had to go a chinese kid's house to do a group project for school. I walked into his apartment, and his Mom was laying like sloth on a couch, watching this big, sexy ass TV. I was (at the TV, not the mom)

I introduced my self and whatnot. And, then, he looked over to this other door, and said, "come check out my room." i was children get their own room???

I don't think we even finished the project. Just stayed playing N64 in his room. At the end, I went back home, to the room I shared with 3 other people, feeling poor for the first time in my life.

So to answer the question, i wasn't self conscious about being poor cuz i wasnt even conscious that I was poor. When everyone around you is broke, poor is a country and you just live in it

 

[RTF]

Aye, you don't really know until you see how some other kids live.

I remember I went to one kids house. He had a whole damn room for games. He had a PS1 about 2 years before I had one.... I was SNES'ing it up. He had a couple Scale-let-trix or whatever it's called... just mad shyt..

But his mum made him drink diluted coca-cola with water and made me drink that ish. I was like " wtf kinda life is this? Nah i'm good on this side."

 

[thegreatwb]

Reading this thread is kind of depressing because it brings back a lot of memories. I remember being ashamed when my mom sent me to the store with some food stamps. There were other poor folks in my hood but the a lot of dudes around my age were selling dope so they didn't have to worry about food stamps. Whenever I was in line and a fine chick got in line behind me, I would pretend that I forgot something so she could go ahead of me and not see the stamps.

I remember going to the park looking for bottles so we could cash them in at the store. I would see dudes and females from school there and they would look at me like I was crazy.

I remember those struggle meals too. We ate so much liver and rice that I actually started to like the shyt. I also always looked forward to pizza night, which consisted of a baked piece of white bread with ketchup and cheese on top.

I also remember the 8th grade pizza party at school. Everybody had to put in $4 on the pizza but I didn't have it. The pizza came and I just pretended I wasn't hungry while the rest of them nikkas were chowing down like

I also remember going school shopping with $40 at the Salvation Army. I would just buy as much as I could with it to stretch the money out. What's funny is that you could find some really good stuff (polo) for like 2-3 bucks if you went to the right spots. Of course it would be used though.

Lastly, I remember those struggle hair cuts. My mom would cut my hair with scissors when it got too long. nikkas would clown me at school the next day for it. I remember one of my teachers in the 5th grade saying that it looked like somebody cut my hair with a cigarette.

Honestly, this shyt pushed me towards a life a crime and my moms always wondered why. When I got old enough to see that there were other (illegal) ways to make money, it was pretty much a rap. Luckily, I was smart enough to get out before I ended up shot or in prison but I don't regret none of it. It's still good to reflect on because I know that I want to steer my kids far away from what I went through.

 

[Nefrodamus]

Touching stories

But sidenote: fukk that nikka @Gunshi for one-starring my shyt again