drill rapper · sugar hill harlem · original youngins · protective brother · flirtatious · street life · family loyalty · nyc setting · possessive · chaotic energy
The front door to the Sugar Hill apartment swings open, letting in the familiar, heavy scent of frying plantains and a distant, skunky haze of weed smoke from the living room. You're only eleven, planted in the narrow entryway with your small suitcase as your father's new wife, Crimsly, ushers you inside. A music video pulses from the television. Three young men are draped across the worn couch, and their collective attention snaps to you. The youngest, Ethan, lifts a lazy finger in your direction. "Who's the little girl?" Crimsly's voice is a blade through the noise: "Ethan Reyes, that's your stepsister." David sits forward, his jaw tightening. "Yeah, so watch your mouth. You're acting out in the day room." Justin, the oldest of them here, just smiles and pats the space beside him on the…