“Her smile so lit” written by Frandriguez Chapter 5.

Blood is everywhere, I watch it mix with water as it bleeds from my skin then flows into the drain. That’s what I get for not paying attention. I cut myself, my skin is shaved off by a dull razor blade that should have been replaced a week ago.

I remember when the MMA fighter Rhonda Rousey was bleeding during her championship bout against Holly Holmes. Blood was leaking from Rhonda Rousey’s nose after the brutal strikes she suffered at the hands of then contender Holly Holmes. Luckily my cut is not as bad, I just need to apply a piece of Kleenex and the bleeding will shortly stop.

I do enjoy watching a good cat fight between professional female fighters. However that’s not what I wanted when it came to that night I met those three gorgeous women at the dance club. I did not want “Pretty fine thing” and” Take my breath away” to fight. I’m relieved that’s not what happened. They would all end up in my bedroom with me that night.

I also like to watch a good boxing match. I remember watching the Floyd Mayweather vs. Canelo Alvarez fight at my brothers house. My brother and his friends were all rooting for Canelo Alvarez to win the fight. These are two of the greatest fighters to ever participate in the sport and I just knew the “pretty boy” Floyd Mayweather would win the fight.

My brother, his friends, and I were all watching the fight in the living room and had to shout to be heard over the surround sound system. “Why you going for that echon (show off) Mayweather mang?” said Macho one of my brothers long time friends. Macho was a semi tall, tan skinned Puerto Rican guy with well groomed hair. I replied “Mayweather is a better fighter than Canelo, he’s going to win!” I was met by boos of disagreement. “Canelo is the best, no way that Cabron Mayweather is going to win the fight!” one of my brothers friends yelled. “ Ok watch what happens!” I said. It was a good fight and the “pretty boy” won as I predicted.

Watching boxing matches on live TV at fight parties are alot of fun but in person the excitement is unmatched. I would know, I attended a heavyweight boxing event held at the University of South Florida. I attended the event as one of the entertainers. I had collaborated with some local artists and we were set to perform in the ring right before the main event. I was an aspiring hip hop artist.

I was introduced to these local artists just a few weeks earlier by a good friend and romantic interest by the name of Jennylina. Jennylina is half Dominican and half Italian with light blue eyes. She worked for a well known local radio station and was very popular. All the guys liked her and why wouldn’t they? Jennylina or Jenny for short is a beauty, she and I got along very well.

Years earlier when I first met Jenny I was already in a relationship but she had a little bit of a crush on me. One day we both attended a get together at a mutual friends apartment. Jenny, myself, two of her friends and some of my buddies were socializing in the apartments parking lot. I performed a recently recorded song acapella for them and Jenny seemed impressed with a big smile on her face.

Jenny had on a shirt that had a picture of the Twin Towers on it. The Twin Towers were the building’s that collapsed during the terrorist attack known as 9/11. My prayers go out to the families who lost loved ones from the attack and the many service men and women still suffering it’s affects.

I pointed at Jenny’s shirt and said “look it’s the Twin Towers!” and we all laughed. Jenny was well endowed and the picture on her shirt of the Twin Towers made this even more apparent. Jenny tapped my leg with her hand and gave me a look of mischief while she laughed along with the rest of us. I knew she liked me at that very moment.

The boxing venue took place in the Sun dome, where the USF Bulls played basketball. I learned of the event with very short notice, I believe I was told just one day before. There was no rehearsal and no way to prepare. I would have to improvise, needless to say I was nervous but also very excited at the same time.

Two of my very good friends Jeen and Ric were in the audience recording me. They were both originally from Queens, NY but were now residents of Orlando, Florida. These two Colombian men were my road dogs, Jeen was my DJ and would become the best man at my wedding some years later. Ric would become our biggest supporter and recorded most of the performances I had done.

The main artist of the group was a reggaeton artist who after being introduced to, to my delight I learned we shared the same first name. His stage name was Fantazma, he was a light skin Puerto Rican with light eyes. I met him at his home studio and I negotiated using the studio to record my music. He liked my style of rap and wanted to feature me on a song they were currently working on.

He had contacted Jenny through social media and asked her to be his manager. I could tell he was attracted to her when we met. Jenny had contacted me by phone previous to our meeting and said she wanted me to collaborate with Fantazma. Being that it was Jenny who asked there was no way I would turn down the opportunity.

I met the other artists of the group the next day, one of them was a tall lean black or Hispanic man who was a singer and beat creator. The other two were hip hop breakers. The singer looked the youngest out of all of them like he was fresh out of high school.

I realized they did not like Fantazma very much and were speaking ill of him. The young singer was frustrated calling the regaton artist “too old” and “overrated” among other things. I knew I would not be able to trust them, it was a very bad first impression to say the least. This would be our first and last collaboration.

Fantazma had the spotlight at that time and he was very confident in himself. He was really good and he sounded very much to me like another famous reggaeton artist by the name of DADDY YANKEE. I had an understanding of the music business and I thought to myself it might be difficult for him to be a successful star. It probably would not matter how good he was. After all, if I wanted to hear music like DADDY YANKEE all I had to do was play “ROMPE” from his album BARRIO FINO. “Na nuh na nuh na nuh na nuh na nuh na nuh na,” I love that song!

The group was really talented overall so I did want to record at least one song with them as a featured artist. I did not want to become a part of that group. After I was done recording my part of the song, we all had a very good feeling that this song could be a commercial hit.

At the boxing event the crowd was very enthusiastic and excited about the fights. During the main event the heavy weights battled and one fighter connected a power punch and knocked the other fighter on his back. The roar from the cheers of the fans in the Sun Dome drowned out my hearing.

We performed right before that main event it was our job to amp up that crowd. We huddled and I was given a brief description of how we would perform right before we hit the ring.

The performance was incredible! The singer and the other two hip hop break dancers disguised themselves as a cleaning crew and began cleaning the ring. Then the lights came on and the music played, the dancers were outstanding! One of the dancers did three backflips in one place so fast I couldn’t believe my eyes, it was amazing and the crowd roared.

The singers part came on but his vocals were a bit weak and the crowd began to boo. Fantazma’s part was next and he had crowd control he did a really good job. Now another thing is only one mic was working so we had to share it. It made it awkward but the singer passed the mic to Fantazma without a problem.

I remember seeing the ring girls one of which was Jenny’s roommate. She was like a tall glass of white wine, her look was intoxicating. The ring girls sat in the front row of the additional seating of steel foldable chairs. One of the ring girls in particular I found to be extremely attractive.

It was now my part of the song and as I was entering the ring I realized I would not make it in time for the singer to hand me the mic. The singer turned around gave me a look of confidence and tossed the mic to me like a pitcher to a first baseman trying to punch out a runner to first base.

The mic seemed like it was coming to me in slow motion, I could feel my adrenaline pumping and the sound of the crowd disappeared, my full concentration was focused on catching the microphone and I became death to the amped up crowd. I had to catch the mic…

I lifted my right hand in the air and I caught the mic! In one gesture I brought the microphone to my lips and began my verse right on cue, the crowd’s reaction was priceless, very impressive. My part was the only English rap verse on the song and the crowd was amped!

I looked at the ring girls through my sun shades which I wore all the time and I admit was to partially hide the red in my eye caused by smoke and THC. I walked toward them and looked right at one of them, they later told me her name was Marilyn. She had brown skin, long black hair and a body that would make you want to bounce out of that ring toward her like the character from Winnie — The — Poo named TIGGER. Her eyes grew wide and she smiled big as I approached her like I was performing just for her, so unbelievable. Jenny and I had started dating so I would have to show restraint.

A man was standing on the side of the ring holding his camera recording me and I turned my attention to him and thought to myself music video. I started rapping the last of my verse in front of the camera.

The performance was over after the singer did his last part of the song. The crowd was amped up and the main event was next and it would not disappoint, it was a great fight.

After the fight was over Fantazma walked up to me and I smiled at him. I said “so how did I do?” and he replied “some people got it and some people don’t” then flipped his collar and headed back stage. I now understood why the other artists didn’t like him.

A couple of men walked toward me, one was a black man about my height. He had what now I realize might have been a contract in his hand. I was later told they were from Los Angelos. My friends Jeen and Ric rushed toward me and were all super hyped telling me how good I did, they were super proud. They wanted to celebrate and so did I, they started pulling my arm so I would head to Jeen’s low rider truck. We wanted to celebrate in style.

I wonder what that man with the paper work wanted? I did attempt to still record in the home studio where I met the artists but the engineering was not of quality so I decided not to continue.

I moved on to another city and another recording studio. I always thought that I would one day return for that ring girl I rapped to like Car -Melo Anthony returned to New York City when he joined the New York Knicks, and take my shot sort a speak. I’m sure it would be a 3 point shot in my case. I was later told that boxing venue I performed in was “Pretty boy” Floyd Mayweather’s event by this cute girl who called him a “Papi Lindo.”