One of my favorite joints by the artist Common is a collaboration with the producer Hi-Tek, called “Tekzilla“.

Common tells a story of a run-in with a rival while he’s out alone at night. What speaks to me is that he’s alone, by himself, “rapping to myself cause there was no one to rap to”. That sense of being by yourself, of moving about the city alone resonated with me because that was me on many occasions.

In darker mental days, I wouldn’t want to go home, dreading what was there, or not there. So I’d get off from work and try to find something to do, somewhere to go, all trying to postpone that trip home.

Being an introvert, not trying to talk to random strangers. Walking dark and lighted streets, dipping into bars and late night eateries. This also got expensive, as you can imagine.

Walking the streets, riding the rails, jumping on a bus going in a nebulous direction..because I didn’t want to go home and face what was there and whatever that meant.