A Guest Submission by Ricky Dugal

My Crew.....

Now before I post anything more. I want to give a shot out to my crew. My posse. Better known as the BROOKS crew. Now as a kid growing up, one of my dreams was to have my own crew. And, now I can say I have one. My crew and I have had some great great times. I mean we roll. I have their back and they have mine. They have tattoos and chains with my name on it. If someone says something about me, my crew is right there to say "that's hearsay." They repeat everything I say. If I say lets go to the mall, then they repeat, "THE MALLL, we are going to the mallll, with Rigga." Its great. Not only do they repeat me, they copy everything I do. If I walk a certain way, they have to copy it. If I start chewing gum, they start chewing gum. If I start eating some Dunkin Donuts, then they copy me and they start eating Dunkin Donuts. Its great having a crew, and yall know who you are.

NBA players have posses or crews. Rappers have crews. Captain Kirk had a crew. Grandmothers whose sons play in the NBA have crews. It was time for me to start my own crew. You know, people that hung with me from way back. They are people that never turned their back on me when I wasn't a legend. People who look out for my best interests, so I look out for theirs. If they need an apartment?  DONE. They need a car? DONE. If they need tickets to games DONE, DONE. If they need a job? It's done. Its both a thank you for the years past and an assurance that they will forever kiss my ass and go along with whatever I say.

It doesn't matter if its ridiculous or just outright stupid. They have my back. I'm talking about guys who are down for me. I'm talking about guys who will help me commit crimes and then conspire with me to cover them up. And if you aren't part of the crew and think you should be, ask yourself that question. Would you do that for me?  I thought so. So get out of my face with that question girlfriend. Don't go there. Talk to the hand.

No more are crews reserved for NBA players, rappers, high-school golfers, NBA mothers/grandmothers et. al. I've gotten after it, paid my dues, bided my time and now it's finally here. I have my boys and they have my back. I say it, they repeat it. They don't question me or second-guess me. They just do as I say and as they're told. I keep them around, they keep me happy. If I say 2+2 = 5, I don't have to worry about hearing a lot of nonsense about how that's not the right answer. Those days are over. We hang out together, we roll in the Audi A-4 Cabrio together, we are Rigga and the Crew.

I have their back and they have mine.

If you are against the idea of me having my own crew you're in trouble. Don't go there, and get that out of my face. They're here to stay and will always have a place in my heart as long as Im alive. They throw the fast balls down the center over the plate, I knock it out of the park. They're my boys, they're my crew and we're rollin'! Rigga, keepin' it real.  

Speaking of dunkin donuts, they are the food equivalent of crack cocaine, plain and simple. If there ever needed to be an example of the law of diminishing returns, here it is. The first doughnut is like heaven on Earth. The sugar rush probably would incapacitate most individuals. Sugar shock is a likely result. You can't beat that first doughnut.

The only problem is that all of us try to match that experience with the second, third and sometimes fourth doughnuts. And for some reason we don't realize that we're actually getting less and less joy from the doughnuts. We're trying to re-experience that initial sugar-rush and it's just not possible. The more we eat, the further we get from reaching the goal.

If you haven't had a Dunkin donut before, imagine a block of sugar, syrup, butter and bread packed into a circular blob with a hole cut out. It sounds good (I think) and even tastes good...in moderation. But every single time, all of us get caught up in the euphoria of the first one. Next thing you know, you're rolling around in the office, climbing the walls and feeling like you drank 14 cups of coffee. And oh yeah, just gained 15 lbs. and 6 cavities. Other than that, they are great.

And you know my crew, the BROOKS crew. They always have my back. And when I have a Dunkin donut, they have to have one too. That's how we roll."Rigga gets a Dunkin donut, we all get Dunkin donuts!"

Ricky Dugal has his own site, www.riggamania.blogspot.com.  He's a dear friend and honest-to-God Brooks Legend.  At my request, he's finally begun to record his pearls of wisdom.
 
Holla,
Neil