Dear Swagger,

I've enjoyed my time with you, but I've come to a new place in my life and I just have to discontinue our relationship.  It's going to  be hard and you'll still be in such high demand among so many everywhere, but it just isn't going to work between me and you.  After I heard your name come from Soulja Boy lips I couldn't even look at you the same:  how could you let this mental midget say your name?  He didn't even have the respect to call you by your full name, instead opting to use the term swag to  refer to you.  Swag is something that you get at huge corporate events, not something that defines the what is hot on the streets and is going to move the cultural forward.

I don't remember how we met exactly, but I think we were introduced by our mutual friends Jimmy, Zekey, Juelez, and Cam (Killa).  It was a whirlwind relationship, with you getting me to try new things like wearing pink and screaming inanities just for fun.  I didn't know I had this side to me;  it was a break from my inner city pressure and I truly appreciated it.  I saw a certain flashiness in you that I lacked and I actually acquired that just by standing in your shadow:  you were a powerful force.

But for all of your influence and recognition, you just lacked a certain gravitas and a certain sense of purpose.  My father did not have swagger, he had a solid and respectful attitude towards the work of making the world better for him, his family, and community.  You did not share the values that I learned in my youth.  You were all about accessories and the mall;  you could not get enough of consumerism.  I already know it ain't tricking if you got it, but you eventually saw that people wanted you even if the debtors came.  That's not cool in the middle of a recession.  Even your old friends Jimmy and Juelez decided to ditch you for their new friend Splash.  She's fun, but she's kind of a ditz.

Then I started to see you with everyone:  it wasn't jealously but more a sadness about what you became.  I can't even believe you were seen in public with Ne-Yo:  your mom taught you better than that.  I tried to leave you alone but then you got some new friends that I thought were going to be a good influence on you.  T.I., Jay, Kayne and Wayne seem just like the kind of people to reanimate the glow in your eyes.  You even invited your old friend M.I.A. back to help you out, if only a little.  But the whole thing was an overblown mess and I knew I had to walk out of your life forever.  I'm going to try to forget all the times we had, destroy the mementos that we have together.  I know that people will eventually over use you and keep mentioning you, but I will be strong just being myself. It was good while it lasted.

Sincerely

R.J.