Graduation: The Soundtrack (As Told By Trent Dunlap)

I woke up a little earlier than I had expected. Maybe it was due to the yelp of my Grandmother's loud voice screaming GOOD MORNING at the top of her lungs from the other side of the door. I opened my eyes slightly, and kept concealed in my mind the feeling of exasperation first thing in the morning. As I looked over to my phone on the dresser to check what time it was, I noticed that I left the T.V. on. Sports center was on. It was on mute but all I saw was Kobe Bryant wearing a base ball cap and holding a trophie being ambushed by an army of confetti. Then, the word CHAMPION just jutted out of the blue. (They won? Awesome!) "Good Morning," I replied with little enthusiasm. I had to go piss so I got up and walked to the bathroom. I was very tired and it was obvious I didn't get enough sleep. My eye lids were heavy as shit, I couldn't walk in a straight line for like the first three steps, And the my grandmother's voice squealing downstairs about breakfast was making my head pound relentlessly. I look into the mirror just above the bathroom sink, and see nothing but red in my eyes. I run some cold water, splash that shit on my face. Then run some hot water, splash that shit on my face, then just roar out a nice "AHH!, fucking HOT!" then splash some cold water back on my face; cool that shit off.

At this point, I'm wide awake. I just had like 3 different major sensations on the skin of my face and I'm fully alert now, basically. The cold-hot-cold water method had me pumped, so I bussed out like 40 push-ups. Damn, I could feel my chest getting STRONGER already. And it's poking out a little. I WONDER if the ladies'll notice ;). After I brush my teeth and whatnot and what have you, I get dressed and run down the steps to bye to my grandmom and explain how I can't eat breakfast this morning because I have to go downtown and get to GRADUATION rehearsal on time/(I don't like her cooking or her dirty plates). I'm kinda rushing because I'm meeting Nya at Broad & Olney though...atleast i wasn't lying about that.

When Nya and I get to the Kimmel Center, a sense of....Nostalgia runs through my system. The place is built to near perfection, it's air conditioned, and there are attendants at every doorway welcomming you and telling you where to go. Ahhhh, the GOOD LIFE. I walk in the auditorium and see like the whole class just chillin, waiting for rehearsal to start. One of the ushers, some old german guy, tried to direct me to my seat. He was telling me where to go but he had the thickest accent and I couldn't understand a word he was saying. I told him, "Look, I know your trying to help me, but if your not going to speak a little more clearly then you CAN'T TELL ME NOTHING." No offense to the guy, just didn't know what the fuck he was saying. I help myself to a seat near a good freind, then out of nowhere BARRY BONDS just comes swinging down from the right side of the theatre on a rope. He let go when he made it to the balcony on the right side of the theatre then ran into the darkness never to return. How awesome.

I'm looking around to see how many DRUNK AND HOT GIRLS i'm going to make out with at the GRADUATION party tonight. This is going to be the greatest day of my life! Everyone's just having the greatest time, just from simply being in the presence of one another just talking to each other and enjoying ourselves. Every where you looked, there was picture being taken. Freinds taking pictures with each other, freinds taking pictures of seperate groups of freinds, people taking random "candid" picks of people without them knowing it, everything! I fucked around and looked to my left and saw Nya with her Nikon just taking flicks, jutting all these FLASHING LIGHTS in my face. It was awesome.

I didn't get a chance to read my yearbook so I opened it up and saw signatures galore. All the notes from people telling me how they love EVERYTHING I AM made me smile. I damn near shed a tear. Almost, not quite. After I soaked myself in THE GLORY of being loved by so many people, I started to mingle with all my class of '09 buddies and associates and whatnot. I was soo, caught up in the moment. Telling people i don't really bang with that we should chill over the summer when I damn well I won't be seeing them 'till next year's HOMECOMMING game. lol

Graduation day arrives, and everything is oh so special. My family is together, everyone's happy, and everyone's giving me a shitload of money (CHI-CHING!!). As I put on my cap and gown and get ready to head off to commencement. I see my dad pointing at me from accross the room smiling with my baby bro in his arms saying, "See that man right there? That's your BIG BROTHER. He's a talented man, definately goin' places."

Yeaah, definately.


"Homie this shit is basic, welcome to graduation." -Kanye West