"Peter, you’re dope."

My half black, half Puerto Rican friend, Lena, from New York, threw it out like a lifeline to
rescue me from my sea of whiteness.
And I thought, "Yeah!... uh, I don't even know what that means."
So I wrote her back and said, "Lena, I don't even know what that means, but thanks. :)"

It was really a joke,
Because I'm urban schooled,
Hip-hop modified,
I learned to throw ghetto slang in my phraseology
Like a “th'o” pair of “spinners” on some “Jordan” rims,
My east Austin drug dealer friends taught me all I know
And if you don't believe me, I can give you their prison address
So you can write 'em and ask 'em yo' self.

But Lena couldn't discern my clever cracker wit.
She's not familiar enough with my story to know
That my booty feels the funk of every beat laid down on the 2 & the 4,
And when I get down,
Black girls gather round shoutin',
"Ooh, you go, Peter!"
And askin' me for lessons.
No, Lena sent me a message that said,
"Look it up in urbandictionary.com under "dope", specifically Definition 19."

Definition 19 - anything that alters your mind.
Definition 19 - as in, I leave all the rest of you pretenders behind.
Definition 19 - 'cause Lena knows that I'm down with her crew.
Definition 19 - 'cause inside I got old school soul even though I look like you.

Now you may be wonderin',
"Peter, why are you talking like that?"
"I mean, I haven't heard you proclaim your inner African child,
And I always thought you were just a straight laced, white guy from the suburbs
That looks a bit like Shaggy."

But see, that's the beauty of it.
I don't have to throw out a bunch of awkwardly contrived phrases
To prove that I'm something I'm not.
I once saw a white guy with horn-rimmed glasses on a volleyball court say,
"Man, that shot was crunk!"
It nearly made me wretch.
I figured he didn't know that it's really a combination of crazy and drunk,
Stuck together to describe someone so wild and out of control that feels so good.
He just heard it on tv,
Or on the radio,
Or off a thug life CD he bought 'cause he wanted to be cool.
Man, Definition 19 could've saved him the humiliation.
Could've spared him the trouble of joining the black panther nation in order to get some street
cred.

If you look like me,
Don't wear FUBU,
Don't braid your hair,
Sport the bling
Or listen to Tupac's last album while tokin' on a blunt.
You can be...

Definition 19 - 'cause I'm here to alter your mind.
You're Definition 19 - you can leave all your days of pretending behind.
Definition 19 - 'cause everyone knows it's better to be down with the truth.
Definition 19 - 'cause you got old school soul,
And the content of your heart is the only proof.

See, what I've found out when I've spent time in "the 'hood"
Is that they've got flaws, hopes and beautiful dreams just like me.
And they don't care that I can hang with the lingo
As long as I'm comfortable with being myself
While wanting to spend time with them
Right where they are.

I was out playing racquetball just the other day,
And my goggle-eyed, white faced playing partner told me I had "mad skillz."
I just smiled and thought, "Definition 19."
My friend Lena, Tupac & Black Jesuz would be proud.

..."Peace," "Love," "One hundred"...