The Black Godfather

Well?

- Yeah, man. - Let's rip it up.

Shit!

Get out of here, man!

You okay?

I can't make it, man, get out of here.

No, you can, now, come on.

No, I can't, I needed a fix.

I should have told you, man.

I wasn't in no kind of shape for that.

Come on, get out of here, man.

I can't make it.

I ain't gonna leave you, Tommy.

- Look, one thing you can tell the guys is, man.

If I don't make it. - Come on, man,

we gonna make it, we gonna make it.

If I don't make it, you can tell them

that I did kick the habit.

Yeah.

All right?

Here, give me your hand, help me out.

Hey.

Now, you're doing it.

Come on, now, come on.

Hang on, man.

We've been through too much.

Come on.

Come on.

Let's do it now.

Come on.

Come on, let's get up.

Come on, man.

Help me.

Tommy?

Tommy!

Come on, man.

Wake up, Tommy, wake up!

Come on, man, you can't.

You can't leave me, man, we've been through too much.

Come on, wake up, wake up, wake up!

Come.

Come on, man.

Come on, man.

Wake up, wake up, wake up!

Boy, you got a goodie there.

Feel well enough to join me?

Yeah, yeah, beer.

Hey, I'm sure enough glad you happened by the other night

when you did, man.

Sure was a close one.

Yeah.

So your name's Williams?

No, I ain't Williams.

That's the boss.

Well, where is the dude, man?

I wanna leave my thanks on him.

Name J.J.

Hey, what's your game, baby?

Let me put it on you this way, J.J.

My game is my business.

Now, the old man said you're to be here when he gets back.

And that's what I'm here to see to.

And that's the only game I'm playing.

Dig?

Yeah, man, I dig.

Hey, man, don't get uptight, man.

I was just trying to be friendly, you know,

spread a little love around, get a few answers here.

Can't blame a dude for that.

Hey, why don't we save the lip service

until Nate gets here, huh?

Nate?

Nate Williams?

Big Nate Williams?

Hey, man, I think it's,

think it's about time for me to split.

- Hey! - Whoa.

You stay till Nate gets here.

Yeah.

Hey, boss.

How was your trip?

Fine, Son, is everything all right here?

No problems, boss.

The suspense is killing me.

I can't wait to find out why you picked me up that night.

Hey, ain't nobody ever cared for me before.

You got a lot of guts, kid.

It isn't every day someone tries

to hold up Tony Burton's joint.

That place is guarded like Fort Knox.

Yeah, I found that out the hard way.

Man.

Nate Williams.

Numbers king.

Man, you are the last person I ever expected to help me.

- I'm the kind of man that recognize talent.

And when I find it, I put it to work.

You offering me a gig?

I'm not offering, you got one.

Your friend got killed, didn't he?

Yeah, my friend Tommy.

We didn't have no bread, but nothing else we could do.

We grew up together, too.

He was my best friend.

Man, right in front of my eyes.

Still can't believe he's dead.

All we was trying to do was survive.

That's what we all trying to do.

- You lucky you got away with just a scratch, sucker.

Ain't no use in you sniveling.

You still alive, ain't you?

If I was Nate,

you would. - Sonny.

You talk about survival, kid.

Let me tell you what it takes.

When you've lived out there as long as I have,

then you can talk about survival.

The more you know, the more you need to know.

It doesn't get any easier the older you get either.

What you got the other night was just the smoke.

The fire is yet to come.

I'm gonna do something that no one ever did for me.

I'm gonna give you the benefit of my experience.

If you use it well,

we'll get along.

If you don't, you'll have to answer to me.

Do you understand, mister?

Yes, sir.

Here, J.J.

Here's some bread.

Get yourself together, then I wanna see you later, okay?

Thanks.

What's happening, blood?

How you doing?

- Why you in the middle of the street, man?

Got to be careful, baby.

Hey, dig, man.

I've been putting the squeeze on the dope,

but the skag is still getting through.

And I wanna cut it off completely and quick.

I wanna put that lid on so tight,

even the rats can't come up for air.

- What kind of crusades are you on?

Tony Burton.

But why now, man?

His kind's been around a long time.

Ain't no room for the both of us,

and like you, I wanna control my own destiny.

As long as Tony is here,

there's always gonna be somebody telling us what to do.

If we cut off the flow of the big H,

Tony loses most of his control in his community.

- And are you gonna take up where Tony left off?

- Hey, man, you need money to run your organization, right?

And the kind of money you need you can't get

by selling a two-bit newspaper on the street corners

or passing around a tin cup at a rally.

You need the kind of money my organization can give you.

Hey, man, I've had offers before.

I turned them down

because I don't want nobody to control us.

Now, the essence of our struggle is independence,

And we don't like slave masters

no matter what color they are.

- And some of your men are no good to you as they are.

The less skag in the community, the better for you.

Come on, man.

Since when you are concerned about anybody besides J.J.?

You pimp everything and everybody in the neighborhood.

You trying to hustle me, too, J.J.?

Because if you are, man, I'm not gonna stand for that shit.

Look, man, I know you.

I know how you make your money.

You got women whoring for you.

Your numbers rackets takes people eating money, man,

possessions stolen, trucks hijacked, welfare checks copped.

You name it, J.J., you got it.

You're no goddamned different from Tony.

Now, look, man.

You're bleeding the goddamned community.

As far as I'm concerned,

you're just as corrupt as he is.

- Look, I'm not gonna justify corruption to you.

It's always been here, and it always will be.

What I'm rapping to you about is power, baby.

I know what I am.

And right or wrong, people look up to me

because they think I am a success.

I've got what they've always wanted, money.

Without it, you're nothing.

Money buys dignity.

Poverty is a crime.

Nobody ask you where you got your dollar.

They ask you, do you have it?

That idealistic shit don't pay your rent.

I don't wanna start philosophizing anyway.

All I want is Tony out of here.

Everything else is secondary.

You're a cold motherfucker, J.J.

Yeah, you tell me about it.