Kareem’s Block
“Let It Be Known”
“Let It Be Known”
There is so much talent and brilliance in places like prison, that it’s literally a shame that it often goes overlooked. Overlooked not only by many in “free society,” who can’t seem to see individuals incarcerated in any other light except that which is criminal and negative… But overlooked also by many of us here in prison who possess talent and brilliance, but for one reason or another, fail to see pass the fog game, and thuggin’! A game that even the blindest of us can now see only leads to one of three places. Prison, being on drugs, becoming a “junkie,” or worse - laying in a cold grave dead!
It’s not that those of us here in prison with talent and brilliance can’t make it. We certainly can. For with God, and the exercising of “common sense,” all things are possible! The question is, are we willing and ready to issue a bill of divorce to our own self-imposed ignorance and stupidity that has caused us to falter beyond living our lives on a major positive scale?
You may ask: Brother Kareem, has this been done before by street cats? My answer: A definite YES! We have plenty of examples of brothers of our own generation, culture, and former negative way of life, who have made their talent and brilliance work for them, so that they wouldn’t have to thug and sell drugs again. Can I name a few? Curtis Jackson, a.k.a. “50 Cent,” Sean Carter, a.k.a. “Jay Z,” and Brian “Baby” Williams, a.k.a. “Bird Man.”
It’s a known fact that those brothers I just named once dealt drugs in their cities and hoods. They know what it’s like to encounter law enforcement, and they know what it’s like to have to go off to prison for their criminal endeavors. However, through their talent, hard work, and brilliance, coupled with believing in themselves, renounced the “criminal” way of doing things, to becomes “CEO’s” of their own Record Labels, and owners of other top successful business ventures. Somehow these brothers came to a point in knowing, like one of my elders in here once said that, “dope boys run lil corners and lil after hour spots. But the talented and the brilliant run major companies, corporations, cities, and countries.”
Now running a lil corner and a lil after hour spot may suit you fine if you’re small minded and don’t know the enormous power of your potential. But when you know that you were made in the “image” and “likeness” of God, it doesn’t get any bigger than that. Human beings are big by nature! There is nothing small about us except for the way so many of us think! Small minds equal small thoughts, and small thoughts equal small actions.
Simply put, if 50 Cent, Jay Z, Bird Man and so many others can make it through capitalizing off of their talent and brilliance, so can you and I who are incarcerated. Those guys I mentioned are not phony cats who haven’t experienced the dark cloud of underworld activity that, in truth, keeps us on a “low level” of exercising our God-given talents and God-given brilliance.
We all make mistakes and bad decisions at one point in time or another in life. We don’t have to continue making them, though. Donnie McClurkin said, “We fall down, but we get back up again!” We can get back up because God put it deep within us to do so. We all, who were made in God’s image and likeness possess this power. Thing is, will we buckle down long enough to manifest it, so that society can see the “real” us, and not the us who felt obligated for whatever reason, to hustle drugs and thug? This is a “new day,” and with every new day, comes new hopes and possibilities.
Therefore, if you’re incarcerated, now is the time to step your game up and bring forth your God-given talent and brilliance. It’s within you. Come on, let it be known! Even if you’re not behind steel doors and concert walls…wherever you maybe let, your talent and brilliance be made manifest!
It’s not that those of us here in prison with talent and brilliance can’t make it. We certainly can. For with God, and the exercising of “common sense,” all things are possible! The question is, are we willing and ready to issue a bill of divorce to our own self-imposed ignorance and stupidity that has caused us to falter beyond living our lives on a major positive scale?
You may ask: Brother Kareem, has this been done before by street cats? My answer: A definite YES! We have plenty of examples of brothers of our own generation, culture, and former negative way of life, who have made their talent and brilliance work for them, so that they wouldn’t have to thug and sell drugs again. Can I name a few? Curtis Jackson, a.k.a. “50 Cent,” Sean Carter, a.k.a. “Jay Z,” and Brian “Baby” Williams, a.k.a. “Bird Man.”
It’s a known fact that those brothers I just named once dealt drugs in their cities and hoods. They know what it’s like to encounter law enforcement, and they know what it’s like to have to go off to prison for their criminal endeavors. However, through their talent, hard work, and brilliance, coupled with believing in themselves, renounced the “criminal” way of doing things, to becomes “CEO’s” of their own Record Labels, and owners of other top successful business ventures. Somehow these brothers came to a point in knowing, like one of my elders in here once said that, “dope boys run lil corners and lil after hour spots. But the talented and the brilliant run major companies, corporations, cities, and countries.”
Now running a lil corner and a lil after hour spot may suit you fine if you’re small minded and don’t know the enormous power of your potential. But when you know that you were made in the “image” and “likeness” of God, it doesn’t get any bigger than that. Human beings are big by nature! There is nothing small about us except for the way so many of us think! Small minds equal small thoughts, and small thoughts equal small actions.
Simply put, if 50 Cent, Jay Z, Bird Man and so many others can make it through capitalizing off of their talent and brilliance, so can you and I who are incarcerated. Those guys I mentioned are not phony cats who haven’t experienced the dark cloud of underworld activity that, in truth, keeps us on a “low level” of exercising our God-given talents and God-given brilliance.
We all make mistakes and bad decisions at one point in time or another in life. We don’t have to continue making them, though. Donnie McClurkin said, “We fall down, but we get back up again!” We can get back up because God put it deep within us to do so. We all, who were made in God’s image and likeness possess this power. Thing is, will we buckle down long enough to manifest it, so that society can see the “real” us, and not the us who felt obligated for whatever reason, to hustle drugs and thug? This is a “new day,” and with every new day, comes new hopes and possibilities.
Therefore, if you’re incarcerated, now is the time to step your game up and bring forth your God-given talent and brilliance. It’s within you. Come on, let it be known! Even if you’re not behind steel doors and concert walls…wherever you maybe let, your talent and brilliance be made manifest!
Kareem Tomblin,
Author of Death, No Exceptions! & Simply Put!
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