To Live And Die In Chiraq

Ethan Brown in Playboy (NSFW, probably): When Lil Reese tells you to get out of the car, you exit the vehicle as fast as you can.

The tension began to boil at breakfast when Brandon, a paunchy white kid and perennial sidekick to Chicago’s hip-hop elite, promised Reese a free necklace from a jeweler friend in Los Angeles who bills himself as “Your Rapper’s Favorite Jeweler.” Now, in the backseat of a Chevy Malibu parked on Chicago’s South Side, Brandon’s generosity has been turned on its head by Reese, a brooding 21-year-old with bushy eyebrows and tattoos that crawl up his arms and onto his neck like lichen on an oak tree. Put simply: If you offer Reese a necklace, he’s going to want it now.

“Let me see that piece for a minute,” Reese says, tugging at the Medusa-head medallion around Brandon’s neck. “No,” Brandon says, pushing Reese away. “This is sentimental.”

A long pause.

“What the fuck is sentimental?” Reese shoots back.

“Reesie,” Brandon pleads, “he’s gonna FedEx two chains to you. I promise, yo.” His voice clears with sincerity. “On my mother.”

Reese is unmoved. “Let me see it now,” he demands.

“Reesie,” Brandon stammers back.

“I’ll give it back when I get those two pieces,” Reese continues, his voice growing cold.

“Yo, Reesie,” Brandon says. “I’m going to New York and I want to wear my piece.”

“Ethan,” Reese’s baritone booms from the back of the car, “step outside.”


Leave a comment