Thedewsperspective

Did I ever tell y’all about the time I came thisclose to rapping for Tupac Shakur?  Now before I continue, let me first address this common thought I know all of you share.  At this moment, y’all are saying to yourselves, “come on Cornell, now you just making up sh!t to get views.”  LOL.  No I’m not (wink wink).  I’m telling y’all “my” truth.  The year was 1994.  I was working at MBNA selling credit cards to unsolicited and unexpectant consumers.  It’s the only job I was ever asked to leave.  I was horrible at it.  One time I talked to an elderly woman for more than an hour without ever offering her a credit card.  Apparently she was lonely and needed someone to talk to.  And I just happened to call at the right time.  Unbeknownst to me, my supervisors and their supervisor were listening to my phone call.  Needless to say, I didn’t earn no commission for that phone call.  But the straw that broke the camels back was when I placed a cold call and asked to speak to Jesus Lopez.  Now you may be asking yourself, how was that the straw that broke the back of the camel?  Well, I butchered the brothers name.  Y’all know I’m from East Baltimore forreal.  I ain’t grow up around no other ethnicities y’all.  I called them people house and asked to speak to “Gee-Zus” Lopez.  That’s how I pronounced it y’all.  I ain’t know it was pronounced “Hey-Zeus.”  I heard someone in the cubicle next to me mumble, “did he just ask to speak to Gee-Zus Lopez”?  Before I could make another phone call, I was called into my supervisor’s office.  They told me how awful of a job I had been doing.  They told me this wasn’t the right fit for me.  I knew where the conversation was leading.  So I hollered out, “well I’ll just bring my two weeks resignation in tomorrow.”  They hollered out, “naw, you can give us a verbal right now.”  Man, I was so embarrassed.  But still to arrogant to know.  I was like, “shid, I’m about to rap for Tupac, anyway.”

So, how was I thisclose to rapping for Tupac?  And what does my time spent at MBNA have to do with it?  Well, it was at MBNA where I met the two gentlemen who supposedly were acquaintances of Tupac.  They knew him from the time he lived in Baltimore.  At least, that’s what they told me.  They knew I rapped.  I’m going to pause for a second and let you catch your breath.  Y’all gonna stop laughing at me.  Yes, I rapped.  And they knew I was nice.  So in between me not selling any credit cards, going to school, and hustling anything  I could sell, I rapped.  These guys from MBNA had a makeshift studio.  They’d invite me over and we would record music. 

One day, they said, “Cornell, Pac is coming to town, he gonna stop past the studio and we gonna get a chance to rap for him.”  I believe he was in town doing a show.  They said, “he’s coming through after his show.”  I was with it! I told my parents when I left out the house that day, “I’m going to rap for Tupac.”  They looked at me like, “Man, crazy as sh!t.”  But they always encouraged me.  “Go head Man, do your thing.”  Then when I left out the house, my father probably said to my mother, “see you got that boy thinking he can do anything.  He definitely get that from you.”  To which I’m sure my mother said, “yeah, and his storytelling ability, he definitely get that from you.”  LOL.

I was going to rap for Tupac Shakur, my favorite rapper.  Welp, I can stop the story right here.  Y’all know that never materialized.  I never rapped for Pac, I never got THUG LIFE tatted across my chest and I never became an Outlaw.  I just sat in a makeshift studio off of York Road in North Baltimore, reciting my raps for hours at the behest of two dudes I met at MBNA. The place I was fired from for calling Hey-Zeus Gee-Zus.  And for not attempting to sell high interest credit cards to mostly unsolicited senior citizens.  What an experience. 

When I came back home the next morning, all dejected, with no recording contract in hand, my father quipped, “where Tupac at”?  LOL.