You Can't Knock The Hustle: A Walk Down Michigan Avenue
“I’m a hustler baby/I’ll sell water to a well”- Jay-Z. If Mr. Sean Carter took a stroll with me down Michigan Avenue this past weekend, even he might have been surprised by the ingenuity of today’s youth. As I strolled past the Chicago River on Wacker Drive I saw the beautiful Chicago skyline. Every time I take public transportation north of Roosevelt I’m always amazed at how the city magically gets cleaner. I digress. As I sauntered down Michigan Avenue last Saturday I saw capitalism at it’s finest. No not rogue capitalism. Bernie Madoff and Jack Abramoff are still incarcerated. I saw young Black kids using their varied talents to make money.
Although the city of Chicago may deem some of their business ventures hustles illegal (I saw two kids get citations for blocking the walkways), I look at them as creative ways for young folks to practice entrepreneurship. Heck if people can use exotic financial instruments to manipulate the free market, I believe kids should be able to use their talents to give them access to markets.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-SN2l6JZO0
In a perfect world I would rather see young people of color working jobs that would give them access to healthcare and other benefits. However, we are still living in a time where employees who have worked the same job for 20 years are being forced to take days off while some are getting laid off. So in the meantime I say hustle on young brother/sister, hustle on. Let me clarify what I mean by hustle. You might take it out of context like a terrorist fist bump or a mosque in New York City. I’m not encouraging youngsters to engage in illicit activities, nor am I encouraging them to willfully disobey the law. I’m simply encouraging them to use their gifts to give them more power in this capitalistic society.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQ488QrqGE4&feature=av2e
So back to my walk down Michigan Avenue. As I passed the Wrigley Building I saw two teenage age boys artfully playing John Coltrane. If there hadn’t been a bucket with a big money sign in front of them and a bunch of overzealous tourists taking pictures, I would’ve thought that I was in an intimate cabaret. The next block down I saw a crowd of about 100 people gathered around 5 young black males. As they pumped up the crowd with their witty banter I wondered what they were about to do. About 5 minutes later I saw a 16 year old boy flip across 5 people and land effortlessly on the concrete. Two minutes later they were given a citation by the police.
As I approached the Water Tower Mall I ran into two teenage boys performing a well choreographed dance to Beyonce’s “Sweet Dreams” in front of the Apple Store. Even Steve Jobs would’ve been entertained. As they popped and locked I didn’t just see future Alvin Ailey dancers, I saw future chief executive officers honing their crafts on the streets of Chi-town.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnv89RPM64s
In the spirit of Adam Smith I encourage you to keep on hustlin’!
Keep on writing and inspiring young brother!
Keep on writing and inspiring young brother!
Great post Ed, your references are priceless. Not only do I see these phenomena as youth trying to thrive economically (or hustle), I also see the powerful desire and ability youth have today to create. You have teens drumming on empty paint cans, or youth using other people– instead of tightropes or hoops–to exemplify acrobatics. There is a unique and exciting artistic ingenuity in these instances of expression. So you see economic resilience in the face of obstacles, I see ingenuity and creative expression. Creative ingenuity and economic resilience sound like integral components to competing in a global economy to me, and all contained in the youth on the streets of Chicago.
Granted, our youth today may need a little more than money from tourists thrown in a bucket or police citations to compete on a global economic standard, but as you said, I digress.
Great job.
Great post Ed, your references are priceless. Not only do I see these phenomena as youth trying to thrive economically (or hustle), I also see the powerful desire and ability youth have today to create. You have teens drumming on empty paint cans, or youth using other people– instead of tightropes or hoops–to exemplify acrobatics. There is a unique and exciting artistic ingenuity in these instances of expression. So you see economic resilience in the face of obstacles, I see ingenuity and creative expression. Creative ingenuity and economic resilience sound like integral components to competing in a global economy to me, and all contained in the youth on the streets of Chicago.
Granted, our youth today may need a little more than money from tourists thrown in a bucket or police citations to compete on a global economic standard, but as you said, I digress.
Great job.
Ed, I know this is supposed to be an encouraging piece, but I couldn’t help but feel dissapointed as I read. When you look at the kids hustlin’ on the street, you see ingenious entrepreneurs creatively utilizing their talents, but there is another abstract message in this post- everytime you looked at those kids and saw inspiration, the cops looked at them an saw another group of rowdy black boys causing a disturbance on the street. It didn’t matter that they were doing something positive and productive. You kind of laugh off the fact that hey were given citations, and it’s true, one citation might not be a big deal, but how about three? what about six? It’s possible that if they continue to work, they will inevitably recieve more. Even if these kids never did another thing wrong in their lives, they could have a record. what about driving tickets or loud parties? We don’t even have to get into the big stuff.
I hate to say “the man is keeping us down”, but the proof is in the pudding. How many good days of work end in citations? How many tickets does it take to make a kid a nuisance to a cop? How many cops does it take to discourage a child? I mean, without a permit to back you a up, a hustle will always be that- never a sound job or a career.
Ed, I know this is supposed to be an encouraging piece, but I couldn’t help but feel dissapointed as I read. When you look at the kids hustlin’ on the street, you see ingenious entrepreneurs creatively utilizing their talents, but there is another abstract message in this post- everytime you looked at those kids and saw inspiration, the cops looked at them an saw another group of rowdy black boys causing a disturbance on the street. It didn’t matter that they were doing something positive and productive. You kind of laugh off the fact that hey were given citations, and it’s true, one citation might not be a big deal, but how about three? what about six? It’s possible that if they continue to work, they will inevitably recieve more. Even if these kids never did another thing wrong in their lives, they could have a record. what about driving tickets or loud parties? We don’t even have to get into the big stuff.
I hate to say “the man is keeping us down”, but the proof is in the pudding. How many good days of work end in citations? How many tickets does it take to make a kid a nuisance to a cop? How many cops does it take to discourage a child? I mean, without a permit to back you a up, a hustle will always be that- never a sound job or a career.