There used to be monsters in my closet. I tried to tell my mom at a young age that they're there but she didn't believe me. Said it was just my sweaters casting a shadow. Said there's no such thing as monsters.

Well now I'm grown and out in the real world. Unfortunately, so are they.

My monsters disguise themselves as politicians. Pretend to give a damn about us, the middle-class, but I know they're lying. One of them tricks us into promises unfufilled by telling us to disregard the last four years and look unto our future, and we fall for it. The other wants to strip down women's rights, and has a smile as evil as Jafaar, Aladdin's enemy... and one of them is gonna win? Lord save us.

My monsters are the ex-girlfriends who accused me of cheating, and never believed a word I said. The angry birds on my phone slingshotting my head. The ones you only get a peaceful night from ignoring the call or ya phones dead, cuz they'll keep nagging yo ass till your up has been fed. Yeah, them.

Police. Ha...they've been my monsters before I was born. The second my DNA told my chromosomes to produce a black skinned male who happens to like Jays, plays ball, and fears jail, I've been marked. These monsters wear a uniform and a badge driving down our streets smiling, pretending to be our friend. But the beatings will never end, the jail letters will never send, Blacks in prison will always trend, and it's gonna be this way till the end! Get used to it homie.

And then I look in the mirror. And I see my thirst for success, my cocky exterior, and my prideful arrogance and I'm horrified. I begin to see the changes that need making before I lose the spirit in me. I don't like what I see...

I've become a monster, hiding in the closet the whole time. But my mom said they didn't exist...