In hip-hop and in the streets, a boast is a projection of strength—a threat that is itself an action. Labor unions act by threatening to strike. Rappers act by threatening to destroy. In fact, whole careers have been based on pure projection. That was definitely the case here because, in reality, that bag didn’t have anything in it but my lessons and a screwdriver. Even so, my projection backed that dude down. He started saying, “Nah, nah, nah—we cool, homie!” We backed him down with the force of the word. That
