Original subtitles

Subtitles by explosiveskull www.OpenSubtitles.org

A dead body was found inside the trunk of a car

in North Preston Cemetery yesterday,

making it the second homicide in two weeks

for the small community of 4,000 people.

Funding for Operation CeaseFire has been approved by the government

and will go into action next month,

looking to reduce the high rate of gun violence in the town of North Preston.

Up next on Power 92.3, we've got Just Chase's new single "Ego"

that's been quickly climbing up the Billboard charts since its release.

Multiple men from North Preston have been arrested for human trafficking

and forcible confinement in a nationwide sting yesterday.

Officers say that the gang, North Preston's Finest,

is responsible for a pimp ring that spans the entire country.

Right now, we're on our way up to Preston.

North Preston, man. My hometown.

Today I drop one of my biggest projects,

and, you know, also, it's my mom's birthday, so,

I'm going to see her as well.

Before I go see my mom, I'm just gonna pop in on my dad real quick.

He has no clue that I'm coming. Surprise his ass.

Aw, man. Feels good to be back home, man.

Welcome to Shatner Land itself.

Whoo!

- Hey! - Hey! What's up?

- Good to see you. - How are you?

Surprised!

What, you didn't call or nothing to say you were coming?

- What... - Good to see you. How's everything?

- How's everything? - Look at you. Good.

I remember when I taught you how to drive them trucks.

- Yeah. - And then when I took you out on your own,

I went with you the first few...

For a week, but then, when I let you go on your own...

The first day I let you go by yourself...

I flipped over in the dump truck.

- Rolled the dump truck over. - Oh, my god. I remember that.

- I'll never forget it. - Lucky I didn't hurt myself.

I always had him working for me right from a little boy.

- Teaching him how to... - From the age of eight, nine, right up. Me and my brothers...

Teaching him how to run the Bobcat there and stuff like that.

I had a hard time trying to keep him focused on the job.

When I think he's supposed to be at work, working with the dump truck,

and he's out hanging out with his gangster buddies.

Your mom went in your bedroom one day

and she called me in your bedroom when you wasn't home,

- and we found a sawed-off shotgun - Yeah, I remember that.

in your dresser. Hiding underneath your clothes in your dresser.

And I was, like, blown away, I'm saying, and I took it.

I took it, and I... I...

- That's crazy. - ...got rid of it.

- It wasn't there when I went... - That gun...

And then I start hearing all these, uh, rumors about

guys looking for Justin, and shooting at him,

and him shooting back at guys,

and a couple of his really good friends, good buddies...

- Yup. - ...got killed in that.

That's when I decided, you know,

I gotta get him out of this city.

And I took him to the airport one day and put him on a plane

- and sent him to Toronto with some relatives of mine, and... - Yup.

He said, "I don't wanna see you come back down here.

I wanna see you focused, and stay out of here."

He said, "Focus on your music."

I've been driving since I was two.

One thing about me, boy.

You got a copy on me, Shatner?

10-4, Johnson.

This truck right here,

basically saved my life.

Kept me out the streets. Man, it was so bad,

I was full-time in the streets driving this truck.

It got so bad one day, at one point,

that I used to keep my gun right here.

Right there. Right underneath that seat right there.

Covered up with a newspaper.

My dad didn't know that, though.

If he would have known that I would've been dead.

But, yeah, it was crazy, bro.

Shit was hectic, bro.

Getting a little rusty there, chief. Are you having trouble backing up there,

lock your digs in.

I know, that's 'cause...

I ain't a driver. I'm a singer.

Okay, I gotta go see Mom, so I'll check you later.

- Okay. - I'll be back.

You sure you don't wanna work the rest of the day in the truck?

No, no, no.

My mom had a big influence on me.

Always, always believed in me from day one.

When others didn't, she was always, had my back.

My name actually used to be Chason.

And, um...

Now it's Just Chase, but she, uh...

She always told me, like, "If you ever go and you make it in this career, in this life,

please run with the name Chason

or have it involved in there some way."

So, it was, like, that meant a lot to me, too, so...

Yeah.

To be honest, I'm really excited to pay her a visit.

It's been a while since I've been here.

Over six months and, you know, it's gonna be great just to visit her.

Happy birthday, Mother.

I miss you so much.

I love you, and I know you're smiling down right now.

I feel your energy.

Love you.

Right now, we're at the graveyard up in North Preston.

I came to visit my mom

My mom passed away in 2011.

Every time I come to Nova Scotia,

I just have to come and see her and just get that energy back and just feel recouped again.

So, I was really close with my mom, and, uh,

releasing this project on her birthday just means the world to me.

She meant a lot to me. I'm her only son.

And, yeah, we were just like best friends,

so this is amazing to just be releasing this on her day,

and happy birthday to my mom.

If we understand where we came from,

we'll understand where we're at.

Soon as we understand where we're at,

we're gonna understand where we need to go.

Where I grew up in North Preston is a small town

with about 4,000 people.

It's the biggest black community in Canada,

and there's only one way in and one way out.

It's very unique because there's no other community that I know of,

the inhabitants have been there for, you know, 250-plus years

and they're all related,

and, uh, they're all black.

You gotta understand this community been in existence

since the beginning of Canada.

We are now at the Black Cultural Center

where you could come learn all the history you want,

see the proof in the indigenous history

of African Nova Scotians that migrated here from America,

the Caribbean, the Loyalists.

Everybody that has made this culture the place that it is.

Remembering our original true story.

The diversity that exists amongst all the different communities

is because of all the different migrations that took place that brought us here,

but we all brought different characteristics, traits, and ancestry.

When they think about indigenous Scotian history,

it's always related to the Underground Railroad.

The Underground Railroad is one of the most significant migrations

because America enslaved us for over 400 years.

Canada abolished slavery 30 years before America,

so it was to the point that they knew once they crossed that border

they were gonna get freedom.

The Underground Railroad provided that with Harriet Tubman.

She led them from the Southern states of America all the way to the north,

following the North Star.

If you got to north and you crossed over at the border,

you came to Canada

and then you migrated to the black settlement of Nova Scotia.

The Underground Railroad's last stop was here.

"Underground Railroad." People think it's train tracks.

It's just barefoot, no train.

Walking through swamps,

through bushes,

perimeters of lakes, guided by the moonlight.

Hoping to get free because you don't wanna get whipped no more.

Nova Scotia are all the ones that got away.

Preston are all the ones that got away.

There's an irony worthy of Shakespeare,

in that, North Preston,

it was a safe haven for Black Loyalists escaping slavery.

Now, the North Preston's Finest has transformed this

into a hub for its gang's activities of sex trafficking,

which is the latest form of slavery.

The spirit of North Preston,

is one of victory.

In spite of stereotypes, in spite of racism,

in spite of discrimination,

in spite of history of being neglected and rejected,

this community has thrived.

North Preston is one of the best communities in the world to me.

I love my community, I love my people.

You know, North Preston gets a real bad shake.

They wanna say that we're the worst place in the whole wide world.

Lot of poverty.

Hard times.

This is one of these little towns that

you gotta make it in it.

Yeah, exactly.

You can't really describe this place other than

when you hear you gotta make it in this town.

Lot of things go on that shouldn't go on.

It was different when these guys were growing up. Dudes were just bad.

- Now we got the fuckin' shooters. - Yup.

We got the people that wanna kill you for just saying hi.

North Preston came a long way.

It's a very spiritual place.

It's a church community.

And there's also that culture, that dark culture.

There's fires, like, there was pimps, there was hookers,

there was crack dealers, there was fiends, there was everything here.

This is the first time we're getting to share our story.

I've been on the streets for a while now.

That life will always be a part of me,

but it doesn't define me.

That's how it goes down, man.

- That's some North Side shit. - That's it. That's it. That's it.

All right, all right...

♪ Niggas wanna know what's real ♪

♪ Niggas trying to test their skill ♪

♪ Not focus on their meals ♪

♪ Noticed how... ♪

♪ Had to show 'em something real ♪

♪ I get business on appeal ♪

♪ Confessing how you really feel ♪

♪ She just doin' it for the thrill ♪

♪ Notice I was in the field ♪

♪ Notice I would never steal ♪

♪ I just set that play in motion ♪

♪ Now you fuck with Nova Scotia ♪

♪ Notice I was never home ♪

♪ Notice that I'm not alone ♪

♪ Now it's time to let it go ♪

Now we're gonna make this toast to Chase, North Preston's Finest.

The whole gang, everybody...

North Preston's Finest, to me,

is like we always say, it's not a gang, it's a lifestyle.

The outside world, they made it the gang

that they made it be, you know what I mean?

North Preston's Finest are young black men from that tiny community

of pimps and human traffickers, gun and drug dealers.

They usually target young teenage girls who are troubled,

who come from broken families in broken communities such as North Preston,

and then they convert them into prostitutes.

These are men who were raised in, uh,

basically an opportunity-starved environment.

They turn to crime to escape the poverty of North Preston.

People know of North Preston's Finest

which gave it a very tarnished name in the eyes of many,

not just here, but, um, in other parts of Canada as well.

North Preston's Finest is an organization that was largely set up

to take young women out of the community and bring them into the sex trade.

I was trafficked by a pimp from North Preston when I was 17 years old.

North Preston pimps are known for brutality,

as well as recruitment of very young girls.

You often find that fathers and brothers and uncles and grandfathers were pimps.

North Preston pimps are known as being one of the largest pimp gangs.

They're very well organized.

They have girls in strip clubs, massage parlors, escort agencies.

They're known to be extremely violent.

They're known to have a lot of women.

They're known to brand their women.

Back in my day, street prostitution was really prevalent,

and the North Preston pimps owned more than half of the corners.

There are policing organizations in this country,

uh, in particular, in Quebec and Ontario,

that have labeled it a gang.

What gang?

You know what I mean?

I'm gonna say it out like a million times, bro.

We ain't no fuckin' gang, man.

But...

To the outside world, it might look gangsterous.

It ain't just some friendship shit. We family.

- Nah. Yeah... - You get what I'm saying?

- It's beyond friendship. - It's family, man.

- It's friendship, family... - Know what I mean? It's family, man.

And it's just... We move as one.

That's the part they don't get.

So that's why when you say...

Like, "What is this?" Like, what is it we have here.

Like what he just said. He couldn't explain it.

- We can't make this shit up, man. - Exactly.

- We can't make this shit up. - It's us.

This is our life.

Cops, they just try to put North Preston's Finest into a gang

which is a brotherly tattoo that we came up with.

You know, my mom's North Preston's Finest.

My dad's North Preston's Finest. Uh...

My aunts and uncles, a lot of people from here, older people...

It's been described as everything from a crime syndicate

to a group of youth who take pride in who they are

and want to be recognized for their community.

Yes, there are folks that are linked to criminal activity.

And we know that through seeing the crackdown on prostitution and pimping rings,

and yes, there were individuals in Ontario that were connected at that time as well.

To the police, who don't understand the culture of North Preston,

and to the media, who doesn't care about the culture of North Preston,

they created an article on North Preston's Finest

because one individual was found guilty of pimping,

who had "North Preston's Finest" tattooed on his neck.

And said that this is a gang of pimps.

Mmm... Actually, no.

The charges now are not pimping anymore.

It's human trafficking, which is even worse.

All of these cases that had convictions all had one thing in common

and that was North Preston.

How can you stereotype an entire community

based on what your perception of North Preston is?

You're not gonna take our community and just destroy it.

You're ruining lives, you're ruining kids' perceptions of themselves,

their confidence, and everything else.

You know, you're calling the community's name out, "North Preston."

You know, you're saying, "North Preston,"

and so, when they know you're from North Preston, you get a label.

They put them all into one category, North Preston's Finest.

They got them up there with the Hells Angels.

That's a joke.

So what does that do with the kids?

The kids don't wanna say that they're from here.

People don't wanna say they're from here. They get ashamed.

Because of all the negativity.

But, see, I am North Preston's Finest.

That's not the whole story. That's one side of it.

- That's just a lie. - But there's a whole another beautiful side to it as well.

Know what I mean? So...

At the end of the day, we're all...

♪ That's just the way it is ♪

Like, there's people who...

They may be going through some shit financially, you know what I mean?

- You're right. Yup. - Struggling, know what I mean?

The struggle's real. People be struggling, and then, boom.

But they can call that person, their cousin, their uncle, whoever,

- and help them out maybe one from time to time. - Right.

That uncle, that cousin, that brother, whatever, maybe they're a pimp.

Maybe they sell dope. You know what I mean?

Like, at the end of the day, like real shit, like...

If it wasn't for the pimp game, we may not have made it this far.

- Real shit. And I ain't even sayin' that. - And that's...

- I'm not saying that they're fucking... - That's facts.

- We may not have made it this far. - You know what? That's facts.

Real shit, bro. It was a part of the struggle. Like...

- That avenue of finances helped this community... - Yeah.

...grow, but that ain't the only thing that helped the community grow.

Just like the motherfucker that had a construction company.

I grew up around a bunch of pimps, drug dealers, gangsters, and hoes.

So, it's like, you will become what you see every day.

So that's what I became.

That was the cool thing.

Nice cars, nice clothes, nice jewelry, nice hoes, nice money.

And that's what it was.

And I got into it, you know what I mean? Like, that's just what it was.

It's normal to us. It's the regular life.

It's a regular lifestyle. It's not even like this... You know what I mean?

It's normal. Like what he just said.

- We don't think about it like that. - Yeah.

It's just a natural thing to us.

Pimp watcher, yeah. We grew up... That's...

It's normal to everyone that grew up here, right?

- It's a lifestyle. Yeah. - It's a community. A lifestyle, exactly.

- We're North Preston's Finest. - Yeah.

It's a lifestyle. It's not... It ain't... It's not a gang.

It's a lifestyle. That's how we live.

Nothing wrong with that. That's how we live.

So we was always repping North Preston, you know what I'm saying?

Like, that's what we do. We represent where we're from.

We are proud people, so we rep that.

And, you know, they look at it like, oh, well, you know,

a couple one or two guys get in a little bit of trouble,

they got a tattoo saying North Preston's Finest.

Know what I mean? So then now they start paying attention, like,

"Oh. This group of people, we gotta call them something." You know what I mean?

So we're gonna call them North Preston's Finest.

♪ Turn on the radio ♪

♪ Flick on the news ♪

♪ NP Finest all day That's what These bitches choose ♪

♪ A lot of you snitching Still too many real ♪

♪ North Preston with me So fuck how you feel ♪

♪ Just a gel nigga comin' up ♪

♪ In my hood ♪

♪ Chillin' at the fire hall Throwin' rocks at the cops ♪

♪ In my hood ♪

♪ We stay strapped But we learn to stand by ♪

♪ In my hood ♪

♪ We got a dollar over here Pimp hoes and sell rocks ♪

♪ In my hood ♪

So now they took that and made it like, "Oh, this is a gang."

You know what I'm saying? So now they take what they believe to be a gang,

what we believe to be a lifestyle, a culture, who we are as people,

and they take it and they run it and they call it a gang.

North Preston's Finest is a group of young guys, they hung out because of music.

If some of the people that associated or identified themselves

as North Preston's Finest

became involved in criminality and, you know, moved outside of the area.

People within different jurisdictions

classified them as North Preston's Finest.

I'm forever gonna be North Preston's Finest,

no matter what I do, no matter my walk of life,

because that's who I am as a person.

I ain't no gang member. I'm just a human being like anybody else,

but I represent where I'm from,

and I believe in that.

This place is one of those cities...

It's not the Bronx, it's not New York, it's not Boston.

It's North Preston.

It's a jungle

where everything goes.

I'm normally one of the guys that gets drunk on the scene,

and fucks a scene up, right?

I'm your friend, I'm your... I'm the devil.

All these young niggas out here gonna achieve something today.

It's just, when are they gonna achieve it.

Is it gonna be... When the violence gets out of control too much,

where we can't stand one another,

or is it gonna get in control where we can communicate with one another,

and build something great other than a city of hatred and jealousy,

and all of that stuff don't make no sense to me.

Lot of young cats out here need to survive

instead of going under.

I'm the worst one,

the last one, and probably the only one that gonna tell you this...

Things gotta change, or thing's gonna get worse.

So, we just located a vehicle that was recovered stolen.

And my opinion would be, it was targeted,

'cause there's some vandalism on there, like, some statements on the vehicle.

When people spray-paint stuff, or they key vehicles,

uh, and steal them, that's not normally a joyride.

There was, uh, a statement on the vehicle that was racially motivated,

and that lets you know that racism still does exist.

Racism is real.

All day.

Bigotry and prejudice

and stereotyping and generalization is still very real.

And, unfortunately, it's part of the DNA of North America.

Oh, yes, racial profiling is very much alive and well in North Preston.

It wouldn't be logical of us to think that racial profiling has completely gone away.

I have experienced racial profiling quite a bit.

You know, a lot of cops, they target blacks, you know what I mean,

just try to pull them over for no reason.

I think racial profiling is the worst ever right now. It's ridiculous.

I can be in a car with a young gentleman,

you can just sense you're guilty for nothing.

Today, a lot of the challenges go back centuries, I would say, certainly decades,

which is that the community has been the victim of systemic racism

throughout its history.

We had the famous case a while back,

of Kirk Johnson, who's a boxer, who was picked up for driving while black.

...entering the ring wearing black trunks with white trim,

hailing from North Preston, Nova Scotia, in Canada.

Kirk Johnson is the number-one-rated WBA heavyweight contender,

and he is the mandatory defense for the champion John Ruiz.

Kirk Johnson's gonna be the next Larry Holmes in the sense that

he's the guy who could win the title and hold it for many years.

I'd like to bring him up now, the WBA mandatory heavyweight challenger

Kirk Johnson from Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Sorry. I'm sorry.

From North Preston, Nova Scotia.

Kirk Johnson was, you know, a hometown hero, man.

When I was, like, maybe eight, nine years old, man,

like I could turn on the television and watch Kirk Johnson

battling for world titles, knocking people out.

He was somebody that we had an opportunity to look up to.

I won my first Canadian title at the age of 14.

I won, like, six Canadian titles in a row.

Then I won a world title at the amateurs also.

You know, the first Canadian to do it fighting.

Lennox Lewis, he did it,

but the Cuban fell on the steps and hurt his back.

But I literally did it, you know, fighting all the fights.

And right there and then I said, "You know what, shoot.

Lewis got a world title as an amateur

and I got a world title like Lewis,

so I'm gonna be world champ like Lewis is world champ."

That's when it came to me.

I said, "You know what? I can really do something in this world."

I was big on just thinking that I could conquer the world.

My professional record is 37 wins,

one draw, one no-contest, and two losses.

Twenty-seven knock-outs I have.

What made me wanna step up when it came to the racial profiling

and wanna combat it, was...

It happened to me too many times.

When I brought my car home, it was only a Mustang,

but when I brought it home, within three weeks, I got stopped 29 times.

And that's 29 times with me counting.

And then when this man, badge number 454,

racist cop stopped me, and had me there for two and a half hours,

and wouldn't accept my insurance,

he wouldn't accept my registration.

I told him I'm coming home to see my mother and father,

and then he took my car to try to humiliate me

and I just told him, "I'm gonna get you. I'll see you in court."

He was a man who was racist towards me,

he didn't have no reason to stop me,

and put something on me, then you have people start trying to judge me.

And I just realized that

you do have people who just hate you for the color of your skin.

I accept the finding that Mr. Johnson was discriminated against,

and recognize that this has been a very humiliating, stressful,

and painful experience for him and his family...

When it comes to people's human rights,

if you violate that, that's a right, and that's hatred,

and we've been going through that there

for 450 years of slavery or what-have-you, and we don't wanna go back to that.

As far as you see, the racial profiling,

Kirk probably experienced it

because they didn't want no black man rolling around with nice cars

and having millions of dollars.

I've seen it myself, like, if you...

If the police see someone who has something nice, or driving a nice car,

I used to have a Saleen Mustang, it was, like, a really nice flashy car,

and that was the most I ever been pulled over in my life.

You know, I speak to so many kids.

Some of them say they get stopped all the time for no reason at all.

They said, "Well, the police say you fit the description."

And I can't lie, I will stop that way before somebody stops me and says,

"Oh, well, you fit the description."

I said, "Description of what?"

"Somebody who robbed a bank."

I said, "Okay.

Well, I got, like, $2 million after taxes in my bank account,

"so who do I need to rob, right?"

Kirk got stopped a lot of times. I got stopped a lot of times.

Law-abiding citizen all my life

but the amount of times that I've got stopped

it was crazy and ridiculous, like, unreal.

Like, it made me feel like, you know, they don't want me here.

Racial profiling, police accountability,

there's still a giant gap between community and police relations.

Um, we still have to speak against issues, uh, like excessive use of force.

A justice system that has not been fair to people of color.

If we look at it across the country,

it's magnified in North Preston.

When you look back at the Halifax Race Riots,

a little bit over 20 years ago,

where black people had to go to the streets to protest

because they were being denied access to public facilities.

That was in 1992.

Not 1952, not 1962.

'92.

The city of Halifax is reeling from a wild street riot

in a downtown neighborhood last night.

A riot touched off by growing racial tension between blacks and whites.

Fifteen people were injured in the melee, eight people were arrested.

What the fuck, man? Get the camera off...

We have an over-representation of African Nova Scotians

that are picked up by police.

And also an over-representation in the court system of African Nova Scotians,

which I'm hoping changes.

Prejudice and racism and racial profiling,

they did it all to our generation.

Right now, we up at my Uncle Texas' place.

As you can see, he has a junkyard all over here,

when I used to be running around,

taking all the parts and stuff off the cars when I was younger.

This is where it all started.

I used to come up here. This was my getaway.

Come up and learn how to play the bass, guitar,

everything.

- Where we at, T? - What's this?

Where we at?

Huh?

What's up? What's up?

♪ Making lots of money 'cause you're dancing side to side ♪

♪ Girl is hot, hot Too hot, girl ♪

That's what we started on, right.

Yeah. All right.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Yeah.

Yeah.

No.

Yeah, I was always just singing.

And he would play the wrong notes.

♪ Lord, they say They're fooling you ♪

Exactly.

♪ By coming to church On Sunday ♪

♪ Laying hands on folks ♪

♪ Stomping and jumping around Thanking the Holy Ghost ♪

Yeah, that's what... That's one of the songs we used to do.

Yeah.

This is where, like, I learned how to play the bass,

the guitar, and the drums back there, like...

Uncle Texas taught me everything.

Justin was a cool guy, funny, comical, liked to crack a bunch of jokes.

He always loved singing.

Singing was his passion.

Me and Chase, we knew each other our whole life.

He had a talent for singing. He had a passion for singing. That was his dream.

I'd been very supportive of Chason getting out of the streets.

I used to tell him myself, "Go sing, man. Go do something better with your life.

"Get up out of here, 'cause you got a real voice that can carry you a long way."

He was such a rebellious little bad-ass,

that our parents purposely put us in different schools growing up,

because they didn't want me to end up following down his path

'cause he's always been a problem child, right from day one.

Just always trying to find a way to get in trouble.

Then he eventually found his way around guns,

he kind of got obsessed with guns.

It wasn't shortly after that I started seeing him

carrying guns, and bragging about having beef with people,

and saying what he's gonna do when he sees his enemies.

He was going down a path of destruction, really.

Like, he was either gonna end up dead or in jail, then...

When he was in that life, I was very worried about him.

I'm seeing both sides. I'm seeing my parents

stressing out to the max, worrying,

and I remember them telling me when they get a phone call at the middle of the night

that something happened to Justin, or some bad news.

I wasn't the type of dude to be just, "Oh, yeah, I got a gun. Look at me.

I'm a fucking gangster..." Nah, it wasn't like that.

It was about, "No, I need to protect my life," because some shit was going on at the time.

"You think you wanna kill me? Nah, I'm gonna protect myself."

I had to stay strapped up.

It was either my life or their life.

His music career was slowly starting to pick up.

People take different paths in life.

Chase stuck with the music.

It opened up doors for him.

I obviously chose the wrong path.

Probably could've been in the same situation as him.

I chose the streets.

I started off on the streets selling dope.

And carrying guns.

When the dope sales started getting slow,

I started robbing people.

So that's what I went to jail for. Robbery. Armed robbery.

My sentence was seven years.

Randall's a great cat, man. A talented guy, man.

But, like, some shit happens sometimes.

Like, everything always don't go right.

Sometimes it goes left.

I went right, and he went left.

He had to go away for a bit, so, it was just like...

That's just how it happens sometimes in North Preston, man.

♪ Late night hear my line in your phone too ♪

♪ Ain't nobody know you Like I know you ♪

When Chase sings, goosebumps.

A lot of people could sing,

but can they give you that same goosebumps?

♪ You missing all the things We used to do ♪

♪ Got anything You would have made it through ♪

♪ Anything you wanted I gave to you ♪

What he has is something that's needed,

that gives music life.

I grew up going to these churches, that when they'd sing,

you would feel that Holy Spirit.

When Chase sings, it's like the Holy Spirit's inside of him.

♪ And you did it to me, baby ♪

Growing up here was rough, really rough, but you become used to it.

It's like the normal, normal day-to-day for us.

I was caught up in the street life, you know what I mean,

for a long time, and it's just like,

when my friend got killed in front of me,

that was my time. That's what just triggered my head.

Just right there, it was like, "Okay, that's enough for me,"

and I'm not trying to end up in jail for the rest of my life.

Little Nathan was like a best friend of mine.

A little brother, great guy.

We would do everything together, you know?

We did a lot of street shit together.

Fuck the street shit. Put that shit aside.

Like, Little Nathan was a great person.

This is where we all posted up there, man.

We were all over here...

When the day my... My buddy got killed,

right in front of me, right in front of all of us, actually,

we were just posted up right here.

Little Nathan right here.

God rest his soul. All the rest of my boys right here.

Next thing you know, just, pop, pop!

Pow! Pow!

And, you know, we all just fucking scattered, scattered away.

Little Nathan went running up this way,

and he just fucking collapsed right out there on Aunt Lala's lawn.

Time we seen him, time we get out there,

just his whole neck was just fucking blown open. Just...

Crazy, man. It just really messed with my head.

It fucked me up a bit, man.

Er, no.

Yeah, we never worry about seeing them no more, but...

Yeah, God rest his soul, man.

He was like my best friend, and, um, that really took an effect on me.

And I just took it from there,

and just decided I'm done with the street life.

You know, I'm gonna go pursue my music 100%.

Sold the three straps that I did have,

and, you know, hey, here I am, man.

I had a friend, Little Nathan,

after he got killed, Chase, he was like, um, "Man, I gotta do something."

I'm like, "Man, go chase your dream.

Just, when you get it, come back to the hood,

and everybody will appreciate you, you know." And that's what he'd done.

Why should my best friend die in front of me like that?

Just, like...

Yeah.

Just, like, really fucking...

That was it for me. Like, just seeing that...

That really... Yeah, that really...

Took a piece out of me.

I just decided that I wanted to just

focus on my career, and that was it for me.

Look, the culture is very violent.

When the guns get in the wrong hands,

and you start playing around with them,

and once they get that gun in their hand,

that devil comes in,

and then next thing you know, you're trying to kill your own people.

You see how they change

to literally want to kill their own flesh and blood.

It's mind-boggling to me.

There's always been guns in this community.

From other generations right up to my generation.

It's gonna always be like that.

It's just a regular, normal life. It doesn't...

It's nothing... I don't think...

nothing of it. It's just like a regular life. It's just...

Like I said, you become used to it, become immune to it.

Gun violence has definitely gotten worse down here.

Basically, you protecting your life,

because if it's not you, then it's gonna be you.

Once we start losing people, and, you know, they dying from gun violence,

and that means like I gotta protect myself down here.

It's just what it is in North Preston.

I have three brothers. Two of them are incarcerated.

I have two cousins that's incarcerated right now as well.

One's doing 12 years.

One's doing 9-14.

And my brother Wade's on his 20th year.

Incarcerated right now. They're all for murder.

So when you add the guns to North Preston, man, it's a rap. It was a rap.

It was over, because now,

everybody gotta defend themself.

I'm trying to live, so if you try and take my life,

what I'mma do? I'mma die? No, I ain't gonna die.

I'mma try to kill you before you kill me.

Once the cancer spread, man, it was a rap.

You know what I mean? This community wasn't built for gun violence.

It's too small. We're too connected.

Right now, we're up on the block itself, you know what I mean?

- Sub-division. - Sub-division, right. So, you know...

If things get crazy out there, man, we done did it all up here, man.

- Yeah. - Like you know what I mean? "RIP," as you can see,

to my man's dead Rico. Cruise, little brother.

Good friend of mine, man.

Shit just gets crazy up here.

At day time, nighttime, any time of the day,

it could just pop off in broad daylight.

I was about 16 when I first got my own... My first strap, man.

- Yeah. - Strapped up to the nines, big .40-cal Springfield.

Seventeen, one in the head.

That's 18, I used to jam it that way.

- Yeah. - That's how bad it was out here.

It used to be so heavy on my hip, it used to put a mark on my hip.

Because I used to be standing so long out here with it on.

- Yeah. - You know, once the shit started to pop,

it was kind of like, either you're gonna be in the house and hide,

or you're gonna be a man.

If you ain't got it with you, you know...

Put it like this. You could get that smoke if you never had it with you.

- Uh-huh. - At any time. Trust me.

Me, personally, it was that bad at a time

that I wouldn't leave the house without it.

- No. - Like, I said, I wouldn't... I was...

I was driving a truck at the point.

- Yeah. - Working for my dad.

And I would drive with that in there, in a dump truck.

- I remember that. - Yeah.

It's like, it came to that point.

- It's like, I wouldn't go nowhere without it. - No.

- I had to have it on me at all times. - Yeah.

When your life's on the line, you gotta have it with you.

- Yeah. - Exactly.

When you have a killing within your community,

so, it's further than black-on-black crime,

it's family against family crime.

I think they've been acknowledged,

and perhaps, acknowledged too much,

what some of the crime problems are.

The kind of problems you have when you just basically leave a community alone

and have it cut off from all of the amenities

that the rest of a community have.

Poverty is pushing our children into lives of crime.

Most of the crimes committed by young black men and women

are crimes of economics.

Now, don't get me wrong,

are we committing violent crimes against each other? Yes.

We've gotten so angry, we have devalued ourselves.

Because others have devalued us.

So we're drinking the Kool-Aid.

We gotta take responsibility, too,

because, at the end of the day,

if I don't take responsibility for my actions,

how can I change them?

You know what I mean? And these kids...

Like, I look at these kids, they look up to me.

But if I'm over here, running around, shooting up the town,

that ain't gonna work, you know what I mean?

These kids are gonna look at me and they're gonna run back

and they're gonna try to emulate what I'm doing.

So, at the end of the day, I gotta take responsibility for my actions

if I'm gonna take responsibility for that kid's future.

There's always been an inherent mistrust

between the black man and the police since we first came to the country.

But in Preston, yeah, there was a long history of mistrust.

It took a long time to break down some of the barriers to...

To get us where we are today.

There were rock throwings, there were shots at cars,

there were windows knocked out of police cars,

police cars surrounded by people.

I can vividly remember one of the Chronicle Herald stories that said, you know,

the police are not wanted in our community.

It hit the driver in the wrist, actually,

just missing the head of one of our female members.

Police relationships... It was very terrible.

They wouldn't even attempt to come into our community.

Cars were tipped over, tires were sliced,

windows bashed in, it was terrible.

It takes time to get to the point that we're at now today,

where it's more of a norm to see us in the community than it was 10 years ago.

Now, having a permanent place in there

really has made a difference, I feel.

They put a police station in the rec center.

- Try to figure that one, though, I don't know. - Yeah.

You know what I mean? Rec center police station?

- I guess, you know what I mean? But they did it. - Yeah.

The cops didn't come up here a lot

'cause they didn't get a real response from the people, you know what I mean?

Like, the people wasn't really...

Like, people don't know nothing, know what I mean? So it was like...

The cops really wasn't getting nowhere when they come up here and shit.

'Cause people, you know...

A lot of times, they used to bust the cops' windows...

Yeah, chuckin' rocks and shit.

...so it was costing the cops a lot of money to be in the community.

They don't really need to be here 'cause...

You know, I always felt that we're doing a good job on our own.

Since the police came, we lost more lives than when they weren't here.

We solved our own problems with each other.

People talk, they communicate.

They didn't just call 911.

We pretty much governed our own selves.

We never had police.

It was always our elders that kept us in check.

Soon as we let the government come into our community,

that's where the violence started.

There was never guns with us fighting amongst each other at all.

It's always been, the community deals with it themselves.

I find we governed ourselves better alone.

Like, we could take care of ourselves better.

When the police came, it's everybody shuts their windows, close their doors,

let the police deal with it.

Where, before, it was more intimate,

where we could take care of our own selves,

and it was much better, I found, that way.

♪ No, no remorse ♪

♪ No, no, no ♪

♪ Last night I think I caught a feel ♪

♪ But last night I think I lost The feel for you ♪

♪ Last night I almost Turned the page on you ♪

♪ Last night Thinking in the mirror ♪

♪ Last night I think I caught a feeling ♪

♪ Last night I think I lost The feel for you ♪

♪ Last night Staring in the mirror ♪

♪ Talking to myself So consciously ♪

♪ How you showed No more remorse ♪

♪ You showed No, no more ♪

♪ I feel no more remorse ♪

- ♪ I get no, no more ♪ - We found the fire hall, for the block.

Whatever, you know...

- Fire hall, man. - Yeah.

That's what it is, a fire station.

- We're just here, man. This is our every day. - Yeah, all day.

- Yeah, every day thing. - Life happens here.

You're right. You're right.

- What it is. - Tradition, man. Go way back.

Before these young cats signed,

we known for basketball players, athletes, you name it, fighters...

- Singers. - Singers.

- Pimps. - You're right. You're right.

A lot of those.

This is a pimp nation.

- Right here. What you looking at? - Exactly.

I'm telling you the pimp capital come from this.

When we grew up, the people that had the nice cars,

the people with the nice clothes,

- man, they were pimps and hustlers, man. - That's what it was.

So what were we gonna do?

Success is

diamond chains, and gold chains and nice cars, and bitches, and all that shit.

That's success in the world for blacks.

You know what I mean? So that's...

How am I not gonna wanna do that shit?

Know what I mean? No matter what my upbringing was,

if I'm growing up in an environment every day,

all I keep seeing is the same shit.

The successful people, in my eyes, were the hustlers, man.

And every house you see, every successful person you see is a doctor.

What you gonna do when you get old? You gonna be a doctor.

My parents did a great job raising me.

I can't even knock nothing my parents did,

as raising me, you know what I mean?

But the environment raised me too.

I'm a product of my environment.

Growing up here, there ain't a lot of opportunities and shit,

so if I dude be like, "Yo, I'm about to graduate high school,"

maybe "I got a kid on the way," or "I'm just trying to get some money," you know...

- Where the opportunity at? Know what I mean? - Mm-hmm.

- Right. - Like, they put us out here to die, basically.

- Where's the opportunity? So what we gonna do? - Not like us.

Are we gonna starve? No, we're not gonna starve.

We're gonna do what we gotta do to get this money, know what I mean?

Some people choose that lifestyle.

Know what I mean? Others don't. There's a lot... That's the thing.

They're only telling half the story.

Not everybody from North Preston is a pimp or a drug dealer, man.

Know what I mean? Like, there's people doing all kinds of shit.

We got dudes about to go do their MBA,

we got dudes boxing, we got dudes in school,

- we got dudes doing all kinds of different shit. - All kinds of things.

It don't necessarily mean that we're just pimps and drug dealers. No.

You know, you don't have no other choice but to be a cliche.

Your life turns out to be a cliche right from the beginning

because it's just so... It's a competition

between all cousins, all family, everybody.

It's everybody competing to get the best car, the best mansion, the best everything.

That's what this place is.

We push each other for greatness.

Shaney Boy, great friend, I look up to him.

The guy taught me a lot, man. Like I said...

He taught me the ins and outs of the street life.

And that's just straight up.

He taught me the ins and outs of the pimp life.

He just taught me how to move in general.

This is the perfect time to get my story out.

And my story is, I went to jail for a gun,

and I was involved in a lot of things.

They took me down for human trafficking.

I'm not gonna say I was totally innocent,

but I paid my debt to society.

Today, you know, we're doing music,

and we get to tell our stories through our music.

I don't have no regrets, man.

You know, it is what it is, you know what I mean?

I knew what I was doing.

I'm not gonna blame it on anyone. I take full responsibility for me.

Being a pimp entails like keeping your bitch in check,

like, staying on top of your money,

not getting too fucking drunk and shit.

We gotta stay focused out here in the game, right?

Pimping is about words.

It's all about what you can say.

And I mean, that's real pimping.

A lot of pimps like a lot of money, right, so...

They're not just really pimps, they're hustlers, they're money-makers,

they're just go-getters, right, so they fuck with that dope and shit, you know.

Couple will sell a gun here and there.

You know what I mean? Come up on this thing.

Get a couple burners, let that shit go,

they don't want that shit around.

You know, real nigga shit, though.

You know, it's all about how the player plays the game, right?

The pimp capital of this country is North Preston.

They say that we the pimp capital of Canada.

I probably wouldn't disagree with that

'cause, yeah, there's a lot of players that come out of North Preston.

To me, a pimp is a dude that, you know...

He got a lot of women, you know what I mean? He got a lot of girls.

If a girl wanna give you some money, you know...

At the end of the day, if she wanna give you some money,

she gonna give you some money. That's between me and them.

A pimp is someone who trafficks women and girls.

A pimp will use manipulation, force, intimidation, he'll play on her vulnerabilities.

Stories of murdering girls,

and, uh, dumping their bodies in forests.

When we're speaking in terms of North Preston,

pimps, they usually expect you to make a quota.

If she comes home with less than that,

she can surely expect a beating.

You don't leave until you get the money

that you need to get to go home.

There's no coming up short.

That's not an option.

And if you choose that option,

there's gonna be really serious physical, brutal consequences.

The violence became very routine.

He choked me, and I really thought he was gonna kill me.

And that...

For me, that was it.

Violence is a huge factor. I mean...

I haven't met one single girl or woman who was involved in the sex trade

who hasn't experienced physical violence.

For myself, you know, I've been burned with cigarettes,

I've had both my arms broken, my nose has been broken three times.

Just a lot of broken bones.

I was growing up in that era with the pimps, and that was it.

It was just like,

if you're not a pimp, you're not really much anything.

Human trafficking would be where someone is taken from a community

and forced into the sex trade.

They may not have even realized they're being forced into it

until it's too late.

"Pimping" is the term from 20 years ago,

and, you know, maybe even

you know, people that are involved in human trafficking now

are, you know, still using that term of "pimping."

There's definitely individuals that are involved in human trafficking

that have connections to North Preston.

Guerrilla pimp.

Guerrilla pimp.

"A pimp who regularly uses force and threats to keep his money in line.

"Guerrilla pimps have a high turnover rate of hustles."

Yeah, we got pimp cultures in North Preston.

They were the ones that, when someone needed cash,

they were the ones, when no one had nothing, they had.

That's just how it was.

Cats weren't getting jobs.

They were getting no education.

So they had... That was like a survival thing.

A lot of people looked up to them.

How can I go be a university bachelor of anything

when the person up the street that I look up to...

That I look up to. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

- ...is getting money out of bitches? - Mm-hmm.

- What I'mma do? - Definitely.

- Know what I mean? - I'm gonna get some of that money too.

I'm gonna get a bitch and get some money.

- I'm gonna get some of that money too. - Right?

But what I'm saying is, that ain't the whole story, man.

- Nah, nah. - That's just the part that they wanna tell.

Girls find us, right? So, you know what I mean?

Them bitches got broken homes and shit.

You know, they're looking for a way out, right?

They want money and shit, like...

Fuck, they're usually at the club, you know what I mean?

Fucking, them drunk bitches and shit.

Out there, drinking life away, you know what I mean?

They ain't got nothing to look forward to and shit.

They have a good fucking story, and need us for some good game.

You know, get the bitch in your car, don't let her out.

Tell them there's a better way.

Get paid, right?

Straight up.

There are women being forced into prostitution,

then there are women who've chosen this of their own volition.

There are women who've made that choice,

but there are so many more women who are being trafficked,

who are being forced into this,

who are being beaten and abused,

and degraded every day.

Man, them girls brag about being in the life.

They're superstars, you know what I mean?

They get their attention and shit.

They got their bread, a player taking care of them, hooking them up and shit.

What else could you ask for?

You probably don't even gotta convince them, right?

Some of them bitches love sex.

They wanna have sex all day. I got a way.

You see it a lot, but it's like...

It's almost like a normal thing.

Anyone is allowed to have a girlfriend that's a dancer, you know what I mean?

If the media wants to call that pimping, then...

So be it.

I feel it's important that this message gets out

because no other mother's children,

boys or girls, should be trafficked.

It is the most heinous.

It's akin to murder.

I was trafficked by this pimp from North Preston.

I'm a different person because of that experience.

Essentially, that first person has been murdered.

Has been brutally forced out.

No one should go through that.

If I'm seeing the success

through the eyes of the players,

through the eyes of the hustlers,

what do you think these young girls are seeing?

- Everywhere you go, sex is gonna sell. - Big time.

Like, this ain't a North Preston problem, man.

- It's a world issue. - It's worldwide.

Sex has been... Sex has been selling since the Bible.

Couple of niggas doing it is an issue all of a sudden?

- It's the truth. - You know what I mean? Like...

Hey, I don't know.

I wanted to go to university.

I went to college for a couple of months.

It just wasn't working for me, and due to my circumstance and situation,

I got involved in the game, you know what I mean? It was really...

Really easy for me to get involved in the game.

I was pimping this, pimping that, pimping this, doing that.

'Cause that's what I was doing. That's what it was.

Imagine being in that situation

where you really wanna do something different with your life

and try for some opportunity,

and people just keep closing the door on you,

ain't nobody giving you no assistance

to try to help you get your situation started.

But then you go down the street,

and the dudes on the block has got overflow opportunity, you know what I mean?

So them old-school players, you know what I mean?

Like, they giving you the game for free.

That ain't the only thing that's gonna define me as a person.

Like I got an opportunity to kind of represent myself in a different light.

You know what I mean? I got kids now, and shit.

And I want my son to have a different opportunity than what I had.

I don't want him to have to be forced into, or make choices that I had to make.

♪ It feels like the devil Is on my tail ♪

♪ Hey, do you like summer? I'm hot as hell ♪

♪ You're burning up Feels like a pot of lucky gold ♪

♪ Oh, yeah They never could come And just steal my soul ♪

♪ I stand on your bitch And I take her home ♪

♪ Hey, we got that nigga Super potion ♪

♪ Oh, yeah We had a secret location ♪

♪ This be our holiday ♪

This is one of my favorite guys, you know what I mean?

Right here, man, you know.

- Twenty - In the building, man.

Watched these guys grow up, you know what I'm saying?

Just like a little brother of mine right here.

We did everything together.

Like I said, we did everything together, man.

Run the streets together, did it all.

- It's crazy up here. - Yeah. Trust me.

- Before it used to be everybody all together. - It's hectic.

Now it's just crazy up here.

You see my boy right here?

- Come on. - .40 cal through his foot.

You get your head blown off if you're not too careful.

Cocksucker!

Don't worry about it.

You fucking train wreck. Fuck you up.

Do I gotta put you at 2 a.m.? Please.

Put me up? I own this house.

There's a lot of fightin' going on tonight.

Some of this you can keep. You know what I mean? No, seriously.

'Cause it's real-life shit.

- So what will get you gone? A cigarette? - You better fuck off.

- Do you want a cigarette? - Yeah.

So come on. Come on.

I'll get it from nanny, and then don't bother me no more.

They ain't home.

I'm going in, and I... It's in her room.

Go in her room and get it out, but you don't give me that, cocksucker.

- Okay. I got you. - Okay.

Okay, okay. Sorry.

- Thought you already knew. - Okay, okay.

He's been pimping since he was five.

Keep a long story short.

Just what it is. Just what we was. The whole trend.

- Yeah. - From our uncles, dads, everybody.

That's what you... Like I said yesterday, we grew up in it,

and that's just what we've seen

and that's just what we do.

We try to get to the money, know what I mean?

So, hey, I can explain it like this.

- We were getting money together... - Exactly.

...like I said...

Me and him at that time, you know what I mean?

- Both had our girls... - We had our girls just working the shit, right.

So there ain't nothing to hide about that. It's just what it is.

Drinking, lifting, pimping.

♪ Hey, I wrote a song for you ♪

♪ Hey, even moved on from you ♪

♪ Okay I did it all for you ♪

♪ Oh, yeah ♪

♪ I pushed her aside for you ♪

♪ Oh, girl You see me I'm still looking flossy ♪

What's he doing, though?

Come on, come on. Wake up. Come on.

Are you serious?

Come on. Come on.

Drinking one minute, dancing to the music,

and then choking in the next five seconds.

That's how we do it.

That's exactly how you do it.

- Same... Same with the girls. - We told you.

- It's a real-life thing. - Gang, gang.

It's a real-life thing. It ain't no... It ain't no joke.

- It ain't no joke. - Wow.

Girls, men... It goes down.

Trust me. It goes down the way it goes down.

That's life, nigga.

- It's gang, nigga. - At the end of the day, man,

this is what it is. This is what we live.

This is what it is up here, right.

- Know what I mean? - It happens within a blink.

She launched at her like a fucking leopard.

Well, she was standing over there, staring at me,

and I just said hello to her,

'cause like if you're looking in someone's face, you might as well say hello.

And then she came over here

trying to push me out the way to get to the fridge,

and I said, "Say excuse me."

He's not your man.

Yeah, he definitely was.

Right now, we're in Toronto, Noble Street Sound... Wait...

Shit. Right now, we're in Toronto,

Noble Sound... Wait, what is it?

- Right now... - Look at me.

All right. Right now, we're in Toronto,

at Noble...

Damn.

No, I'm not nervous. I'm actually, um...

I more enjoy this than being nervous.

Yeah, well, yeah, you know, uh, I haven't put out music in a while, so, um...

I just wanted to release, um...

This great body of work that I've been working on for a while just now,

so, yeah.

Man, you know what it is? It's the light.

Um...

All of them, really, but I mean, like...

♪ See me no more See me no more ♪

♪ See me no more No more ♪

♪ See me no more See me no more ♪

♪ See me no more See me no more ♪

♪ 'Cause you just Play too much ♪

♪ Way, way, way too Way too much ♪

♪ Too much ♪

♪ Girl, 'cause you're just Way too much ♪

♪ Way, way, way too Way too much ♪

♪ Too much... ♪

- Yo, yo, yo. - Yo.

Man, we feel a lot of fucking little bit of things right now, man,

but, you know, we feeling good, cuz.

- Thank you. Thank you for this. - We like the special audition, man.

We've never seen this before in our very eyes.

Very special.

Yo.

- Man. - Amazing.

This has been a fucking pleasure, man.

- You know what? - Yeah.

This mix tape is my best body of work I've ever did.

Sheesh!

We're turned. We gotta go.

We got a flight to catch.

♪ I'm not saying It lasts forever ♪

♪ 'Cause things happen You know better ♪

♪ I guess this time We were so close ♪

♪ Oh, yeah ♪

♪ I'm not saying It lasts forever ♪

♪ 'Cause things happen You know better ♪

♪ I guess this time We were so close ♪

♪ Oh, yeah ♪

♪ 'Cause sometimes You know wrong ♪

♪ But you gotta bring it home ♪

♪ I won't keep you Waiting long ♪

♪ I could say She's trying to break it down ♪

♪ Just tell me She was my baby ♪

♪ And obviously She drives me crazy ♪

♪ For putting me This loyalty, that's right ♪

♪ We're so close That I could taste it ♪

OG style, baby.

♪ Long haul, I hope you like it ♪

♪ And I hope that You're not faking ♪

♪ And I hope that You never change ♪

♪ Seeing I've been knocked out ♪

♪ Last chance You better not blow it ♪

♪ You better not blow it ♪

♪ Yeah ♪

♪ I'm not saying It lasts forever ♪

♪ 'Cause things happen You know better ♪

♪ I guess this time You were so close ♪

♪ Oh, yeah ♪

♪ I'm not saying It lasts forever ♪

♪ 'Cause things happen You know better ♪

♪ I guess this time We weren't so close... ♪

Yo, yo, yo. Next stop Nova Scotia. Whaddup?

Well, you know, when I first went back to see my grandmother,

she had Alzheimer's.

I knew she was getting really sick.

Who's that?

"I wanna go see Nana."

"Well, Justin, I don't know if you want to go in there because she's not talking.

"She hasn't been talking in months."

This community should be very proud of you, Justin.

I am.

- And I'm speaking on behalf of your grandmother... - Mm-hmm.

...that's not able to be...

- I mean, she's here, but not able to speak. - I know that, yeah.

Because she can't speak for herself, for this,

- she'd be overjoyed right now. - She'd be overjoyed.

This is my grandmother right here.

- Yeah. - As you can see.

Noreen Smith.

She taught me how to sing.

I grew up singing in church with her.

Everything. I did everything with her.

She means the world to me.

And, uh...

She can't speak at the moment right now, but, I mean,

we're still... You know what I mean? Everything is still great.

How you doing, Nan?

Give me a kiss.

Well, okay.

Remember... ♪ I am redeemed Bought with a price ♪

- That's right. - See?

♪ Jesus has changed my whole life, yeah ♪

You remember that?

Uh-huh.

Nice.

Mmm, very nice.

How'd you know that?

Well, I love you. I'll see you later.

- Mmm. - Okay?

Yeah.

Okay.

Wow. Like, did you see that?

Bro, like, they said that, "Your grandmother don't talk no more.

"She doesn't really sing like how you used to."

But, bro, like, she started singing the same song that we always sing together.

And, you know, it's really important that I saw her,

because I'm not really sure when's the next time I'm gonna see her, so.

It meant a lot to me, so, yeah.

And next thing you know,

she passed away on Christmas Day.

And that was the last time that I got to see her,

and she sang to me,

and she spoke to me, and that was amazing.

That was, like,

the greatest feeling. I can't explain it.

Yeah.

Maybe one day somebody will tell our story.

Maybe one day we'll be in control of the narrative.

When we look at someone like Justin,

a product of our community

who says, "Listen, I wanna take you back,

"I wanna take you back to where I grew up.

"I wanna take you back to where it started,

"I wanna show you the ingredients that created me."

That's what it's all about.

For years, North Preston had been looked down on by everybody,

because of the negativity that comes out of the community.

But the way I look at it, this negativity, it's all over the world.

There's a lot of good things that come out of this community

that are unheard-of, unseen.

They don't see the good and the great stuff that we have.

We have doctors, we have lawyers, we have surgeons.

We have so much, but that stuff never reaches the media.

I think that there's...

There's been a much more balanced view of North Preston in recent years,

but for a long time,

we had areas that were considered to be very heavily ridden with crime

and North Preston was the same way.

The change of North Preston's image has come from within.

People just want people to see what's there,

which is a very vibrant community of amazing people.

North Preston's been a threat to everybody

because this is the foundation of everything.

People will get North Preston confused,

but the world's confused.

The world's like an upside-down map.

And everybody's confused.

If there was no confusion, there wouldn't be no war.

There wouldn't be no more fighting for nothing.

There'd be no struggles, there'd be no change, there'd be no progress,

there'd be no nothing.

When we talk about our educational system,

we still have too many of our young people dropping out of school,

because our young people will say,

"Why should we stay in school if there is no economic light

at the end of the educational tunnel?

Then why stay in school?"

Do we have to be concerned that poverty has forced

a lot of our young men and young women into lives of crime? Yes.

So, if you want to address community crime,

address racism, address poverty.

But, even as a pastor,

if I've got this righteous rage in me,

just think about the young brothers and sisters who are not pastors,

the kind of rage they have.

And if it is not dealt with, it will manifest itself.

Right now, we're turning on each other,

instead of turning to each other.

But what happens

when we get tired of turning on each other?

What happens when we begin to realize

that the oppressor is not our community,

and then we rise up against the oppressor?

Hallelujah, hallelujah! It all belongs to the Lord.

It all belongs to you, Lord God.

Everything that I have, everything that I am,

everything that I would hope to be, Lord God,

it all belongs to you.

My mind, Lord God, my body, Lord God,

everything belongs to you.

My soul belongs to you, Lord God.

Let this church always be a church of love.

- Lord God, and if it is not, remove anything... - Yeah.

...that hinders love from our bodies.

Remove the pettiness, remove the spitefulness,

remove the bitterness, remove the laziness,

remove all the ism and the schisms, Lord God,

that would cause this church, Lord God, not to be a beacon of love

and hope.

Love, and hope.

Coming down from the mountain top of St. Thomas,

into the valley of North Preston.

Remind us that these bodies are temporary anyway.

What profits a person to gain the world and lose their soul?

Forgive us, Lord God, all of us.

This we ask, this we pray.

- Amen. Amen. - Amen.

Subtitles by explosiveskull www.OpenSubtitles.org