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.
“All Prologue” · Season 2, Episode 6
In this episode: Omar Little (3), Maurice Levy (2), D'Angelo Barksdale (1), Proposition Joe (1)
[At Bird's trial]
And what is your occupation?
Occupation?
What exactly do you do for a living, Mr. Little?
I rip and run.
You...
I robs drug dealers.
And exactly how long has this been your occupation, Mr. Little?
Well, I don't know exactly. I venture to say maybe 'bout eight or nine years.
Mr. Little, how does a man rob drug dealers for eight or nine years and live to tell about it?
Day at a time, I suppose.
You are amoral, are you not? You are feeding off the violence and the despair of the drug trade. You're stealing from those who themselves are stealing the lifeblood from our city. You are a parasite who leeches off--
Just like you, man.
--the culture of drugs... Excuse me, what?
I got the shotgun. You got the briefcase. It's all in the game, though, right?
That wasn't no attempted murder.
Then what was it, Mr. Little?
I shot the boy Mike-Mike in his hind parts, that all. [jury members laugh] Fixed it up so he couldn't sit right. [Judge Phelan chuckles]
Why'd you shoot Mike-Mike in his, um... hind parts, Mr. Little?
Let's say we had a disagreement.
A disagreement over?
Well, you see, Mike-Mike thought he should keep that cocaine he was slingin' and the money he was makin' from slingin' it. I thought otherwise.
Family cannot be helped.
Who you tellin'? I got motherfuckin' nephews and in-laws fucking all my shit up all the time and it ain't like I can pop a cap in their ass and not hear about it Thanksgivin' time. For real, I'm livin' life with some burdensome niggers.
...
Thanks for bein' straight on this.
Fool, if it wasn't for Sergei here, you and your cuz' both would be cadaverous motherfuckers.
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