Older brehs: Did you think you would've made it past 21?

[yardman]

I remember teachers would tell us that most of us would die by 21 or 23 growing up. I've been watching Drink Champs and I've heard N.O.R.E. say a few times on the podcast that he didn't believe that he would've made it past 21, I've also seen the guests that he's expressed that too nod in agreement. Pusha T said "CNN said I'd be dead by 21". So to reiterate did you think you would've made it pass 21 when you were younger?​

 

[Theolodius_Black]

When I was a kid, I was aware enough to question it considering my environment. But I was always mostly a square. I stayed out of trouble, was always bright, got my lesson, and my parents moved us out the hood when i was 10. I still wondered sometimes when i would go hang out and notice the number of people I grew up dwindling due to death or imprisonment. But I been Blessed man.

You know what's sad though. I still partially have that fear, even at 29, that at any moment, it could be over.

 

[eastsideTT]

its not that i didnt think id be alive, but i didnt think about or put any effort into what life would be like after 21 either. i took it literally day bye day, hand to mouth, until i was about 24. as long as i had money to eat, smoke, drink, keep my phone on and have a girl on deck i was good. shyt caught up to me fast though. 25-29 was pretty rough to be honest

 

[blockburna420]

Yea, call it instinct. Although I been in situations that I could have lost my life, I never expected to die .

 

[yardman]

its not that i didnt think id be alive, but i didnt think about or put any effort into what life would be like after 21 either. i took it literally day bye day, hand to mouth, until i was about 24. as long as i had money to eat, smoke, drink, keep my phone on and have a girl on deck i was good. shyt caught up to me fast though. 25-29 was pretty rough to be honest

25-29, rough how so?
I've heard people say shyt goes downhill from I'm interested to know why?
​

 

[7th Letter Specialist]

25-29, rough how so?
I've heard people say shyt goes downhill from I'm interested to know why?
​

I've been through that. I think for a lot of ppl its a matter of "okay, i been on this young hype for a minute, what am I going to do w/ my life?".
But to answer your question. Yea. For some reason I didnt doubt that I wasn't gon make it. Had homies get clapped, locked up, some died from natural causes. And all the shyt

 

[sanityovar8ted]

No ....didn't think I'd make it past 25 but here i am

 

[EndDomination]

I've never met a single adult who said someone who would be "dead by 21/23" unless that person was an extreme case.
And all of those kids I knew like that are 6 feet under right now.
But to answer your question, I never thought I'd die before 90.

A lot of guys I grew up with are dead, along with a bunch of older guys I knew. Disproportionately, even for a poor Black area. I was at like 5 funerals one year.

 

[GodinDaFlesh]

Damn who were your teachers?

 

[7th Letter Specialist]

I hear this a lot w/ us black males... Do our brehettes face this same dillemma?

 

[yardman]

Damn who were your teachers?

Evil cac NYC public school teachers. My school was full of degenerate teachers. I've told stories about the shyt they used to tell students at my school. I even had a teacher who molested this kid in my school. I'm sure they're other people on this site who've had fukked up student teacher relationships as well as experiences.

I've never met a single adult who said someone who would be "dead by 21/23" unless that person was an extreme case.
And all of those kids I knew like that are 6 feet under right now.
But to answer your question, I never thought I'd die before 90.

A lot of guys I grew up with are dead, along with a bunch of older guys I knew. Disproportionately, even for a poor Black area. I was at like 5 funerals one year.

Just because you haven't heard anyone express the thought to you doesn't mean the thought didn't occur in the mind of someone who you know. News television would constantly bombarded the airwaves with statistics on young black male life expectancy for decades. I'm sure it was a thought in the mind of someone you know.​

 

[Deflatedhoopdreams]

Hell Yeah. No doubt

 

[Paradoxical Tiger]

I'm 19 now and I'm seeing my homeboys doing fukked up shyt. I ain't no hood nikka tho I just fukk with hood nikkas heavy

 

[Super Future Luther King Jr.]

25-29 was pretty rough to be honest

Big Facts

 

[eastsideTT]

25-29, rough how so?
I've heard people say shyt goes downhill from I'm interested to know why?
​

because i fukked around for basically my entire life prior to that and found myself with responsibilities, bills and decisions i wasnt ready to handle. if you have your shyt together and you're mentally and emotionally competent there is no downhill. but it took me a long time to get even halfway to that level