PR for People Monthly JULY 2016 | Page 20

You see the news about police shooting young black men, most of whom are unarmed. You see the news where random drive by shootings are turning poor urban neighborhoods into killing fields. It doesn’t have to be this way, you might want to say, but it is this way and it’s not changing, not a bit. If anything, more people than ever are dying.

Young men living in the ‘hood feel real pain when bad things keep happening to them and we should care about that. We should care about what happens to them.

Derkquon said, “In my heart I know that living in Yonkers is about staying strong. I want everybody to stay strong.”

Derkquon was born in Harlem and as a baby lived in the projects around 125th street. Soon his mother moved the family to Yonkers, where they have been living in the Schlobohm Housing Projects on Schroeder Street. It doesn’t matter whether you call the Schlobohm projects Slow Bomb or Slum Town, Derkquon remembers the happy times growing up: having fun, playing baseball and basketball on the street, running track and hanging around in Trevor Park. In the summer other families would get together and everyone would pitch in to barbecue. Everyone would come together and had a lot of stuff going on to make Slow Bomb a happening place.

Derkquon talks about his mom, Maxine Battle, as the most important person in his life. “I grew up around a lot of cool people, but no one compares to my mom. She’s a very good person. Smart mother. A very intelligent and strong woman like Oprah or Wendy Williams. She raised a son like me. And her mom died when she was my age. Her mom died the same day I was born. I can see how she was scarred and damaged from the Yonkers pain [she endured] growing up, but she still reaches out and shows real love.”

Derkquon cares about the people who live in his community and he also cares about the people—who for one reason or another—died too young. Seeing what happened to everybody: dead, in jail, or under federal investigation made him strong. His music is an anthem of true grit and speaks his pride in being young, black, human and powerfully alive.

“I rap because I want them to know that Yonkers was the first thing that happened to me. I want them to know our life. To know our best side. I’m learning how to survive. By trying to survive, I’m becoming free.”