Day 2 - 2009.08.17
Today we started our day on the hotell sky bar for some continental breakfast. Pretty lame breakfast but with an epic view. The game plan for the day was to see as much stuff as possible. We took the subway to downtown Manhattan to get a closer look and see what the fuzz is all about. We started in the financial district - the heart of babylon.
Ground Zero was to be honest a real disapointment. A construction site. Thats it. Reading the Silverstein Properties ads on the walls around Ground Zero made me feel a little wierd. I started to think about building 7 that was "pulled" in a very professional, planned and demolition-like way and the fact that Silverstein himself added a "terror attack" clause on the insurance of the building a short while before the so called attacks. Somebody is making lots of money people... I'm just saying... I felt a little sorry for all the tourists, including myself. There are to many un answered questions to feel comfortable about the whole thing really.We are all in the dark... We left the financial district pretty quick. It was hot as hell. (Interesting choice of words, i know...)
We headed for Chinatown, Tribeca and had lunch in Little Italy. Chinatown was epic. I overheard an interesting conversation in a small store between two men on each side of the counter... it ended like this..."What if i didn't have a penny? I will come back and fucking blast you! I will have my score!"Good times!
Chinatown is one of New Yorks most densely populated ethnic neighborhood, a "model slum" to some people. I read somewhere that this model slum thing has arised as this city district has the highest employment and least juvenile deliquency. The area has a dark histor. The legacy hails from the 1858 when the first known Chinese immigrant arrived through Triad-like "tongs" to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. Chinatown has a great history and it is still growing fast as Little Italy is being taken over more and more...
After awesome Chinatown and boring little Italy, we headed for 5th Avenue. More stores, more tourists and more flash. Walking up this famous street I found myself talking to Lauren Mason from Westside Psychic. She wanted to help me with my future, business, health, family and love life. She was a love specialist apparently. I declined respectfully of course... maybe I shouldn't have...you snooze you lose.
Today was also the day we all got new names. Sam became "Sam the Man" or "S-Boogie", Max became "M-Murda" and Freddie became "Fredrik aka Fuck That". Walking up on 5th Ave. this guy approached me and started to freestyle. He wanted to spit his rhymes for me and sell his music. The MC was called Ready (X marks the spot crew) and we talked for a long time about the underground scene in New York, Sweden and the hip hop that I support and work with (Zanka). Of course I supported Ready and his crew by buying stuff from them, as I really like the attitude and way to work and sell music.
No labels, no bullshit...
