40 Cent in Knoxville

Knoxville is a sensible town. We're modest. Our city usually makes those "10 Best Cities to Live" surveys due to our low average cost of living, high quality of life (despite air pollution), recreation, parks, etc. We narrowly avoided the abominable housing/mortgage crunch that scarred most of the country and sent the national economy reeling. That is just how we are.

So, while walking home from the pub last evening I was not at all surprised to be approached by a panhandler asking for a tidy "40 cent". Walking toward each other on the same side of the street the brief encounter went something like:

40 Cent: Yo, man, how's it going?
Me: Good man, good.
40 C: Hey you got 40 cent?
Me: No man, not a dime, sorry.

We both kept walking in opposite directions.

See, its that modest approach that keeps Knoxville firmly grounded about a decade behind the rest of the country. No need to be excessive. Why ask for more than you need? I'm sure "40" only needed .40c to add to his coffers. Surely it had nothing to do with former street thug/drug dealer turned mega-superstar rapper, 50 Cent. (Take a modern, well chronicled success story, knock 20% off and replicate.) So what if it did? I appreciate that 40 Cent realizes he is in a smaller market than St. Louis and doesn't ask too much from its citizens. That's just smart business - if business means panhandling. Plus he didn't even pull a Gat or get up in my grill all angry and shit.

So keep your eyes out for this guy, he could be Knoxville's next celebrity if he makes it off the street. And if he raps. Black male, late 30's, last seen wearing jeans, a Swiss flag t-shirt, and carrying a Hefty flex-trash bag. I know I'll be listening to WUTK's Edutainment Hip-Hop hour on 90.3 waiting for his latest bomb to drop. Fo' riz-eel!