[SONNY]

What happened that night?

[BROTHA LYNCH]

I wuz at a get together at my partna's house.

My partna does some gang-bangin, and he's on one team.

But the apartment complex is drownded with a whole diff'rent team, y'see. The only people I know are my partna `an the people who visit him. Well, my partna and his buddies had been runnin' in and out of the apartments, knowin' that the otha team wuz there, kinda showin' that they were'nt scared, `an maybe doin' a little side show, throwin' up signs. Me, Hyst, and Shante (BL's girlfriend)were leavin' an' I guess they (the apartment team) mistook us for the people that were throwin' up the signs, `an started talkin' their slang to us.

I kep' askin' what they meant , and then I said "forget it", and told Shante to get in the bacc seat. Hyst started drivin' back, and just as were about to take off, someone ran up onna window and fired six shots, point blank.

We didn't know we were shot until we saw

blood.They jumped in a car an' we panickedbecause we didn't know if they

were gonna follow us. They didn't, and we ended up at the hospital, where the treatment was not well.

They (the doctors) said they

couldn't find the bullet, so they left it in me!

A bullet went in Hyst's chest an' out the back of his arm....this never happened before....

[HYST]

Three things happen' all at once. The glass bustin' in ma face, a loud-ass ringin' in ma ear, and my arm goin' numb.

[Sonny]

An incident like that could have left you dead. How has it affected

your philosophy on life?

[Brotha Lynch]

I am here to stay outta trouble. I been rappin' for 12 years, an'

I'm 25 now. I have an EP out called 24 Deep on Black Market Records

and a new one called Season of the Siccness. I just wanna do my

music. In this day and age, you can stay outta trouble, but if trouble

comes your way, you gotta handle it, or else you'll end up gettin

handled.

H. I'm happy to be alive. My philosophy is to tell the truth, and fucc

wit' Nintendo. To get through handlin' ma own...an' do a lil' drinkin'.

I'm sayin' I'm on ma own.

S. Where's it all leading?

BL. Where it's leading for me is to not even go to places where thugs

hang out. I'd rather go to Cattle Club or a punk rocker party where

evr'body accepts me and no one gets shot. I try to message everyone

on the shit goin' on, but if shit on the street and in society keeps

goin' its way, we're ass out! I hope everyone gets my message and

really listens to the lyrics.

H. When you see ma tape, don't sleep on it `til you hear it. Don't judge

a book by its cover.

[Sonny]

Brotha Lynch and Hyst were two of the most gracious, polite,

profound, and real people I've had the honor of kiccin' it with. With

the massive trend of "being a gangster" and the ease of obtaining a

handgun, shit like this is no longer unusual, much like a football

game. It sucks, and my motivation for doing this article was out of

care for a young artist trying to make his way in a stratified society.

Support the arts, not the maccs.