AS : The Power Of Influence...

So, I have a young friend from church. He is 14, sorta like a mentee or little brother. My frat brother brought him to Project Alpha, our teen sex awareness program, a few years ago and had me sit with the lil dude cause he was 11 and repeating a grade cause he couldn’t act like he had some sense. I could totally feel his pain… I was always getting in trouble in middle school. So we took him under our wing, and tried to show him that he didn’t have to act out to get attention in school. Since then the little bit of work has paid off. He has caught up with school, and is now in the proper grade. He is playing football and is an all around well rounded kid.

When we see him at church he always walks up and asks us, “hey, where’d you get that sweater?” or he will say “man, those shoes are tight!” So we tell him. He goes out, gets it, and lo and behold, he a pretty fly dresser. He walks around 70% of the time trying to dress like Me or Tyrone. Which is funny because we used to look up to people and try to be like them, now he is trying to be like us. **I feel that I have been placed in his life to show him a positive influence and an alternative to the street cats that he sees on a daily basis or the wanna-bees that he encounters at school** He is very much anti baggy jeans and tall tees, which brings me great joy.

Even with all the influence that we have over him, there is one cat, who we don’t stand a chance to… Lil’ Wayne. Now I don’t mean he wants to sip syrup, grow dreads, get tattoos and wear skinny jeans(the first 2, I know for a fact, but the later, I’m not too certain of), what I do mean, is whenever he is not engaging in conversation on the phone, or physically talking to someone, he has his headphones in his ear, and he is rambling the verses of Lil’ Wayne. He could say them in his sleep. If he knew his school information like he knew Wayne lyrics, he could be graduating college... NOW!

This week we had an Ice Storm, and I asked his mother if he could come spend the day with me. Ironically, I am not much different that a 14 year old, except, I pay bills and have responsibilities. We like the same shoes, the same clothes, same movies, same video games, etc… (all to an extent). So he comes in the House and says “Wayne has a new song with some dude named Kevin Rudolph, and it’s a ROCK SONG. Man the song is COLD!”

Really??? I already knew about Lil’ Wayne’s transformation to Rock Boy, but I didn’t wanna burst his bubble about being late on the current events. So I proceed to let him hear a few other tracks that Wayne has done with the rock influence. I saw the light bulb go off in his head. Instead of playing NBA 2k9 on the Xbox, he wanted to play Guitar Hero. Instead of learning to play the drums(like me), he now wants to take Guitar Lessons(like Wayne). Instead of taking a nap or chilling, he plugged his headphones into the laptop and google’d Rock & Roll songs for hours…

I won’t try to analyze if Lil’ Wayne is making credible Rock Music, that’s a whole different discussion, what I am trying to do is merely make a point. To a 14 year old, We will NEVER be as cool as Lil’ Wayne, and that my friends is a shame…


Does Lil' Wayne realize his influence? Do We realize our influence? What will we do to counter effect the negative that come into our youths lives? or will we help to facilitate foolishness? Take a moment, and think about that as you go through the day.

Thanks for taking time to read this… peace!