Eight Trays

Guilty By Association

by

AuthorKingWilliam

"Eight-Trays"

When Chill and Swoop made it to the hood, swear it looked like a car show with all the fancy Low-riders and bikes.
"Ahhhhhh...... the homies!" Swoop said as he inhaled a breath of fresh air. All the Eight-Trays were sitting in front of the big homies house. After they took a few more steps, they stopped in front of a all black '61 rag-top where some homies were just sitting and chilling inside the ride.
"Dis ride dope cuzz" Chill said as he admired the nice ride. People often got accused of overdoing it with their Low-riders and trying to cram every square inch with some sort of modifications.
"Yes Sir!" Swoop agreed as he slid his hand across the exterior. The '61 rag-top was remixed with a '81 350 with plenty of chrome to bling it out. The engine was joined by a 700 R Trans. You couldn't help but admire the bow-tie block on the firewall, the "61" that was embossed on the valve cover breathers, Spal fans, Champion radiator, Edelbrock Endurashine Carburetor, and March Performance Pulley System. The paint looked like black Onyx, with light gray muraling on the skirts and sides. There were also additional engravings on the front and rear bumper guards, door handles, and hood. Shit the car even had engravings on the control arms, and if you know nothing about cars, they are located underneath the car. The Pesco Pumps, Hydro Air Dumps, and Accumax Solenoids powered the air-craft hydraulics with 8-inch front  and 14-inch rear cylinders that made the car bounce, rock, and rollerskate.
       The Homies seen Chill and Swoop admiring the car, so they dropped the ass of the car to the ground and made the front hop a few times.
       "What yall lil niggas up to?" the Homie that was riding shotgun asked.
       "Shit, trying to ride like yall" Chill said. he was a little more naïve than Swoop so he was more easily impressed.
        "Gotta put in that work, you wanna ride like this" the Homie said.
        "Work?" Swoop said as he repeated.
        "Yea....work nigga, you know what that is right?" The Homie said as he laughed and looked at the driver and the other passenger.
        The West Side Eight-Tray Gangster Crips were a predominantly black street gang, founded during the Mid 70's as a spin off of the Original West Side Crips, that included Stanley "Tookie" Williams. Over future coming years, at least five more sub-clicks would develop from this movement including: Original  Southside, Deep Southside, Bacc West Side, Far West Side, and the Nutty Northside.
"Yall riding or what?" The Homies asked.
"Yea" Chill said looking at Swoop. Swoop gave Chill a look as to say he was always getting them into some shit.
"Yea, we down" Swoop said not trying to look like the weakest link. As Swoop and Chill climbed into the back of the rag-top, a '64 impala pulled up next to them with a car full of Eight-Trays. The car was candy red with pearl undertones adorned with silver metalflakes on the top and sides accented with cobb web patterns.
"What the fuck yall still doing in the hood Homies? its going down on Florence!" The Homies announced.
"Shit, we riding out now" Spider Loc said. He was the driver of the car they were in. Chill and Swoop had just left all the ruckus, and were now headed back for more.
          "Among all the people that were in the Florence Area, One particular group of people actually kicked off the looting though. At some point, the people decided they weren't going to pay for what they were getting, and the looting started at that very moment. Inside the Payless Liquor and Deli, the store owners son was hit in the head with a bottle of beer, while two other youngsters smashed the glass  front door of the store.
          A lot of people would get injured on this day, as well as a few fatalities. Among them all, I don't think the city of Los Angeles would forget little Latasha Harlin. In the midst of all the confusion, a store owner inside of Empire Liquors noticed little Latasha Harlin putting a bottle of orange juice in her backpack. Obviously she had came to the conclusion that she wasn't going to pay. The store owner grabbed her by the sweater and snatched her backpack. After hitting Latasha with her fist atleast three times, Harlan backed away, while having a stool launched at her. Harlan then picked up the orange juice that had fell to the ground during the dispute, put it on the counter, and turned to walk away and leave. The store owner then reached under the counter, then fired at Harlin from behind and shot her in the back of the head. She never made it out, and died with two-dollars in her left hand.
          Chill, Swoop, Spider Loc, and the rest of the Homies raced down to Florence.
          A owner at a local gunshop looked out his window witnessing all the confusion, destruction, and mayhem. All he could do was hope that the havoc didn't blow his way.
          Chill, Swoop, Spider Loc, and the rest of the Homies pulled up to Florence and Western street, to witness maximum chaos. Cars were burning, windows broken, innocent bystanders beaten....... This definitely wasn't the time or place for the average square, shit......it was going the fuck down!
          As Chill, Swoop, Spider Loc, and the Homies exited the cars, Spider Loc went to the back of his rag-top and popped the trunk. Everybody crowded around as they discussed the play in the huddle.
          After the owner of the gunshop began to notice things getting out of hand, he made his way to the door to shut down a little early. Before he could reach the handle of his door knob, the door swung open, Chill and Swoop rushed in and unloaded their firearms.
"Guns and Butta" Spider Loc said as he followed in behind them. They searched the store for any other bodies before they packed up and moved out. One of the Homies held the door open while they ran back and forthloading up their cars with as much ammo as they could. They emptied out the cash register, the safe that was buried in the back room, and recovered the videotape that captured the violent crime.
"Lets go lil Homies" Spider Loc said as he realized they had been there a few minutes too long.
Chill and Swoop never moved after they ran in the shop unleashing rapid fire. They stood over the motionless body with a stale look and lost demeanor. I don't think they had realized what they signed up for that day, but they for sure knew now as they watched the blood fill the floor like water in the bathtub.
"Lil Homies" Spider Loc yelled again, this time more aggressively. Chill and Swoop snapped out of it fast, and followed the big Homie back to the car. The door to the gun shop stood wide open in a loud silence.
         the ass of the rag-tops levitated while the rubber from their tires stained the concrete as Chill, Swoop, and the Eight-Trays raced back to the hood.