So I wrote this poem last fall called Tree Hugger. It’s about Oakland, violence, fatherhood, what it means to be man…and the first time my hippie-ass 10th grade science teacher asked me to hug a tree. Now that piece is gonna be on a mixtape over a Lil Wayne beat.

This is for Oakland, for the fallen brothers, for the fallen trees – and for the good men in my life. The Tree Hugger his skin is brown limbs long, he is lanky like me but still: strong arms, thick spine he is an oak tree rooted in the Town…