When a 17 year old can look down the barrel of a gun and not see Fear.
He could do this, because Fear had become his friend.
And you can't be afraid of your friends... especially when you see them everyday.
What he did see was Sadness, Fear's cousin.
Sadness, because IT had finally caught up to him
Sadness, because he realized that his life didn't matter.

And don't get it twisted... he wasn't a thug or a gangsta and never tried to be.
But this didn't matter either.
It didn't matter that he was coming from his after school job.
It didn't matter that he was going to graduate and go to an ivy league school
It didn't matter that he was a track star
It didn't matter... that he was just going home.

All that mattered was that he had a glock in his face and a cop with death on his behind it.
All that mattered was that he wasn't scared because he knew it was bound to happen.
All that mattered... was that the fear that should have been in his face was in the cop's instead.
(Cause Fear and Death are half-brothers, and Death always liked to hang out with Fear)
You see, the cop knew nothing about him except that he had to be a thug and a gangsta..
And that's sad.

You know what else is sad?

It's sad that here was a kid that wanted to make a difference in the world,
but it would be up to a paranoid cop that let his fear run him.
A fear that maybe this kid should have had, but he had seen him too much to be scared
and that was his friend.

It's sad that everyday he saw hustlers hustle to close the gap between the haves and the havenots
that still had not realized that there had to be a another way.

It's sad that these same hustlers played craps with Fear and Death
and all too often rolled snake eyes and lost to them.

It's sad that everyday he saw people with "FEAR" tatooed on their throats and when they spoke,
Fear's brother, Anger, came out blind, in a violent rage,
not caring who he was aimed at so long as he hit something.

It's sad that instead of kids playing games with each other, they played hustlers
with Fear in their hands aimed at their brothers.

All this was sad.... and he knew Sadness, just like everyone else in his neighborhood.
Cause Sadness owned the house that Fear lived in and it was right around the corner from him.
And Sadness was one of those neighbors that always asked for things
but even when you said no, which everyone did, he would still take them...
and never give them back.

And as he thought about this, and all the people he knew: Sadness, Death, Anger and Fear
He was sad
cause all he wanted to do was make a difference
and he knew it wasn't up to him
but this cop, his glock, and his Fear.