yo yo trav hold up! yo yo. yo yo. yo. yo yo trav hold up!

"i been rappin for about seventeen years, ok? i don't write my rhymes anymore! i just kick it from my head. i can do that. no disrespect. that's just how i am."

here goes...

"innnnn west philadelphia born and raised,
on the playground is where i spend most of my days,
chillin out, maxin, relaxin all cool,
all shootin some bball outside of the school,

when a coupla guys, they were up to no good,
started makin' trouble in my neighborhood,
we got in one little fight and my mom got scared,
she said 'you're movin with your auntie and uncle in Bel Air,

i-pulled-up to a house about 7 or 8,
and i yelled to the cabbie, yo homes smell ya later,
looked at my kingdom i was finally there,
to sit on my throne as the Prince of Bel Air."

you'd be surprised how many cats can spit this song from the top of their domes. i've been on a bus full of wastyfaced kids that, after i began singing it with some random chick, sang along without flaw.

television rules the nation.

and i love how Will's finger waving, fretting, bag lady of a mom in the intro to the show looks nothing like the actress that eventually played that character when she was introduced into the saga. i kinda would've preferred that they maintained the caricature. or how they replaced the Aunt Vivian character a few seasons in. we weren't supposed to pay it any attention. not necessarily unique to the show (pretty common actually), but still pretty funny.

what i loved even more were the serious episodes, or in '90s sitcom speak, the "special" episodes. Will getting shot during a hold-up, his vagrant dad re-entering his life.

you just couldn't get away with that in today's television.

it's called escapism for a reason.