her. Normally she’d feel sorry for the guys looking at her who were normally so far out of her league, but Power was anything but. It wasn’t just the way he looked, although he made pleasant tingles in all the right place, but the way he moved – liquid yet sharp, all attitude yes, but with a smile that could kill at a hundred yards. Even the way he walked, all lopsided shoulders and gangsta sway, made her heart skip a little.
Lust at first sight.
Duppy didn’t even notice her sudden infatuation with the green-eyed bandit in fatigues, rapping the sound that would soon rule the streets. Only when Power rhymed did he lock eyes on her, and she in return looked right on back.
His style sent chills through her. She licked her lips in anticipation of what the future might bring. Shifting position in her seat wasn’t helping cool the fire any. Power was burning her.
When Kane and Power entered the engineering room, Duppy gave them a pound and a gangsta hug. “Yo I can’t even front, that was the illest shit I heard in my life! Yo Jim, how come I never heard that beat before? When did Diamond do that?”
“He didn’t,” Jimmy replied. “Kane here did.”
Duppy looked at Kane wide-eyed. “That’s you?”
“You already know,” Kane’s arrogance made Egypt smile behind Duppy’s back. Kane wasn’t as much to Egypt’s taste as Power, but there was a dark intensity to him that she really appreciated.
“We definitely need to talk,” Duppy responded, he was about to say more, when he saw that Power was all but ignoring him, and only had eyes for Egypt. Duppy moved into both their eye lines, and trying to catch the situation early said, “Oh my bad, fam. I didn’t introduce. This beautiful woman is about to be the first lady of Notorious Records. That is, if she can handle the pressure and prove her position. Egypt, this is Power and Kane, also known as Q.B.C.”
Egypt looked at Power. “What does Q.B.C. stand for?” she questioned.
“Real niggas everywhere,” he replied.
She was about to get confused, then her expression showed she understood. “I mean the letters.”
“Queens Boro Crew. So what you do? Rap?” Power probed.
Egypt smirked mischievously. “You want to see what I do?”
“Seein’ is believin’, right?”
Oh I wanna show you her face said as she sashayed through the studio, and into the booth.
Egypt put on the headphones. The room smelled of blunt, Power and Kane. There was electricity in that smell. It was all potential. She looked through the glass as Kane and Power sat down, swapping the blunt. Power never took his eyes off her.
“Give me something clubby,” Egypt requested.
It took Jimmy a minute to find an appropriate track, but when he did, Egypt’s nod told him he found the right one. She dug into the track with a joint she knew they wouldn’t be up on - an old Chicago house classic.
From the moment she opened her mouth, she saw that first note grabbed every man in the room and wouldn’t let go. They swayed like a nest of cobras around a mongoose.
There was no denying her talent.
Power got up, and spoke in Duppy’s ear. Egypt could read his lips easily. He was saying, “I want to do a joint with her,” but all the while never taking his eyes off her.
Egypt could read Duppy’s face just as easily, he was hearing the words, but knew Power wanted to do a lot more…
“Yo, the world’s about to feel us, thun! They all gonna be tryin’ to speak the thun language. What the drilly wit’ that’!” Ty Five$ laughed as he washed his tongue with hundred dollar a pop Moet.
“Yo thun, that bitch had you fucked up,” Kane teased with a knowing laugh, as he passed the blunt to Power.
He, Power, Messiah, Ty Five$ and Lil’ Earl were on top of Kane’s building in QB, getting their drink and smoke on. The evening was falling towards night. Across the river the Boro was lighting up and the city beyond was shadowing against the orange sky. The sun looked like it was rolling down the cheese cut edge of the old Citicorp Center and the air around them was cool and comfortable. The whole city was making niggas feel like they were on top of the world, so they went to the top of the world to celebrate.
“Man, you buggin’ the fuck out, God. That bitch was checkin’ me out,” Power retorted cockily, as he took the blunt.
“Bullshit! I seen you, yo. I just ain’t say nothin’. She is a bad bitch though, yo. I ain’t gonna front,” Kane admitted, giving Power dap.
Power hit the blunt.
“Yo, I gotta hit that. Word,” he rolled.
“Fuckin’ the boss’ bitch? If we lose our deal over that hoe, I’ma fuck you up!” Kane laughed.
“Fuck Duppy, that nigga soft. Besides, we the best thing that ever happened to him. Without us, he’d still be scrapin’ Exclusive off that stage,” bragged Power.
“Word,” Kane cackled, giving Power a heartfelt dap.
Lil’ Earl looked like the only one who wasn’t feelin’ it tonight. He stood in the corner, leaning against the overhang of the building’s masonry, looking out over Queens Boro Park. He wasn’t smoking, he wasn’t drinking. Messiah peeled away from the others and went over.
“Ay yo Earl, fuck wrong wit’ you?” he asked, eyeing his cousin skeptically. Lil’ Earl was shaking. Ever since witnessing and being made to participate in Tyrone’s murder, he had been getting progressively worse. He’d told Messiah last night that at the beginning, he heard Tyrone calling him, then he thought he had begun to see shadows in the dark. “It got to the point where I couldn’t sleep with the lights off, but that made it even worse…” he’d said. Because he started seeing Tyrone, Messiah had thought. Fuckin’ pussy.
Lil’ Earl had described that he’d see Tyrone’s body decaying and all he could smell in the dream was the rotting stench of his flesh. “I-I-I’m sorry, Ty. I swear I didn’t mean to do it,” Lil’ Earl told Messiah he’d said in the dream. “Tyrone never opens his mouth, but I can hear his words… Tell the truth…. Tell the truth…. Set me free…. Tell the truth. Those words haunt me cuz…They were in my mind like a song stuck in the brain.”
Messiah had spanked Lil’ Earl’s face hard and told him to put that shit behind him. He didn’t want to hear none of that stuff no more, yet here was Lil’ Earl again taking the shine off the whole situation.
Messiah didn’t have to say anything, Lil’ Earl knew just by looking at him how angry he was “Man, I can’t take this anymore.”
“We dealt wit’ this nigga. You some noid ass crazy,” Messiah hissed, so the others, laughing and smoking still, didn’t hear. He didn’t want Lil’ Earl killing the buzz.
Messiah had kept an eye on Lil’ Earl since the murder but hadn’t
