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  • ♪[classical music]♪

  • Yo' what it is?

  • Sparky Sweets again.

  • And this week we rappin' down South with To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.

  • ♪[Classical music]♪

  • This book focuses on three little homies by the name of Scout, her crippled brother Jem,

  • and some homeboy by the name of Dill.

  • Now, Scout's papa is a righteous lawyer with the badass name of Atticus.

  • Since there ain't nothing to do in Alabama,

  • Scout and her crew spend a summer harassing a nearby shut-in named Boo Radley.

  • Now, ain't nobody seen Boo Radley for years.

  • Scout and her crew try to pass Boo a note to see if he wants to chill,

  • but Atticus gets all crunk and tell dem' kids to "Leave a brother be."

  • Next day, some little punk steps to Scout...

  • ...and straight up calls Scout's daddy, Atticus, a "Nigger lover."

  • Mmmm!

  • Turns out, Atticus has been hired to defend some ashy playa' named Tom Robinson,

  • who has been accused of raping the daughter of a shady cat named Bob Ewell.

  • At the trial, my boy Atticus spits mad game up in that court room.

  • In fact, he discover it was Ewell's daughter that was puttin' the moves on Tom.

  • Turns out she wanted some of that "dark chocolate," know what I mean?

  • After seeing his daughter makin' advances on a brotha,

  • Mr. Ewell smack that bitch up raw, while Tom peaced out.

  • But since we talkin' about Alabama here, them white folks convict him anyway.

  • Why?

  • Cuz' he black.

  • That honky Ewell be pissed that Atticus made him look like a fool up in court,

  • so Halloween night, Ewell downs too much of that juice and gets the drop on Jem and Scout.

  • Just when he about to rough up my girl, Scout, crazy cracka' Boo Radley comes in outta nowhere,

  • and shanks that fool. Whoo!

  • He dead.

  • Sick and tired of his stupid lip,

  • the town authorities decide that Ewell got too drunk and fell on his knife.

  • Boo gets off Scott free.

  • Why?

  • Cuz' icing him, like my girl Scout says, would be like "Shootin' a mockingbird."

  • ♪[Classical music]♪

  • Now, you all don't know sh*t about the title until you read this here quote on page 90:

  • Only a jive-ass fool would pop a cap in a mockingbird,

  • cuz' all dem bitches do is just drop next level beats for your enjoyment.

  • So what my girl, Harper, tryin' to say is that rattin' on Boo Radley wouldn't do no good.

  • It only rid the hood of one more true blue playa.

  • They already done f*cked up once by convictin' Tom,

  • so they ain't got to pop another mockin' bird.

  • Now this book right here is a straight up criticism of the South during The Depression.

  • The courts, the schools, the church: all of 'em were run by crooked ass crackas.

  • Now when we first meet Scout, she's sportin' all that Southern racism and ignorance.

  • But after kickin' it with Boo and Tom Rob, she matures and starts keepin' it real.

  • Dis' brings to one of the essential themes of this bitch:

  • learning valuable lessons by being exposed to people of difference.

  • By hangin' with a crazy cracka' like Boo Radley and a righteous black man like T. Robinson,

  • Scout has one of them paradigm shiftin' moments, playa.

  • She learns that these homies just be tryin' to hustle like anybody else.

  • Yo! Check it.

  • Jim's crippled ass is a metaphor for America's jacked up justice system.

  • Jim f*ckin' up his arm so young be one of them synecdoches

  • for a country that was born with backward ass ideals.

  • Now, that sh*t might heal, but it gonna leave a disabling scar on the nation

  • and ain't no amount of cocoa butter gonna make that sh*t go away.

  • Yo! Thanks for watchin' Thug Notes.

  • Tune in next week, playa.

  • ♪[slow classical music]♪

♪[classical music]♪

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