04x04 - If You Can't Buy, Rent

[bunniefuu]

Helping the community center get open

was one step towards helping
me find my real purpose.

To make that happen,
I would have to face

one of the biggest challenges
of my life:

Veesy.

All right, guys, now, listen.
I think y'all doing a fantastic job,

and it's really making a difference.
You know what I'm saying?

But we need to get several hundred

other petitions signed,

and I need those signed
by the end of day.

It is what it is. 'Cause we
on a mission, isn't that right?

Now, listen here,
Jorge will be my eyes and ears,

so don't try nothing slick.

All right, God loves you, and break.

All right, yes.

Veesy!

Can I just say something?
I love your staff.

I love the way you move,
and on top of all of that,

I heard in the projects
you got the best lasagna.

- That's all I wanna say.
- You think you slick.

Get outta my face, Tray.

Aren't you supposed to be
in some f*cking traffic

getting hit or something like that?

Poof! Be gone.

Watch your step. All right.

Walk straight, n*gga!

You got heart, though, m*therf*cker.

I give you that.

To have the audacity to step to me.

[laughs]

[thunder rumbles]

Okay, Group A, follow me.

We are headed over
to the farmers' market.

Let's make sure we stick
to that script this time, okay?

It is 2.3 million and 45%.

- Y'all got it?
- All: Got it.

All right, that's what I like to hear.

Heading on over
to the boujee farmers' market.

[indistinct chatter]

Here you go, Grandma.

Oh, thank you guys.

This is so sweet.

You know people at the church
have been telling me

they have a lot of packages missing.

It's nice to have a good security
system. Gives you peace of mind.

And now I can stop hearing Gloria brag

about how good her system is.

You're sure this one is better?

- I think so.
- Good.

This system has a ton of cool stuff.

There's a camera in your doorbell.

No! Look at this. That's my stoop.

- Mm-hmm.
- I can see the whole block.

Oh. [laughter]

Look what else you can do, Grandma.

So press the microphone button,

and you can talk to the people
outside of your house.

No!

This is incredible. Thank you.

It's our pleasure, Roberta.

Just call us with any questions.

All right, let's go, guys. Come on.

Okay, well, let me talk you out.

Okay. Testing.

Testing. One, two, three.

Yeah... Oh! I see you.

- Bye, Grandma.
- All right, bye, Roberta.

Okay, bye!

Mm.

[line trills]

Oh, hello, Gloria.

Girl, my kids just gave me
some new security system.

I told them don't spend this much.

This camera is so sharp,

I can see if you put
your wig on crooked.

Hmm, maybe we should've also taught her

how to turn the mic off?

- Both: Yeah.
- Let's go.

[Roberta speaking indistinctly]

Hi. Do you have a second to talk

about America's high incarceration rate?

- No.
- 2.3 million people

are currently locked up
in jails and prisons...

- I don't have any cash.
- And of those

who were released, 45% will be
arrested again within a year of their...

- No!
- Let me ask you a question.

You think anyone likes doing
mathematics on a Saturday?

Not particularly, no.

Then why bombard them with mathematics?

Well, Veesy, you know,
gave us a script and I...

The first rule to selling
is know your audience.

This ain't a math crowd.

You're right. I mean, the people here

only care about themselves,
to be honest.

Well, then make it about them.

You catch more flies with honey
than you do mathematics.

Trust that. And believe it.

- Okay.
- Let me get the CB.

I'm sorry, the CB? I...

The clipboard, mother... The clipboard.

Oh, yes, of course.

On and on and on and on.
What's up, home skillet?

I heard this macadamia nut
blossom honey

is to the beat, beat check it out.

Oh, yeah, it's even better

than the New Zealand Raw Manuka Honey.

- Say word?
- Word.

You know who you remind me of?

The nephew of Chaka Khan.

Sign right here
to help save the community.

Excuse me, may I ask you a question?

Have you heard about
the greedy developers

trying to knock down the
community center playground?

Oh, my God, that's awful.

I'm telling you, if these
developers get their way,

these zucchini gonna double in price,

and they won't even be organic.

- Oh, wow.
- Thank you for putting

- the neighborhood back in the hood.
- Wow, this is

so much more effective
than Veesy's method.

Yo, let's go over here

and f*ck with these
gourmet dog biscuit people.

Let me tell you something,
that's one lucky dog.

- He's a rescue.
- Wow.

What I wouldn't do to be rescued by you.

- You're silly.
- You know, I got a rescue myself.

You know, part Shih Tzu
and part laboratory rat.

I call it the shitz-rat.

[laughter]

- You're funny.
- All day.

I like people who care about
other living creatures in need.

Not just dogs. There's kids out
here that need goodwill and love too.

That's why I'm getting signatures
to keep the community center open.

Oh, well, I'm happy to sign.

Oh, thank you, ma'am.
And you too, Scoobs.

You better appreciate
them belly rubs now.

I know I would.

You're bad.

♪ Ah, yeah ♪

[rock music]

♪ Yeah ♪

- Thank you for your support.
- Tray Barker?

Hey, Poison.

Nah, nah, nah, man, I ain't
going by that right now, man.

I'm going by my government. Just Percy.

No wonder you took Poison, man.
People wouldn't be scared to say,

"Yo, Percy looking for me."

- [chuckles]
- What is this?

Trying to get people
to sign this petition

to save the community center, man.

Word? Let me sign up, then.
See you doing good, you know.

Especially after your


And they say prison
don't rehabilitate people.

You know, man, I'm just
trying to give back, man.

I feel you, man. I went legit too.

I'm importing hair and beauty supplies.

Get the f*ck out of here, man.

You went from pushing
weight to pushing bundles?

[chuckles] Baby, baby, baby.

Cherise, come here,
come here, come here.

I want you to meet somebody. Yeah, man.

Don't tell me all
this cuteness belong to you.

Yeah, that's what I'm trying to say,
man. You know what I'm saying?

When she was born, it changed me, man.
Straight up, like. Say hi.

No, listen, baby. Say hi.
Say hi to Mr. Barker.

Hi, Mr. Barker. Nice to meet you.

I'm Cherise. I'm five.

Whoa!

It is so nice to meet you, little girl.

Me and Mr. Barker go way back.
We used to work together as kids.

Did you have a lemonade stand?

- Something like that.
- Something like that, right?

Hey, good luck on everything, man.

You know, we need this community
center for the kids and all that.

If I can help any kind of way,
Tray, boom, I'm there.

That's what's up, Poi... I mean Percy.

A'ight, later, later. Come on, baby.

Bye-bye.

Oh, Cheryl, you looking good.

- Thank you, girl!
- The walks are paying off.

Mm-hmm.

Young man, pull up those pants.

Nobody is gonna hire you

showing your drawers
and your booty crack.

Ah. No, no, no, no.

Uh-uh, Susan, keep it walking.

Keep it walking. No public toilets here.

Thank you.

[tablet chimes]

Mm. Mm-mm.

- [playing discordantly]
- Stop already!

Boy, that's... that is sexy.

- Die, Kenny G! Die!
- [phone ringing]

Ah. Hey, Roberta.

The security company
just sent me an alert.

They wanna know if they
can send me notifications.

Are they trying to steal my identity?

No, it's okay, Roberta.
It's okay to get notifications.

All right, bye.

Back to you, my sexy little b*tch.

[playing discordantly]

Come on, man! Baby's sleeping!

- Ooh.
- [urine streaming]

Is that Carroll's house?

Lord. What's wrong with people,
peeing outside like that?

God. You still going.

Let me see. Let me see.

All right, y'all didn't do too bad.

Jorge.

Okay, overachiever, I see you.

Guys, this is amazing.
This completely outdoes it.

Like, it takes it over the top.
How did you do this?

Once we flipped the script,
stopped yelling,

and started selling, it was easy.

What do you mean yelling?
Why was y'all yelling?

- Y'all was yelling at people?
- Oh, no.

It was just all those confusing
numbers about recidivism.

It was turning people off.
Nobody wants to do math on a Saturday.

Jorge, who told you that?
'Cause you don't talk like that.

Where'd you get that from?

- Oh, it was that guy.
- What the...

[dramatic music]

f*ck.

What do you mean,
you're gonna throw them away?

- You need these signatures, Veesy.
- n*gga, I don't even trust you.

How do I not know that you
didn't sign that sh*t yourself?

Veesy, you needed signatures.
I got you signatures.

How, n*gga? Selling artisanal crack?

Nah, man, by communicating.
By connecting with them.

Oh, don't play with me.
Why the f*ck are you here?

'Cause people like you only do good sh*t

if they gonna think they're
gonna get something out of it.

Yes, I want something.

I wanna be involved in my community.

I wanna help get
the community center opened.

Even more than that,
I wanna teach a cooking class.

You must be high
on your own supply if you think

I'mma let you come up in here
in this community center.

I'm not letting you nowhere near here.

Broke n*gg*s like you
destroy the community.

Veesy, I was a kid.

I was a kid too.

But m*therf*ckers like you
destroyed my childhood.

People like you sold my brother crack.

And he never kicked it.

He tried for years,
but he never kicked that sh*t.

And so then one day,

he decided he wasn't gonna
wanna live no more.

So you know what he did? He f...

He k*lled himself.

Veesy, I'm sorry.

f*ck your sorry. f*ck your sorry, man.

No, thank you, n*gga. No, thank you.

I don't want nothing from you.

I don't need no signatures.
I don't need no quality time.

I don't need you nowhere
near this community center.

Leave me the f*ck alone.

Because you have no role here.

Get the f*ck out!

[somber music]

♪ ♪

Veesy.

Yo!

♪ ♪

[indistinct chatter]

[phone ringing]

[sighs softly] Hey, Roberta.

I just wanna know
if your garbage cans are out.

We live on the eighth floor.
Our building has a trash chute.

You know, I just got
an alert on my phone

that there's a group of kids
in your neighborhood

knocking over garbage cans.

- I gotta go, bye.
- You called me.

[phone rings]

Oh, hold on.
Get me a number three, okay?

- Both: All right.
- Thanks.

- Hey, Grandma. Are you okay?
- Are you at the beauty salon?

No, I'm going to
the movies with my friends.

Good, because there is a guy
outside the salon

with a bucket of water
threatening to ruin hairdos

if you don't turn over
all your cash to him.

- I don't carry cash, Grandma.
- Good for you.

Now, by the way,
what movie theater you at?

Grandma, maybe you should
turn that off for a little while.

Oh, no, baby.

Don't worry about me, 'cause
I know where crime is, okay?

Okay, goodbye. I gotta go.

- [phone rings]
- [sighs] Now she's calling me.

Hey, Grandma.

[smooth music]

Good morning.

Morning, Ma.

Hey, Tray, I've mapped out
your route to the council meeting.

Do not go right, because
there's a guy out there

peeing on people, okay?

And when you go to the left,
keep your eyes open,

'cause there's another idiot out there

snatching iPhone earbuds.

I'm not going to that meeting, Ma.

Why not? Uh-uh.

We gotta open up that center.

We gotta get these kids off the street.
It's a w*r zone out there.

Veesy don't even want
me to be there, Ma.

Every time she looks at me,
all she sees is the person I used to be.

Apparently, Mommy,


wasn't good enough for her.

[sighs]

Listen, you made a mistake
when you were a young man,

and you still gotta pay for it?

She blames me for putting
her brother in the ground.

Oh, I see, well...

she has her right to be mad,

and you also have
the right to live your life.

You gotta stay strong.

You right.

You go to that meeting

and you say what you got to say.

If she turns her back on you,
show up the next day.

And the next day. And the next day.

Just like you do when the Powerball

- hits 55 million, okay?
- I'm gonna hit it one day. Watch.

I know, 'cause
you keep going back there.

Thank you, Ma. I needed that.

- Thank you, baby.
- Thank you, Ma.

Like Deniece Williams said,
I'm a black butterfly.

- Ooh, baby.
- See my wings, Mommy? Look.

- You see that, Mommy?
- Wait.

Put on a little deodorant, now.

- Okay?
- Stop, Ma.

And in addition,
this project will attract

the type of people to Brooklyn
who have the resources

to spend their dollars
at local businesses.

As a result, more jobs will be created

and working-class wages
will rise, and that's...

Okay, so here's the deal.

Jamal is very involved in the community.

I'm pretty sure we've got
his vote locked down.

Mr. Ramsey is a no.

Which means we've gotta focus on Robert.

Okay, we get his vote,
we can save the center.

I mean, a state-of-the-art gym

with a Starbucks and a fro-yo place?

Come on, people. This is a no-brainer.

Kinda like my first husband.

[chuckles] Okay? You know.

And now speaking in opposition

to the Harrison International
Project is Shaveese Diggs.

[cheers and applause]

As exciting as it sounds
to have new money

coming into the community,
please forgive me

if I do not cheer at the demolition

of the Tompkins-Marcy Community Center,

as it will also be an annihilation

of prenatal programs, day care,
and after-school tutoring.

The kids need a place to go so
they can stay out of trouble.

Tell them, girl!

[applause]

Brooklyn needs your attention.

And all we're asking
you to do is hear us out.

We are out here fighting for our lives.

- Yes! Yes! Yes!
- [applause]

- Who wants free apartments?
- [all gasp]

We at Harrison International
are prepared to hold a lottery

to give away six
rent-free luxury apartments

to members of this community.

Free apartments. All: Free apartments!

Free apartments! Free apartments!

All: Free apartments! Free apartments!

- All: Free apartments!
- I'm reclaiming Veesy's time!

Sir, that's not how this works.

- You're not Veesy.
- I'm reclaiming my time, then.

Still not how that works,
but it's an open mic.

So speak your mind.

- Thank you, Your Honor.
- Go, Tray.

[chuckles] Mwah!

My name is Tray Barker. I went to 33.

And before that, I went to 59.

Times were rough for me, man, coming up.

But I gonna sit here and
complain about what I ain't get.

I wanna talk about what I got,
and I got y'all.

- Yes, sir!
- [applause]

Now, you know what we are? We a pebble.

When you drop a pebble in a pond,

those ripples gonna spread
through the whole pond

no matter how big the pond is.

And right now, the pond is Brooklyn.

'Cause Brooklyn
is in the house, all right?

You see this lady right here
giving me the stink-eye?

Nobody in this room loves
this community more than her.

She is the backbone and the
spirit of this whole community.

Not some building.

She's an example for
all of us to turn the hoods

back into neighborhoods
and be neighborly.

When I was growing up,
if you did some knucklehead stuff,

you got your a*s whooped three
times before you even got upstairs.

- [laughter]
- That is a neighborhood.

And that's why this community
center is so important.

Because it's a place for
the kids and the elderly to go

to find love, to find hope,
to work out their aggressions,

to talk to somebody about
the pressures of the streets.

And it's gotta be important to us.

It has to be.

'Cause when they don't have
a place like this,

they either wind up doing 25 to life,

pregnant, or dying alone.

And we don't want that. Okay?

So what we gonna do, y'all?

Are we gonna make Brooklyn

- and our neighborhoods a better place?
- Yes.

- Yes.
- Or are we gonna sell out

- for some free apartments?
- No!

- We gonna focus on being a pebble...
- All: Yes!

In this big beautiful pond
called Brooklyn?

- All: Yes!
- Y'all with it?

- All: Yes.
- Y'all with it?

- [crowd cheering]
- I'm out.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

Okay, I-I think we've heard enough.

We'll mull this over and render
our decision by the end of the week.

Thank you for coming today.
Meeting adjourned.

Yo, Tray, amazing job today.

Oh, hey, thank you. Auntie. Auntie.

Tray, you were magnificent.
I am so proud of you.

You know how to talk that sh*t.

- Thank you, aunties.
- Oh, I love you.

I thought I told you to stay away.

I just hope you ain't mad
at me for making that speech.

It was a'ight.

But I just hope that sh*t works.

Veesy. Veesy.

Tray, man.

- Percy.
- Hey, that was very moving.

It's tough break with Robert, though.

- What you talking about?
- Listen, I needed board approval

on some projects before, right?

Whenever they postpone the vote,
that means they turned you down.

But I don't understand.
We won the people.

That's why they ain't
wanna sign it right now.

They know they can't handle
no angry-a*s crowd.

Well, maybe I need to take a swing
at the swing voter before he leave.

Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah.

But we'll figured out
something else we can do,

- you know what I'm saying?
- ♪ Here we go again ♪

Doing things the right way
doesn't always work.

♪ Here we go again ♪

In order to get real change,

sometimes you gotta do
things the old-fashioned way.

Yo.

I took Percy's offer to reinvest
back into the community.

♪ Same old sh*t, dog,
just a different day ♪

♪ Here we go again ♪

♪ You know how n*gg*s do
when we play how we play ♪

♪ Here we go again ♪

♪ A man's gotta do
what a man's gotta do ♪

This isn't how I hoped
things would play out,

but you do what you gotta do
for the greater good.

♪ Here we go again ♪

[cheers and applause]

The old-fashioned way
got us the vote we needed

and the community center opened.

All I had to do now was make
sure Veesy never found out

I bribed a public official.

So now what, n*gga?

We gonna be f*cking allies or something?

That's what we doing?

Let me be very, very clear with you.

I will never...

fully forgive what you
did to me and my family.

But I guess this can be a start.

Thank you, Veesy. I appreciate that.

So you still wanna do
this f*cking class or whatever?

You know I do.

But, Veesy, this is much bigger
than the community center,

you know what I mean?

You know how many
f*cking families I hurt

in this community, including yours?

I feel like I owe to whole Brooklyn.

I'm just trying to give back
what I took.

[engine rumbling]

Oh, there's Robert.

Hey, Robert!

Hey, man, thank you so much
for the vote, appreciate it.

The pleasure was all mine.

♪ First things first, hoe ♪

♪ Never let 'em see you sweat ♪

♪ Cut that n*gga off,
then cut a check ♪

Put that box... put that box down!

Hey, what are you doing?
Hey, what's going on?

- Step back from the box!
- It's me, your neighbor!

- Oh, damn.
- Yeah.

- Oh, how you doing?
- Well, I've been better.

Oh, okay.

Wow, Grandma, you're a badass.

Yeah, luckily from this angle,
no one can tell it's you.

And luckily we had
a very understanding neighbor.

Well, it's not my fault.

I thought I was catching a criminal.

[drumming, cymbal crashes]

Did you guys hear that?

I finally figured it out. I'm a drummer.

- Ah.
- I'm the drummer of the family.

What do you wanna hear?

- That's the hard part.
- [laughter]