Its funny where we draw inspiration from. A lot of times its from family, many times its from someone purposely trying to be inspirational, while many others draw inspiration from God. I certainly draw inspiration from all of the above. In the case of my health I got inspired after watching a documentary about my favorite hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest (ATCQ).
Background on me and the group, ATCQ provided the sound track to my teenage years. Living in Indiana my exposure to Hip Hop was limited in variety. In fact, really most of what I knew was what made it mainstream. There was a college station that played Hip Hop on certain nights, but for me I had to get my fix from watching MTV or BET. I can't remember when I first heard scenario. But the first time I heard it and heard the lexicon of both Q-Top and Phife Dawg I was hooked. Lines from Phife Dawg like: "I'm vexed fuming I've had it up to here" did it for me. I know simple. But not quite. I've only heard my family ever use the word Vexed and for some odd reason that hooked me. After hearing that song I had to get the CD for myself. It was the first hip-hop album I ever purchased.
Let me pause for a bit, my parents were of the strict Christian during this time of my life and any album I brought in the house was at risk of being snapped for profane lyrics. Tribe wasn't squeaky clean, but it was something I could casually get away with listening to without fear.
The mixture of jazz, the spirit of Queens NY. The over confidence of Phife's rap and sprinkled with consciousness in the lyricsthey did it for me. Being an alien living in Indiana, their lyrics brought me back home to NY.
Back to my original point because I could go on about my love of ATCQ forever:
The documentary was extremely insightful into the history of group. It was extremely personal as well in so much that I learned a lot about Phife Dawg (Malik Taylor) struggle with diabetes. It was a shocking wake up call as he spoke about just not feeling well, his addiction to sugar, and his eventual need for a kidney transplant. Watching like this was a wake-up call. It was so raw and so real to me to hear his testimony about his disease and its effect on the group/family. It pains me to say that it woke me up mostly because I didn't want to end up like him.
I don't want to politicize this, but in many ways Phife Dawg's story pointed to our need in this country for affordable or universal healthcare. At the end of the day a man is potentially dead because earlier in his disease he couldn't afford proper treatment. Fans came to his aid and raised money so he could get care. And let me remind everyone of the fact that being a Hip Hop star certainly doesn't mean millionaire. Strips to check blood sugar are still astronomically expensive. I am thankful that the Good Lord has blessed me with talents that have afforded with a job(s) that provided me with health care options. Not everyone has them, and furthermore Type-1 Diabetes isn't something you can just avoid. I hope this point isn't missed.
Thanks Phife Dawg for bringing attention to Diabetes.
Rest in Peace to the Funky Diabetic aka Phife Dawg