The Fever

Its getting hot down here. In Atlanta that can only mean 2 things. More music and more violence.
Its a sickness with us. Its something about the hot sun beaming down on you that makes you either want to dance or want to shoot somebody.

Every summer has a soundtrack. I don't know why music and heat go together. If its hot and music is playing maybe it feels like a club and that makes the day better. Maybe it just takes your mind off the heat. Whatever it is I know, as do a lot of people, that you can't go through a summer day without listening to music. Record companies know that. That's why the hot albums come out in the summer time. Everybody buys it, everybody plays it. It sets the mood for 3 hot months. "Its Dark and Hell Is Hot" is one of my picks for the ultimate summer album (name one person that wasn't rocking DMX that summer). I'm throwing T.I. "King" out there for an early pick for this summer (I am in ATL right now).

Now I'm a cool guy. I went to get gas one day my first summer here in the Atl. Standing at the pump (in the shade mind you) I was so hot that I would have hit the person pumping gas beside me if they were closer. However it was so hot I couldn't make it over in time to bust that bitch in the face like the heat was telling me to. (I'm sorry but everybody is a bitch when its that hot out). So I ended up getting in my car, hanging my head out the window screaming " SH#T!! ITS HOT!! IT'S MUHTAF#@KIN HOT AS A MUTHAF#@KA!!"

It makes you mad to be that hot. Its all around you and no matter what you do you can't escape it. You feel trapped. You feel completely helpless and hot. When crack heads start cooking on the sidewalk waiting for the MARTA, the heat starts to affect you. It clouds your mind. Its hard to think straight when it feels like you live in an oven. Everything aggrevates you. For whatever reason, could be they aren't as lazy as I am or could be they're more sensitive to the heat, people start lashing out. You're more likely to just say "F#@k it" and rob a liquor store when its 110 degrees outside and you don't have anything to do. You're more likely to pistol whip your spades partner for underbidding when all you see is heat lines past 10 feet from you. Domestic violence skyrockets because guys won't leave an air conditioned house to go bake outside and women won't back down because (and I quote) "It's too damn hot for me to be dealin' wit yo ass".

I woke up this morning and caught the news. Three black men were involved in a shoot out with a fifteen year old after an arguement. The fifteen year old was in critcal condition, another person was shot and aprehended. One suspect was shot but escaped on foot down Bankhead after what is being described as an "old west style shoot out". Weather man said today's high was 79 degrees.

Its gonna be a long summer.