Compton – Inside Legendary Hood

[car bouncing]
[laughing]
♪ hip hop ♪
All right, guys, here I am with Cash.
-BK Cashmere, we’re back again, yeah.
-Legendary.
With Peter Santenello
and right now we in Compton.
Park Village, I got my boy
Nooky-Loc with me.
Nooky-Loc, y’all.
We about to show you Compton’s finest.
We have reconnected, BK Cash and I.
We got together in East New York.
Now Cash goes from the East
to the West.
Yes.
We’re going in deep on Compton.
Deep in Compton.
Nook is the OG here, is that fair to say?
This boy out here.
This all the projects,
700 West Laurel Street.
I met this guy, we just…
-We connected.
-Connected.
And he put me on,
he told the whole hood I’m family.
Shout to Brooklyn, East New York
and everything
but right now we in Compton.
So the guys were saying
if I pulled in alone
there could have been some serious issues.
Your pockets woulda got tapped.
[chuckles]
Do you have Chicanos here?
Oh.
-That’s black-owned.
-That’s nice.
Everything over here black owned.
This my boys right here.
How you guys doing?
How you doing?
Peter, nice to meet you.
How you doing?
Is it okay if I roll the camera, guys?
Is that cool with you guys?
-Yeah, you good, you good.
-All right.
Watching the football game.
You guys betting on this?
Dude, I don’t follow football.
I know who you’re going for.
Just got me an Olde E.
You know what I mean?
That’s what we do in Compton.
You like the English, huh?
I haven’t seen one of those
in like a hundred years.
Olde English?
[chuckles]
[car bouncing]
That’s got a pretty big hop,
doesn’t it, guys?
[car revving and hydraulics]
-Everyone knows everyone here?
-Yeah.
It’s like a family,
we all family over here.
-You guys get along?
-Yeah, all of us.
-Really?
-I mean we have fights, you know…
Amongst each other.
Shake hands after that,
maybe go get a bottle and drink.
-Celebrate, you know, make peace.
-Right.
This building knows, this building,
knows this building?
All buildings know each other.
So you’re talking a thousand people?
-More than that.
-Probably two, three thousand people.
What you got on the Rams?
Whatever this…
So we got a big game today,
the Rams and San Francisco
and we got some serious betting going on.
At least about $10,000, $15,000 $20,000
out here just on betting.
You guys all grew up together?
Yeah from the sandbox.
Sand, throwing at each other.
I’m 48.
First, I was in a wheelchair
for like two months.
From what?
You guys ripping these
on the streets here?
Yeah.
Is that legal on the streets
or they just don’t care?
Police used to pull you over
jack you up, take your sh*t
but now when we ride, it probably be
like 500 to 1000 people on bikes.
They call it the takeover
Know what I mean?
How is the neighborhood these days?
People said it’s a little hot right now,
that’s what I heard yesterday.
Hot, like whatchu mean?
Like the weather?
The Chicanos in East LA were saying
that crime is up a little, spiking.
Oh yeah, most def.
Like for robbery or just enemies?
I’d say inner-beef in the hood.
Oh, that don’t stop.
-Is this Crips, this area?
-This Crips, yeah.
So everyone’s Crips here?
-Everybody.
-Okay.
Not everybody,
we got one Blood over there.
I brought him to the neighborhood.
Here he go, he comin’ over.
He’s a Blood, so…
I brought him over here.
I brought BK Cashmere over here.
-But he’s still a Blood?
-Yeah.
-He’s a Blood.
-Oh, how you doing, man?
Peter.
Nice to meet you, Jeff.
Well, they call me Bo.
Bo?
-So you’re Blood, right?
-Yeah.
And it’s cool with the Crips here?
[all] Yeah.
-No issue?
-No issue.
I brought him to the neighborhood.
At first he didn’t want to come over here
’cause he know how it is over here.
-Right.
-You hear the stories.
I’m comin’ in, he welcome.
He came in, now he family.
Like he pull up without me now.
Is it different over here?
A little bit.
Just a little.
How are they different?
Is it like…
I met BK Cashmere through him.
Yeah, through him.
You know how you got people
down here and people up here?
-There’s a hierarchy?
-Yeah.
And how do you get to the top?
30, 40 years.
30, 40 years, there ya go.
Like I said, I moved in
when I was about 9, 10 years old.
I been here ever since.
I had to go through the bush
fightin’, bitin’ and you know, all that.
Somebody moved here when we kids…
Man it’s a…
Like, “Oh, we got a new victim.
Let me see if I can rob him,
let me see if I can beat him up or…”
Right.
And if he accept it,
you known as a buster.
You know what I mean, a punk.
Like, “Oh he outside again,
let’s go get him.”
I stood my ground.
You know what I mean?
And they sent me, like,
“Oh, we want him for the hood.”
So you stood up to who was above you?
Right.
And then you proved your authority
and everyone respects it.
Two guys actually.
Everyone respects that
Then I went from there.
If you get your pockets checked
and you do like this
let a dude go in your pocket…
You a victim.
Every time we see you
I don’t give a f*ck if you going
to the store, to school…
You know what I mean?
Pockets, pocket check him.
Pocket check, all right.
I don’t have much,
I got some batteries.
If you let a mutha f*cka…
“Oh, what you got?”
“What you got in your pockets?”
Stop touching my pocket.
[laughter]
Are you still that guy, Nook?
Nah, well… Nah.
When did you stop tapping pockets?
I stopped when I got life in prison.
When I came back home.
You still doing that bullsh*t.
Life in prison but you got out?
Yeah, I had got caught up
with the homies.
I had got caught.
They gave me 35 to life.
I was in Folsom doing my time
and I came home on an appeal
’cause you know, I’mma be there
or dead type sh*t.
Right.
So I was like, I’m still on the bullsh*t,
you know what I mean?
But if it come to that…
Right.
But other than that
I do this.
I back up.
-You don’t initiate?
-Not no more.
Okay.
-Did you guys ever beef, you and Cash?
-No.
Nah, never.
Nobody beefs with this guy though.
He cool.
I have.
I don’t like him sometimes.
We went back and forth sometimes
but nothing serious.
Have you heard his latest music though?
You hear his latest?
It’s bomb.
So all the music, guys,
in this video is from BK Cashmere.
♪ hip hop ♪
-That’s a nice truck.
-Nice wheels.
He doesn’t take that off-road does he?
So you guys are really into
your lowriders?
Yeah, lowriders.
Do you get along with the Chicanos
or not so much?
Yeah.
‘Cause they love this stuff.
No, ’cause when we go out and ride
like Crenshaw area
main Compton, wherever we at.
They there.
We there.
Yeah, I gotta say
it’s really a nice So Cal thing
in the culture, the lowrider.
It doesn’t work anywhere else
like it works here
you know what I mean?
You can’t do this in New York.
It’s not the same.
We have two projects in Compton
and they both Park Village.
This is the Wilmington arm
and the other side
is original Park Village.
But we all one hood.
The only projects in Compton.
This place has history.
Big history.
Was it pretty bad at one time?
Oh, really bad.
Like I say, when I brought
BK Cashmere and my Blood partner
They didn’t want to come over here.
-Like, “Man, I’m not going over there.”
-It’s crazy.
When did that stop?
When did it stop being so bad?
When the Feds came through
and raided back in the day.
The colors slowed up.
It was still bad… It’s still bad now.
Don’t get me wrong.
-Okay.
-It’s still bad now.
-And I’m only good because I’m with you?
-Yeah.
You good, you see how they welcome you?
Yeah, everyone’s cool.
So that’s really how it works
in these areas
In Compton it’s like who you know
-what your association is…
-It ain’t what you know it’s who you know.
And it’s like family, and it’s gang, right?
-To some degree.
-Yeah, Gang culture.
Gang culture,
but not everyone’s in a gang.
Some people are in a gang but in a
sense it’s like everyone’s connected?
Right.
So I was thinking this
and my wife was asking this, she’s like
“How do people move
from the hood outside?”
because in the video we shot
she’s like,
“Everyone seems so connected,
they have their culture there
they have their friends
every apartment knows every apartment.”
How can you go to another neighborhood
where you know nobody?
It depends on the beef
and who’s an enemy and not.
Like, I can’t move in a hood
that I’m beefing with somebody.
But what about this,
what if you were to move
in like a one-bedroom apartment
by yourself in Santa Monica?
Oh, you good.
Ain’t no…
But would you want that?
You wouldn’t have your friends around…
No, you want that.
You want your peace and quiet
your time alone.
And when I wanna get rowdy or hood
I’ll come to the hood and I’ll drink.
-You dab in, dab out?
-Yeah.
We was in Hollywood yesterday
partying with the stars.
We got the put on black mat.
This where action happen at.
Okay, what do you mean by that,
black mat?
People in the neighborhood,
they get socked out, you know?
-Beat up or however you wanna say.
-Okay, so you’re saying
the fights take place back here?
Black mat, right here.
What it is… Like say…
He been over here, what?
A few years and he’s like,
“Man, I love Park Village.
I wanna get put on.”
-Black mat.
-Yeah.
He gotta get on this mat
and get his a*** whooped.
Or whoop some a**.
How many times
you been on the black mat Cash?
I’ve haven’t been on the black mat.
I didn’t have to get on the black mat.
You ready?
Yeah, you wanna get on the mat?
[all laughing]
And the black mat’s got like
the spongy…
Sort of like a boxing ring.
Say me and my homies got a problem
with each other.
Come back here and settle it.
And when we arguing like,
“What you said?”
“What you sayin?”
Black mat.
He already know what it is.
Is it still carrying on
with the younger generations?
Yeah.
-It’s still going?
-Yeah.
That’s the most.
I don’t do black mat no more.
If one of the youngs
disrespect me or something like that
One of the other young homies
would be like,
“You dissin’ the big homie,
what’s up wit you?”
Right.
“What you saying?”
Black mat.
We come right here.
I can just, like, you know, watch.
-So no guns here, it’s just fists?
-Just fists.
But after that, shake hands.
Okay, so there’s a respect to it,
it’s like a hockey fight sort of, right?
-Exactly.
-There you go.
You punch and then you
almost respect the person.
-Perfect example.
-Yeah, you shake hands…
They roll up a blunt,
go get a bottle, drink.
And then the order is established,
whoever won the fight
now is higher rank, right?
No, ain’t no rank like that.
-Okay.
-Not just ’bout no fight.
-You know what I mean?
-You need time?
It’s history, years in,
you gotta develop
you know what I’m saying?
They’re not just gonna give you no trophy.
It’s like that.
-No participation trophy?
-Nah.
[laughter]
Now here it’s totally different
from New York.
It’s an order, that’s why I kind of
like it and respect it.
So East New York doesn’t have
an order like this?
Nah, out here if somebody get out of line
somebody is allowed to check ’em.
Out there in New York
they disrespecting the OG so much.
Out here that’s not gonna fly.
I thought it woulda been the opposite.
I thought it woulda been
more old school over there.
Here, it’s a gang culture.
It’s a hierarchy.
Out there in New York
gang culture is getting very popular
out there but they’re not doing it
sort of like how they doing out here.
He had to teach me
how it was out here.
I was out of line,
you know what I mean?
-I had a say-so.
-I was outta line.
So I had to respect him because
he’s the one who put me to be here.
You understand what I’m saying?
So it was like I had to respect that,
I didn’t know the politics.
Now I do know,
so now you move in an orderly fashion.
But it’s structure out here,
it’s good structure.
‘Cause I can tell if two of the homies
getting into it
one of ’em say, “Black mat.”
Yeah.
I got the power to say, “No.”
Yeah.
-You can say no to black mat here?
-I can squash it.
Yeah.
Wow.
You know I can say,
“No, y’all ain’t going to black mat
y’all talk that sh*t out.”
Have you ever done black mat?
No, he’s not…
Peter.
-What’s your name?
-Dewan.
-Dewan.
-He a rap artist, he got…
What’s your take these days
as you get older?
You want less black mat
or you want more?
-Less, less.
-Okay.
Because it’s not worth it sometimes.
You know, you got arguing
over a football game.
Oh, today there’s gonna be arguments.
[all laughing]
-There’s a lot of money on the line.
-“He better than me.”
“He shoulda did this.”
And then somebody might,
“Shut up.”
We go through the gate right here.
-As you can see they cut the gate down.
-Yep.
So the kids can go straight
from the projects into the park.
Cool.
The homies be dunkin’
and tearing sh*t down.
That’s why this side missing.
Good thing we don’t have
a basketball Cash
I would have to show you my moves.
Yeah, I’d have to take you to the hole.
It’s pretty well set up.
Everything.
Movie nights?
They set up a screen right here.
Who’s they?
Who’s they who sets up the screen?
-Depends who wanna do it.
-Whoever, yeah.
Sometimes the mayor come over here
and set something up.
They had Thanksgiving drives,
Christmas drives over here
passing out toys for the kids.
We gonna go get some Louisiana chicken
right there on Alandra
with Peter Santenello,
y’all know how we do, man.
Let’s get it.
[door closes]
We still a family…
If I need help maybe paying my rent
getting my car fixed…
-A couple guys will come together.
-If you need money…
Like somebody say they need money…
Like I’m not even from here
and I naturally do it.
Like, “Yo, I need $10.”
I’ll come out my pocket and give ’em $10.
It’s different in New York.
Like, people will be ashamed
to ask one another for $10, $20.
Out here,
now because there’s a gang culture
it’s a whole different culture.
Right now we at the Louisiana Hood spot.
Where the good chicken at.

That’s the hood liquor store.
We go get our liquor, meat,
you know, whatever.
-Miracle Market.
-Okay.
I mean that’s the other side
of the projects right here.
That’s all the projects right here,
right across the street.
Gotcha, so this is the
go-to place for food?
Yeah, the go-to place.
One of ’em.
-That come with fries?