The movie sucked. They compared it to Scarface. I took my lady to go see this movie because we’re big fans of how Jay-Z sounded on the American Gangster album (we got the bootleg before it hit the stores). The previews were also on point. I thought the movie wasn’t laid out properly and Denzel wasn’t as bad as he was in Training Day (Godzilla Ain’t Got Nothin’ On Him). I’m not trying to be a movie critic. Although I thought the movie was wack, there were lessons to be learned from the tragic story. All gangster movies always have that one message and always seem to fall victim to it.

What is it? What puts the biggest gangsters, the biggest cats out of business?

Flossing and Flaunting.

Don’t get me wrong. It feels good. I was that cat who always had the Lemon Water special when all my homeboys used to get T Bone dinners. I never bought into the drug game, although I know a lot about it. I was close to growing my own marijuana plant. When it grew 6 inches, my young ass thought it would be good to take it outside on a damp, hot day. Before I could get home, there was a storm that destroyed the plant. I thank God for destroying that plant at least once a year. I’ve seen drug pushers get caught up in the quick money, only to fall off. Fall off hard.

I’ve seen some of the youngsters in my park with holes in their shoes. Two years later, they’re driving a tinted Cadillac CTS. Not bad for a 17 year old. He had the girls, he had all the other highschool kids cruising around the city. They got high off their own supply. They got extremely addicted to the sneaker and diamond and chain game. When you have those things, you are making a bold statement - “I run this street”. You’re now a target.

Back to the movie American Gangster. Denzel never wanted to flaunt anything. He was making millions of dollars every week by savvy business moves - cutting out all the middle men and going directly to the manufacturers of pure heroine - Vietnam. He basically was Walmart on the streets. He built a brand. His operation was Monopoly - he was even supplying his competition. He was on top of the pyramid - but he never showed it.

Russel Crowe, who was on the Special Task Force was assigned to investigate the drug game amidst all the corrupt cops he was working with. He just couldn’t pin point who was on top of the drug game, because he was focusing on the pushers who flaunted their riches and bling.

One important lesson I learned from that movie is - never flaunt what you got because you’ll be a target. It’s human nature to have cats wanted to push you off the hill. Sh!t, I want what P Diddy has, I want what Russel Simmons has. I want to knock them off the mountain top that they climbed years ago. Human Nature. It comes with the territory.

“If you have haters, you must be doing something right”.

I am sorry for flaunting my $200/day Adsense earnings. I really didn’t mean to flaunt it. I was just extremely excited because this sh!t really works. Everyone who is reading this blog has logic. You aren’t in this internet hustling game because you are dumb. You know it takes time, you know it takes effort, you know it takes wits. That’s all it takes. You will have that “Ah-Ha” moment, but make sure to act on it right when you roll out of bed.

Once you hit that goal of yours, keep going and don’t ever stop. Don’t stop to shop for new sneakers. Don’t stop to shop for a Benz. Don’t stop to flaunt your success on message boards.

I flaunted my “success” yesterday and my earnings dropped to $181.00. Not bad, but I lost momentum. Momentum is one of the biggest forces of energy. If you keep riding with momentum - you can get to your goals much quicker.

Denzel’s wife in the movie gave him a fur coat to wear to a high profile boxing fight. He was hesitant but didn’t want to disappoint his wife. He wore it, pictures were taken of him, and thus the start of his tragic ending.

Once you stop to flaunt, you’re a target - and someone else is keeping an eye on you to knock you off the hill.

Keep Hustlin’.