D'Angelo Barksdale quotes from The Wire

D'Angelo

Now you think Ronald McDonald gonna go down to the basement and say, "Hey Mr. Nugget - you the bomb. We sellin' chicken faster than you can tear the bone out. So I'm gonna write my clowney ass name on this fat-ass check for you." Shit. Man, the nigga who invented them things? Still working in the basement for regular wage, thinking of some shit to make the fries taste better or some shit like that. Believe.

D'Angelo

If anybody asks you if in you in this game, you tell 'em you in it for life, a'ight?. You play it hard, you play it tight, and you make sure niggas know you gonn' stand by your people. No loose talk, no second thoughts and no snitching. Play it like that.

D'Angelo Barksdale

The past is always with us. Where we come from, what we go through, how we go through it; all this shit matters. Like at the end of the book, ya' know, boats and tides and all. It's like you can change up, right, you can say you're somebody new, you can give yourself a whole new story. But, what came first is who you really are and what happened before is what really happened. It don't matter that some fool say he different 'cause the things that make you different is what you really do, what you really go through. Like, ya' know, all those books in his library. He frontin' with all them books, but if you pull one down off the shelf, none of the pages have ever been opened. He got all them books, and he hasn't read nearly one of them. Gatsby, he was who he was, and he did what he did. And 'cause he wasn't willing to get real with the story, that shit caught up to him.

Wallace

:[eating chicken nuggets] Man, these shits is right. Yo.

Poot

Mm-hmm.

Wallace

It's good with the hot sauce too, yo.

Poot

Most definite.

Wallace

Yo, D, you want some nuggets?

D’Angelo

Nah, go ahead, man.

Wallace

Man, whoever invented these, yo, he off the hook.

Poot

What?

Wallace

Mm. Motherfucker got the bone all the way out the damn chicken. ‘Til he came along, niggas be chewin' on drumsticks and shit, gettin' they fingers all greasy. He said, Later for the bone, nugget that meat up, make some real money.

Poot

You think the man got paid?

Wallace

Who?

Poot

The man who invented these.

Wallace

Shit, he richer than a motherfucker.

D’Angelo

Why? You think he get a percentage?

Wallace

Why not?

D’Angelo

Nigga, please, the man who invented them things, just some sad-ass down at the basement of McDonald's, thinkin' up some shit to make some money for the real players.

Poot

Naw, man, that ain't right.

D’Angelo

Fuck "right." It ain't about right, it's about money. Now you think Ronald McDonald gonna go down in that basement and say, "Hey, Mr. Nugget, you the bomb. We sellin' chicken faster than you can tear the bone out. So I'm gonna write my clowny-ass name on this fat-ass check for you"?

Wallace

Shit.

D’Angelo

Man, the nigga who invented them things still workin' in that basement for regular wage, thinkin' up some shit to make the fries taste better, some shit like that. Believe.

Wallace

Still had the idea though.

D'Angelo

Now look, check it, it's simple, it's simple. See this? This the kingpin, a'ight? And he the man. You get the other dude's king, you got the game. But he trying to get your king too, so you gotta protect it. Now, the king, he move one space any direction he damn choose, 'cause he's the king. Like this, this, this, a'ight? But he ain't got no hustle. But the rest of these motherfuckers on the team, they got his back. And they run so deep, he really ain't gotta do shit.

Bodie

Like your uncle.

D'Angelo

Yeah, like my uncle. [picks up a queen] You see this? This the queen; she smart, she fierce. She move anyway she want as far as she want. And she is the go-get-shit-done piece.

Wallace

Remind me of Stringer.

D'Angelo

And this over here is the castle, like the stash. It move like this, or like this. [demonstrates]

Wallace

Dog, stash don't move, man.

D'Angelo

Come on, yo, think, how many times we move the stash house this week. Right? And every time we move the stash, we gotta move a little muscle with it.

Bodie

True, true, you right. A'ight, what about them little baldheaded bitches right there?

D'Angelo

These right here, these are the pawns. They like the soldiers. They move like this, one space forward only. Except when they fight, then it's like this. And they like the front lines, they be out in the field.

Wallace

So how do you get to be the king?

D'Angelo

It ain't like that. See the king stay the king, a'ight? Everything stay who he is, 'cept for the pawns. The pawns, they get all the way to the other dude's side, you get to be queen. And like I said, the queen ain't no bitch. She got all the moves.

Bodie

A'ight, so, I make it to the other end, I win?

D'Angelo

If you catch the other dude's king and trap it, then you win.

Bodie

But I make it to the end, I'm top dog?

D'Angelo

Naw, it ain't like that. Look, pawns man, in the game, they get capped quick. They be out the game early.

Bodie

Unless they some smart-ass pawns.

Got any testers, man?

Bodie

Nigga, it ain't even 9:00 and you fiendin' on it. Get the fuck outta here, man! Damn.

D'Angelo

Yo, why you act like that, yo?

Bodie

What, for these junkie motherfuckers?

D'Angelo

So you just gonna take his money all day and treat him like a dog?

Bodie

How I'm supposed to treat him?

D'Angelo

I don't know. But you ain't gotta punk him like that.

Poot

He punked hisself. He a goddamn drug addict.

D'Angelo

And you a goddamn drug dealer.

Bodie

So? So what? Oh, what, the 'customer's always right'?

Wallace

Yo, we in the projects. The customer be fucked up. You can't give these niggers shit, man.

D'Angelo

Why not? Why can't you? Shit, everything else in the world gets sold without people taking advantage, scamming, lying, doing each other dirty. Why it got to be that way with this?

Poot

'Cause they DOPE fiends.

D'Angelo

Yeah, but the game ain't gotta be played like that, yo. You can't tell me this shit can't get done without people beatin' on each other, killing each other, doing each other like dogs. And without all that, you ain't got 5-0 down here on our backs every five minutes. Throwing us around and shit.

Wallace

Sheeit, man.

D'Angelo

You think 5-0 care about niggers gettin' high? In the projects? Man, 5-0 be down here about the bodies, yo. That's what they be down here about. The bodies.

Stringer

Doin' good out there, D.

D'Angelo

We'll be doing even better when we get that new package.

Stringer

[laughs] New package same as old, man.

D'Angelo

Say what?

Stringer

Ain't no new package. Just gonna put that same shit out in a different colored gelcap is all. Might spike that shit with some procaine or some caffeine, but otherwise it's the same.

D'Angelo

String, man, people already coming back on us tellin' us that shit is weak.

Stringer

I know; shit is weak, but, y'know, shit is weak all over. The thing is, no matter what we call heroin, it's gonna get sold. Shit is strong, we gonna sell it; shit is weak, we gonna sell twice as much. You know why? 'Cause a fiend, he gonna chase that shit no matter what. It's crazy, you know. We do worse, and we get paid more. The government do better, and it don't mean no never mind. [pointing to the money] This shit right here, D, is forever.

Poot

How can he know where the stash at? The narco's don't know, but he do, 'cause some nigga snitchin'!

D'Angelo

Man, ain't nobody gotta be snitchin' for Omar, or one of his boys, to creep by and see where the stash at.

D'Angelo

Yeah, but, Stringer, if you don't pay a nigga, he ain't gonna work for you.

Stringer

What, you think a nigga's gonna get a job? You think...you think it's gonna be like, 'Fuck it, let me quit this game here and go to college'? No, they're gonna buck a little, but they ain't gonna walk. And in the end, you gonna get respect.

Avon

[about Omar] He scare you, don't he?

D'Angelo

You know, I'm just sayin'...

Avon

He scares me. Yeah. See, if he dead, you know, I could carry it better. Commin' up the way we did, you know, you kind of expect that. Waitin' on it. See, the thing is, you only got to fuck up once. Be a little slow, be a little late, just once. And how you ain't gonna never be slow? Never be late? You can't plan through no shit like this, man. It's life.

D'Angelo

Where's Wallace at? ... Where's the boy, String?

Stringer

D'Angelo, shut your mouth.

D'Angelo

Where's Wallace? That's all I wanna know.

Kid, you better think...

D'Angelo

Where's Wallace? Where the fuck is Wallace? Huh? Huh? String? String? Look at me! Where the fuck is Wallace? HUH!? I don't want this Payless-wearing motherfucker representing me. I'ma get my own man. So just get back in your car and get the fuck back down south.

Stringer

A'ight, you stupid motherfucker, you made your decision.

D'Angelo

Yeah, I made my decision. Where's Wallace at? Where the fuck is Wallace? Where's Wallace, String? String! Where the fuck is Wallace? Huh? Stringer?!

D'Angelo

All my people, man, my father, my uncles, It's just what we do. You just live with this shit, until you can't breathe no more. I swear to God, I was courtside for eight months, and I was freer in jail than I was at home.

Rhonda

What are you looking for?

D'Angelo

I want it to go away.

Rhonda

I can't...

D'Angelo

I want what Wallace wanted. I want to start over. That's what I want. I don't care where. Anywhere. I don't give a fuck. I just want to go somewhere, where I can breathe like regular folk. You give me that... And I'll give you them.