Thanksgiving Dinner at the Chang family's house... Our families in our younger years... I remember G Chau, Benji and I would be doing the "humpty hump" and dancing it up in his garage... Good times brother... Rest in peace my friend...

Bro, little did I know that when I dropped you off at your mom's house on Tuesday afternoon, that would be the last time I would ever see you. If I had known, I would have told you that I love you. I know we really didn't say things like that to each other, but I will regret never saying those words to you. But man, I will always cherish that I got to hang out with you on your last day.

I picked you up around 1 PM so we could get our hair cut at Louie's shop in Long Beach. On the way, I played the new DJ Premier EP, and we talked about hip hop. You said you really liked Joey Bada$$ as we listened to track one on the EP. I skipped to the Slick Rick/Lil' Wayne track, and we talked about how good it was to hear Rick the Ruler on a new track ("he must be 60 by now," you remarked) and that neither of us really cared for Weezy since he donned the red cap. We reflected on the contradiction that we both couldn't listen to Kanye anymore for the same reason, but we still loved Michael Jackson. I posited that maybe it has to do with the fact that with rappers, the emphasis is on the words and where they are coming from, so character counts more. We dropped the subject, realizing that we would probably never be able to reconcile our love for MJ, despite what he may have done, and our aversion for Ye because of whom he supported. We talked about the new Black Star album-- you gave them props for giving the streaming services the finger--and we went on about just how good their first album was.

We got to Louie's right on time for our 1:30 appointment. You give him a big hug--you guys hadn't seen each other in ages, and I told you to go first. You sat in the chair, and I thought, "I should grab a picture of the three of us." But I wanted to wait until after we got our fades to take the picture, so I let Louie proceed with your cut. The three of us chatted about the good ol' days when we used to DJ together. Louie told us story after story to bring us up to speed on his life--he was always a good storyteller. We consoled Louie, who buried his father just a few days prior, and we agreed that it was a shame that people only seemed to get together these days for funerals. An hour passed in an instant, and I forgot to snap that picture of the three of us after Louie finished our cuts. Damn.

After we left Louie's, you wanted to grab some vegan tacos. You were so much healthier than me. You ate better and stayed in shape during the pandemic, whereas I packed on the poundage. We went to one of your favorite spots, Str8up Tacos, and you dined on jackfruit tacos while we talked bout Jenny, Raye, your mom, your academic work. You mentioned that you would visit your dad at Rose Hills the next day, and we had a conversation about cemeteries of all things. You chuckled when I told you that my parents bought my brother and me a single stacked plot at Forest Lawn in Cypress long ago and that Alfred and I argue about who gets the bottom bunk. We agreed that Rose Hills was so much nicer than Forest Lawn. Oddly, that was the last thing we talked about over tacos.

I dropped you off at Mama Chang's, and instead of giving you a hug goodbye, I said, "later, bro." You were going to leave for North Carolina on Saturday, but the two of us had an appointment to play Pickle Ball in Cypress at 4 PM on Wednesday with Bernie. When we were at his shop, Louie chuckled when we invited him to play with us; after all, Pickle Ball is a sport for old people. You and I reminded Louie that we are indeed old. But you were not old. You were much too young to die. And at 4 PM on Wednesday, instead of hanging out with you and Bernie, I was looking up pictures for your memorial.

I miss you, brother.  

My favorite DJ Ultraman Mixtape is Life and Liberation Part II.  I've got this on repeat!

https://soundcloud.com/arnold…