Teaching Mr. Graham

Chapter Five

    "Mmhm," Tatiana heard from behind her.

    "'Mmhm' what?" Tatiana asked, turning away from the board.

    Kenya arched a brow, then twisted around to peer in the direction Mr. Mysterious had just walked off in. "Don't think I missed that."

    Tatiana started to walk in the direction of their residence hall. "You didn't miss anything."

    "Pfft, the hell I didn't," Kenya chirped, walking beside Tatiana. "That tall hunk of man was all over you."

    "All over me, being a sarcastic ass," Tatiana muttered. "Except...towards the end." Her expression softened, as she mulled over his advice.

    "Do tell," Kenya urged.

    Tatiana laughed. "He just...he agreed with you, about the writing class."

    Kenya clutched her chest. "He admits I was right? A man after my own heart. What's his phone number? Did you get it? Did you-"

    "No, it wasn't like that," Tatiana interjected. "But he did tell me about a writing class that's still open. So I'm thinking of signing up for it tomorrow, when the admissions office opens."

    Kenya gasped. "Oh my God...so you're going to do it?"

    "I'm strongly considering it," Tatiana said. "I haven't completely made up my mind yet."

    "The fact you're even considering it, my dear, is progress," Kenya said, looping an arm around her best friend's neck. "I'm so proud of you. All kids rebel against their parents at some point in their lives. You just waited hella late, which is fine. Later is better than never."

    "You're such a bad influence," Tatiana said with a shake of her head.

    "Thank God, or else you'd always be Miss Goody Two Shoes," Kenya declared.

                                                                               ~~~~~~~~~~

    Aubrey Graham removed his baseball cap as he entered his Chicago condo. Motion-sensitive lighting was triggered, and the canned lights installed in the ceiling flashed on upon his entrance. He slid his tracksuit jacket off of his shoulders and draped it across a circular loveseat with a modern design. "Television on," he commanded.

    The television flashed on, and a pre-season football game was playing on ESPN, the last channel he'd watched. He stood behind the loveseat and watched the channel for a few minutes before withdrawing his cell phone from his pocket and checking his messages.

    The football game went to commercial; the commercial happened to be an old Sprite commercial that Aubrey had filmed alongside Nas. He smiled at the commercial. If you'd asked him those few years ago whether or not he thought he'd be a teacher in the near future, his answer would have been an emphatic "No." He was at the top of the rap game back then. His name was mentioned in the same breath as some of the rap greats. He was referred to as a rap great in his own right, despite the haters who'd come and gone throughout the duration of his career.

    It was a complete shock to his friends and family when he'd announced that he wanted to take a break from his rap career. They couldn't understand the timing, couldn't understand why he would willingly take time off when he was at his peak.

    In actuality, the timing had a lot to do with why he chose to bow out for a brief period. His life was at a point where tabloids and gossip sites were interfering with his daily life. He'd had a taste of that throughout the majority of his career, but after a beef that Meek Mill started out of nowhere, the gossip hounds wouldn't leave him alone. It wasn't just that, because if he'd wanted to, he could have stuck it out. There were other factors, such as the fact that he felt like he couldn't settle down and nurture a real relationship with a woman while he was an entertainer. It was his goal to settle down at the end of his career, but that was too far off. At the time he'd made that goal, he was planning on staying in the rap game until he was around forty years old, and he didn't want to wait until he was forty years old to settle down. Other factors, such as his relationships with some of the people in the entertainment industry, and artists on his label coming up and their careers blossoming also came into play.

    He made a conscious choice to take a step back from making music, so he could focus on helping to groom the other artists on his label on their come up. One mistake he didn't want to make was being the music mogul that only focused on himself. He wanted to direct his focus on the artists on his label to give them a real shot at making it. When he made this decision, he knew that grooming his artists would only take so much time. After all, he didn't have to hold their hands throughout their entire career and all of their business decisions. They had management to assist with a lot of their decisions. So, that begged the question, if Drake were to step back from the music industry and become more of a wizard behind the curtain, how would he spend his time? Where would he shift his focus?

    There were several options at hand. His good friend and marketing/management extraordinaire, Oliver El-Khatib, suggested that Aubrey take on a more involved role at the OVOSound label. It was his belief that if Aubrey truly intended to become a music industry mogul, he should become more involved with the contracts, with the talent scouting, and new artist signings. Aubrey agreed that at some point, he would want to do this, but that wasn't the headspace he was in. OB, a crew member and another longtime friend, suggested that they all go on extended vacation. Get inspired, write music, and just enjoy life. Classic OB, always looking to party and enjoy the best that life had to offer. But that also didn't feel like the right decision, not at this point in Aubrey's life - not when Aubrey was looking to settle down.

    The option of teaching didn't occur to Aubrey, not at first. The idea didn't occur to him until he received recognition for the money he donated to a number of high schools sprinkled throughout Canada and the United States. He walked through the halls of a Philadelphia high school, and stood outside of one classroom, where a student was speaking.

    "I just wanted to tell you that I appreciate having you as a teacher," the student was telling the teacher seated behind the desk. "My parents recently split, and neither one of them has really been paying attention to me or my writing. But...well, you kept me going at a time when even my parents couldn't. You encouraged me to keep at it, and I wouldn't have won this writing award if it weren't for you."

    It was such a significant moment, not just for the student or the teacher, but also for Aubrey. The words touched him, and he related to them on a multitude of levels. His own parents divorced when he was very young. He was fortunate to have a mother who believed in his ability to do anything, and supported him on his quest to fulfill his dreams, but there were times when she had her own issues that she had to focus on. During those times, his teachers and his vocal coach were who picked up the slack.

    Standingoutside of that classroom, he realized that he wanted to be that person forsomeone else.