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Discovering the Soul of the Bronx: A Personal Journey · D-constructing Topics

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  What's going on, my legendary people? My name is David, and welcome to another,
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  another nice episode of the Deconstructing Topic Podcast. Woo!
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  My name is David, and I'm that legendary host, and you, my legendary people
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  out there listening to this one, and you know, I just want to say,
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  we got another good one, but once again, sometimes in life,
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  sometimes in life, We kind of always thinking about ahead, about the future,
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  where we want to be at physically, mentally,
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  spiritually, whatever it is.
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  We got so much that we want to eat that sometimes we kind of forget where we've
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  been at or where we came from or where we at currently.
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  And one of those things that I said to myself, wait a minute.
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  One way to kind of always forever giving myself an introduction of life is to know where I'm from.
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  Man hey listen i was born in puerto rico but the
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  one place that i very endearing
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  in my heart is racing up in the bronze race in the bronze
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  the boogie down bronze let's get it and let me
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  tell you something off the bat because this
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  is interesting a lot of people don't know this but the bronze was
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  named after a family thing i believe the
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  individual name was jonas bronze or bronc or
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  something to that effect you know spell b-r-o-n-c-k and
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  that's interesting because that's why some people say wait a
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  minute i don't get why the bronze which is a borough
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  one of the five boroughs of new york city that
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  consists of new york city five boroughs brooklyn queen stanton
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  man but you know where bronze is
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  that place where we always making it that's for
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  sure and people forget why the bronze like not the
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  queens not brooklyn and there's a lot of people
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  that i've been kind of talking to in the
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  last couple of weeks kind of anticipating for this podcast is that yes it was
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  named after a family the bronze family or the bronc or whatever and basically
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  if you're if you're if you're from an area either like what we will consider
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  the bronze it will be that thing where hey i'm gonna visit the bronze family
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  or the bronze and then And,
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  you know, went from bronze farm to bronze.
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  You know, you got West Farms, for those who are familiar in the bronze.
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  But we making it happen. So that's a little nugget you already know.
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  The bronze is the home of hip-hop. Where hip-hop started, the bronze is home
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  of the famous New York Yankees.
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  And we got a soccer team that plays there and FC, something New York FC.
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  What else we got here in the bronze? We got the bronze. Let's go.
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  But I just want to tell people what the Bronx had meant to me because I was
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  raised there. I'm from Puerto Rico.
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  Come here as a young kid.
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  And even though I lived in Manhattan for a little bit, if I'm not mistaken,
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  my recollection for my family out there who do remember.
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  And then, you know, when I was a teenage homeless in Brooklyn, downtown Brooklyn.
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  So that kind of opened me to kind of explore the other boroughs.
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  And Manhattan would be that place where, for the most part, is where I do my
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  work and all that good stuff.
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  But the Bronx is the place that I call my home. I love the Bronx. The Bronx is so crazy.
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  And, yeah, we get a little bit crapped on because the Bronx,
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  my understanding, is the poorest borough in terms of the average income.
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  But it doesn't mean anything i always say the thing is this with the
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  bronze because we got savages we got
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  some wild kids out here wild people i don't
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  want people to be like when they watch the news and always something happening in
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  the bronze yeah it's always something sadly one of the events that the bronze
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  was remembered was the fire in the club it was i think it was like 70 something
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  people that die a happy land or something to that effect so that was a big thing
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  you know that's one of those things like,
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  it could only happen in the Bronx where somebody caught a little club on fire
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  and then the rest is history. Yeah, it happened in the Bronx.
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  And we got, you know, wild people out here, but I always said that the Bronx
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  is a place where we got some of the smartest people I've ever met.
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  And sadly, what happens is that when you come from areas, poor areas of poverty.
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  There's always this negativity going on and there's always a cloud of something
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  and we got you know some hard-working people i met a lot of hard-working people in the bronze,
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  but sadly the bronze is that place where a lot of people just kind
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  of get stuck and it feels like if you're in a little small
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  town and you can't get out of it but i always said you know what move so
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  the bronze it's interesting because you could be in a nice
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  area in the bronze and then the next thing you make a right and you'll
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  be like what is going on here but again
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  i'm gonna say that the whole bronze is beautiful left that
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  we got rappers that came from the bronze a lot
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  of famous people you know i had the list of the who's who
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  or who's who but then i said to myself you know what this podcast
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  this little episode is more of what the bronze meant
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  to me how it shaped me for who i am now
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  and the bronze is almost this legendary podcast so
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  i kind of like you know what next time i give a
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  shout out to those people out there that whatever it is cardi b's
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  new york yankee players that were born here babe roof
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  the legendary babe roof that live here in the bronze i'll leave them for another
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  day you know what i mean because it's it's i want people to understand what
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  the bronze is and what it meant to me especially when i started living in the
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  bronze 142nd and brook avenue for those people shout out 142nd and brook.
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  In youtube right once in a while we do the thing
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  and you know this is where i tell people follow me on the youtube follow
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  me on any podcast hit the like feel free
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  to share and comment the little stories of you got in the bronze and
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  be growing up so i was the other day i'm in youtube doing
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  my recommendation and there was a gentleman that
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  did um kind of like a story of
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  drug dealers back in the early 90s i shouldn't not
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  name no drug dealers or anything like that but it's
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  crazy how it resonated with me as a young
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  cat because you kind of be like them i remember that name i remember everybody
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  was talking about that dude how about that gang they're talking about 1990 91
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  92 right down 142 and brooks so cypress avenue it is interesting in my line
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  of work i was talking to a system in arms,
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  she's a security guard, right, in Cyprus, and, you know, young,
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  one of the young cats now these days, you know, doing that thing,
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  hustling, and she's like, oh, you know, I do security, and, you know,
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  it's so nice in that area, and I'm like, huh.
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  It wasn't like that 20 years ago, or 30 years ago, probably worse 40 years ago,
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  but, you know, that area in the Bronx, you know, But just growing up,
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  and I remember there was a school, I is 139, which was my, well,
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  not my first public school, the first public school that I attended in the Bronx.
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  As a matter of fact, I was living in 151st or something to that effect,
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  like Morris Avenue area, PS1 would be that school.
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  Then I went to PS30 once I moved to 100.
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  Well, once we moved as a family, can't say I because I was a little kid.
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  I had no, I cannot say that. You know, I had no saying, hey,
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  David, we out. Family, we move it.
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  Then we got, yeah, PS-30 and then IS-139. They were all right in front of me.
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  And I had a good time. And, you know, we learned because in that area,
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  I remember when I was in school in 139,
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  once in a while you get the PA system and the teacher would be like,
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  oh, we can't let your kids outside because of a possible school shooting.
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  And there were times that pop out.
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  Now, my understanding, you know, it's like gotten old what I've heard.
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  Is that, how can I say, you know, there was certain, you know,
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  drug dealers or big time drug dealers at that time of the early 90s,
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  mid 90s in the Brook Avenue area that,
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  you know, there was a code to be like, you know what, let's not do this where there's kids around.
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  And basically, this is where the situation would be that they knew a teacher,
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  you know, there's always some connection there or they knew
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  somebody in the schools or whatever the schools is that hey listen i'm just
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  giving you a heads up to your your principal and then the principal will do
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  the announce system and that's something that's how you grew up you know what
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  i mean that that made you kind of like dang sadly you know growing up in that
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  area also a lot of uh drugs hiv aids.
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  You know when we i always say when we in poverty meaning that we are.
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  Even though we do consume food but we don't consume
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  good food and not consuming good food not consuming food at all could kind of
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  hinder your growth mentally physically spiritually so a lot of uh people in
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  the area poverty all that good stuff hey listen that that did a lot and And
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  you always, sadly, it was a cycle.
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  And I was, I remember being in the sixth, seventh, eighth grade.
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  There were kids that, you know, my age, obviously, who their parent, they had an uncle.
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  Somebody was involved in something with drugs, and for some reason it trickled down to the family.
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  I knew of a handful of these young cats who took and decided,
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  hey, listen, let me do a little, you know, let me just take,
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  because you're always surrounded by, you know, All that good stuff.
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  And I'll make a confession here. I never did any of that stuff.
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  People would be surprised how you did it. It's just that you have to understand,
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  for the most part, coming from another country to come into the United States, right?
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  Even at a young age, I always felt that this coming here was an opportunity.
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  So you can't mess it up. You know what I mean?
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  Now, I can't say that about other people. Let's say other Puerto Ricans.
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  Anybody that was not born in the U.S..
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  You come here because an opportunity, but sometimes you get caught up in life.
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  Sometimes you get caught up in this and the bronze and in that area.
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  Matter of fact, my haven area.
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  There was so much that one could have done as a kid. That was, yo, I'm telling you.
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  Hey, listen, I'm not going to I'm not here to be making confession.
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  But what I'm saying is this.
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  There was a lot of crack cracks. And when I say cracks, I mean, no pun intended.
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  It meaning crack as in the drug and a lot of cracks in the streets a lot of
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  crack in the system and basically i was like not trying to have it because for
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  some reason i always said you know david man,
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  you're gonna make something legendary you're gonna make it happen you're gonna
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  help your people woo we're gonna finally get things together that's for sure
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  and growing up there in that area i mean And it's really,
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  really kind of, you learn a lot real quick.
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  So by the time you're like 15, 20, you're a little bit more mature than a lot of people.
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  You know what I mean? Because you grew up in, hey, listen.
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  And we always say, look, and that's the other thing, too. Yeah,
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  yeah, you know somebody, you know people, you know a handful of people that
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  became victim of, of gangbanging and all that crazy life.
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  And even, listen, even me, you know, got my feet wet a little bit,
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  you know, trying to live that life.
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  But it's one of those things that, hey, listen, you see people and you see how
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  you just fall through a crack and all this was happening in this beautiful borough
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  of the bronze, the boogie down bronze.
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  Let's get it and that's what the bronze meant to me it made me who i am it made me strong,
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  that's for sure it made me see that there's a lot of colorful people and i you
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  know in farming hey i take pride i love my history i love my social study i
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  was a social study you know geek,
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  high school all that good stuff but that's because here in the bronze you start meeting let's say,
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  Even though I'm in Puerto Rico I'm a little bit young But you know,
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  you kind of hear of Dominicans You know, but then you hear in How can I say,
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  Here, in the United States, in the Bronx Especially in my haven You got Mexicans,
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  Ecuadorians, Guatemalan.
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  Ecuadorian A couple of A couple of European here and there More of Italians,
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  You know, depending on What is it that they did You know, once in a while you
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  get the Irish Get a little bit of mixed bag You got the Bangladesh people.
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  Who am I missing? Peru. Cuba.
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  No Canadians. No Canadians. All right. We got it covered. But you understand?
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  In Jamaican, hey, my people. And then once you start in the bronze here,
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  once again, because, yeah, a lot of people are like, whoa, what happens here in Queens and blah.
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  I'm like, hey, I'm talking about the bronze here. Let's go. Because we got savages.
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  Woo! We got savages. Let's go. And you understand the different culture.
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  You start to understand like why are you here why are you here
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  people from you know Dominican Republic Cuba
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  Mexicans again South American all
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  these territories they came here in this country in
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  this beautiful borough and you start to learn you start to learn their culture
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  you start to learn their tradition you start to learn you know the food oh come
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  on now I'd be straight up I don't think that I ever met any quote-unquote Spanish
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  food that's what they're gonna call it that I I can say, eh, it's not one country.
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  I eat from the most, you know, Ecuadorian, Mexican, Peru, you name it.
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  Venezuela, let's go. Dominican, come on now. Chill, relax. Puerto Rican,
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  you already know. Tatekido, relax.
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  But these are the different cultures that came, and I started to kind of learn here. Boom, like, okay.
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  And that's what's special in the Bronx. And then as you get older,
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  and I go to this high school, Lebanon High School, shout out to that high school
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  that just lasted, not too long, maybe like five, six years.
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  And they were located in a section in the Bronx in the Middletown.
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  Middletown Road, Middletown section around Bureau Avenue, you already know Westchester
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  Square, and that was another part of the Bronx, now I'm an east kind of coast
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  east coast type of person in the Bronx if you're talking about the 6th train,
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  you know, hey listen I had some fun with the 4th train for a little bit but
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  relax the 2 out of 5, I'm a 6th train kind of type of dude, you know what I
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  mean, Westchester Avenue all the way to downtown Lexington let's go.
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  And i kid you not and i remember one time a long time ago i was young i was helping my brother,
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  we were hired to help this dude you know whatever the case might be and i'm
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  like there in some parking lot in a barbecue and i see this place in a bronze
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  and i'm like am i in a bronze and we've been talking about that middle town
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  road type of section you already know for those who are familiar with that area,
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  it's a little different because it has a lot of a little bit of everything.
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  It's like a industrialized, commercialized, a lot of blue collar working people,
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  white collar to a lot of working people.
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  I mean, we were talking about working straight up working people.
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  But it would just seem so different than like the crowded areas in my haven that I'm so used to.
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  But, you know, for some reason, for some people that don't know,
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  the Bronx is the greenest borough, meaning that we have more trees.
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  If I'm not mistaken, because we got the biggest park in New York City,
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  which is Palombe Park. Woo!
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  But I'm in that Middletown area as I start going to high school for four years.
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  That area was also so different because you
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  had a lot of italians albanians you got people from
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  like certain areas and i'm like oh this is in the bronze
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  and in that area as you as
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  you take the six train all the way to pelham you get
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  out you start walking you start seeing mansions three million dollars you already
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  know east three mile up there by dark snake that's another beautiful area there's
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  a lot of beautiful areas in the bronze i'm telling you working people all that
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  But I know that we got our bad, of course, a lot of our bad.
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  And hopefully, you know, if hopefully we could get together and then,
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  you know, try to focus on something, you know, we could help each other out.
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  Because what happens is that in the Bronx, there's a lot of low-income buildings and apartments.
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  And, you know, unfortunately, you want to help people.
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  But there's some people that take advantage of the system. And there's some
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  people that fall through the cracks.
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  And now out of nowhere they want everybody to pay or let me just walk out this
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  strap or this dude right here he's looking at me hard he owes me money or some
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  you know crazy stuff or he's selling that dope boom boom then a kid dies you know what I mean.
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  Yeah, we got to stop with that. But relax, bronze. Let's go.
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  Darkstown. We got Darkstown. That's another area. Nice area.
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  They got the Ave there in East Tremont.
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  Shout out to Yankee Stadium. Kingsbridge. Fordham, bro. Come on.
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  Fordham. That's cool. That was another nice area.
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  There's some, I'm going to say like Corlin area in Riverdale. Yes, Riverdale.
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  It is part of the bronze. Even though there's a little chunk out there that
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  it's not. It's part of the bronze.
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  People out there in Riverdale. So there's a lot of certain people that,
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  you know, just tend to have some extra money and be like, you know,
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  we're not in the Bronx. We're in Riverdale. Come on, in the Bronx.
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  And it all that was meant to me because that's what the Bronx is.
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  We got different areas, different places, different things to do.
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  Shopping areas and all this different culture and all that combined together.
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  And that's what made me, in a sense, me, that I was able to kind of learn and
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  just listen and observe.
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  What the bronze have meant to me all right
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  my peoples my legendary folks out there feel
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  free if you have a bronze story or whatever story and
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  how new york city and whatever you growing up or your part that it made you
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  who you are let us know hit the comment hit the like share that button like
• 18:31
  always because we doing something legendary well once again my name is david
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  and i'm your host of Deconstructing Topic Podcast. Once again, feel free to share.
• 18:41
  Like all that good stuff. Hit me up. I'm out of here. Woo! I'm out. Peace. Woo!