Hip Hop & I Grew Up

I wasn’t a brainiac, I never lived in a bad neighbourhood (even my short Brooklyn stay was nice), I wasn’t sporty, I was a tomboy, I had bad hair and embarrassing teeth, I listened to hip hop from America and rode horses. That pretty much sums me up as the universal no-fit kid.

I went to a girl’s school where we tied our hair back, walked in single file down the halls, polished our shoes and our P’s and Q’s and knowing boys, even at 15 was taboo. If the other kids thought you had money, it didn’t matter they usually had more. If they thought you didn’t, low and behold the bullies, they got me good.

Then came Watford, where all the elegantly polished vocabulary in the world wouldn’t help you. They took it upon themselves at college to ask me almost daily if ‘Jeeves The Butler’ did it, as if I had a personal man servant that did everything, drove me home and bowed when I walked past. My lovely words fell to the floor, I was the no-fit girl again and my accent got mangled. These days people don’t know where I came from but they sense someone taught me to be very polite and lady like, but they’re not quite sure when I’m holding my ground fiercely with one more American millionaire mogul, but they still manage to take one sniff while I’m sitting trying not to hold my breath in a room full of American rappers who smoke weed and sense I’ve never lived a day in a council estate.

Now, approaching my first quarter century it doesn’t matter where I’m from, or that what social class they position me in, it's what I've been through that moulds me, makes me strong and I'm proud of who I've become and what I do. My experiences have led me to some truly amazing people and my friends are the best bunch you'll ever have the pleasure to meet.

People seem to be at ease and even like the fact that I can float from hip hop to the corporate board room in the same day in a dress fit for Park Avenue. I no longer feel like a two piece Rocawear outfit will make me more comfortable to those in hip hop, they take me as I am, working-middle class, determined and open minded.

Hip hop has grown, haven’t we? I know within I’m the same girl that used to play Tupac in my Walkman on the bus to college full blast. My threads now just reflect who I have grown into, a young entertainment industry business woman who can rock the world in 4 inches and pearls.