The King of Pop is gone. A man that meant so much to so many people, a man who was scrutinized for being different. He left a mark that can never be matched, set the bar to an intangible level leaving all others who try in a cloud of dust. Trailblazer. Humanitarian. Spirit. Crossover. King.
I'll leave you with these MJ experiences. When i was around nine years old, my mom said she would have a surprise for me if I did well in school. So I did and she came through with something I never expected. She brought me into the living room of my Grandparents house and in front of Aunts, Uncles and other family members she pulled out an envelope. In the envelope, she pulled out "The Picture." I saw the hair the familiar face and then my name in felt tip marker and the rest went blank.My head began to ache and swirl, i felt intense heat my feet began to involuntarily run away from the picture. I ran to the bedroom my mother and I used to share and fell face first on the bed. I was sobbing uncontrollably and had no idea why, but I couldn't stop. My mom came in to check on me. "Kenton," she asked, "are you okay?" "Mama, he knows my name!!!!" I yelled then asked her to show it to me one more time. I wasn't dreaming Michael Jackson, my hero signed a picture of himself to me. I later found out my 'Uncle' Barry made that happen and to him I'm forever grateful.
August 2nd, 2008 in Las Vegas, the 3 Kali Kingz (Kleeane, Krysis-7 and Khali-B) were celebrating the fact that they were all 21. This was the last full day of our trip, we walked from our rooms at the Circus Circus all the way to the Wynn. The walk seemed to go on for 12,000 miles in the 100+ degree desert heat. In order to escape the sun we walked down a short set of stairs into a dark ally with a sign that read 40/40 club.
The place was huge and at 6 in the evening no one was in there. We toured the club and picked a place to sit in front of a tv by a room with huge couches and pool tables to watch the Cotto fight going on down the street. Broke and thirsty we each got one beer to sip on. The waitresses we all cute as hell and ours was a Georgia peach trying to make her way in the city of lights. We made conversation, she left and came back sprinting. We also noticed people on radios, people getting kicked out of the room next to us and getting kicked out of the club. The waitress sat down in front of us and whispered "Don't say anything, but Michael Jackson is coming!" We looked at each other and laughed and told the waitress to stop lying to us she claimed she wasn't, so we waited.
Ten minutes later a very important lookin' white dude told us to please put our cameras away, we did. Two huge brothers each about seven foot 350 came walking next to our seats behind them was a small man holding a childs hand whose head was covered with a vail. Two more children came skipping laughing behind him and then it dawned on us...MICHAEL JACKSON! He was quickly rushed into the room we were sitting next to.
Not knowing what the hell to do we all got up and started walking around. The Dj played a T-Pain song that said something about MJ being on it. Khali and I sat down while Kleeane went to use the restroom. Michael and his entourage (minus the kids) came out to tour the club we stated posted to our seats and watched him as far as we could see him. Next he made his way back to us, panicking because Kleeane was going to miss the opportunity to say something we looked around the club. He walked to the right of us Khali and I wanting so badly to say something but nothin came out. Staring with our mouths open he raised his hand and threw up the peace sign. We gave him the symbol right back. Kleeane came running back sayin that he saw him in the hallway by the bathroom and nearly ran into his bodyguards. At this point we are squealing like damn school girls!
Shortly there after MJ left the club back to the Pilazzo hotel. We left the club broke but happy running down the street telling everybody we saw we meet Michael Jackson (not technically! lol) I was glad I got to share that moment with my brothers not knowing we would never get that opportunity again.
RIP MJ, you are a big reason I do music with such intensity and passion. In a strange way, I felt like the baton was passed that day. Mike, we will carry it to the end. You all may laugh but you soon will see.
