kermit da hustla
Banned
first, let me say that wood harris' depiction of him is phenomenal. i think harris is an incredibly underrated - and, sadly, under utilized - actor. he knows how to become the characters he's playing, a talent that any gifted actor is in possession of.
now, with that out of the way, avon is a terrible human being and quite possibly the worst character in black entertainment. the decisions he made, in defiance of the wise counsel offered him by his underboss stringer bell, cost him:
- his massive wealth
- his family (d'angelo's death is on him)
- his control of baltimore's streets
- his freedom
this dude had everything, and he intially flew under the radar, amassing millions while letting no one know who the fukk he was. but his pride got to him, and he let his obsession over omar and marlo be his undoing. omar was a stickup kid, a legend much bigger than his actual person. as the end of the series showed, he was mortal like anyone else. avon didn't need to spend so much time and resources going after him. likewise, marlo was a drug dealer like him, someone who was not untouchable. but avon allowed his pride to overcome the patience and discreteness that had made him a boss in the first place.
his pursuit of omar and marlo cost him the one relationship upon which he had always been able to count upon - his bond with stringer, the real boss of the baltimore streets. stringer was the real deal, the brains and (quiet as it's kept) brawn that made avon's crew so much money. without stringer, avon wouldn't be where he was. he'd just be another dead end nickel and dimer. stringer's foresight and shrewd management of street politics brought avon to his position of power. it's like stringer told him: they had made so much money, they didn't need to be in the streets anymore. they had achieved everything they sought out to accomplish before they sold their first bag of dope. they were kings, and the new avenues for prosperity that their wealth opened upon made it possible for them to continue living like kings without getting caught by the feds.
and for that, what did avon do? sold his boy out over some fakkit and a phony muslim hitman who threatened to shut avon's product off if he didn't give up stringer. as if brother mouzone's people were the only available plugs. stringer already had the greek connect, which was the best quality in the streets. they didn't need new york. more than that, brother mouzone teamed up with omar, who was a snitch and a homo. how is that gangsta?
sorry for making this so long. i just finished re-watching the first three seasons of the wire. avon is a bytch nikka.
and unfortunately, there are more avons in these streets nowadays than there are stringers. superthugs without any brains or common sense.
Avon for being the man and sticking to his guns.
how did stringer fukk shyt up? he may have stumbled a bit working with clay davis, but stringer successfully cleaned their money and made it possible for their organization to go legit. avon was too worried about an up-and-coming marlo that he failed to see the forest for the trees. stringer told avon that everything they initially started hustling for, making enough money to get out of the streets, had materialized. but avon wasn't listening. he was determined to "win" against marlo, who was irrelevant at that point. and because of it, avon ended up going to jail for a long time and stringer ended up dead because avon sold him out to a homo ass snitch that avon originally wanted dead. avon ended up losing everything because of his selfish pride.
