Sup yall? This week, we beastin through the darkness with "Les Miserables," by Victor Hugo. After 19 years of hard time in a French prison fo stealin bread to feed his fam, Jean Valjean all cashed out lookin fo help. Nobody in town showin him any love, til a righteous holy man named Myriel like, "come on in, padna!" But, when da police catch Valjean tryna boost Myriel's silverware, Myriel jus' let it slide and tell the fuzz he gave it to him as a gift. Myriel say, "look man, I just saved yo ass. You best stop all dat hood sh*t and become a better man, yo!" After one last dick move — jackin some coin from a lil kid — Valjean break down and decide he gotta put his bangin days behind him. He change his name to Monsieur Madeleine and move to a new town, where he start stackin mad cheddar. Before you know it, brutha becomes the Goddamn mayor! Meanwhile, this po girl, Fantine, be straight buggin — Number one, she desperate fo cash. And, number two — her man just left her with a love-child named Cosette, and there ain't no way she gonna get work if word gets out about her. So, this shysti dude named Thenardier say Cosette can hide with him and his fam, so long as Fantine throw em some ends erry month. Fantine lands a gig grindin at Madeleine's factory, but gets da axe as soon as errybody find out bout Cosette. And with the Thenardiers greedy, lyin asses hittin her up fo mo cash, sh*t so raw for Fantine that she gotta sell her hair, her teeth, and start turnin tricks on da streets. Plus, all this sh*t is literally killin her. Damn. One night, the local law-man, Javert, arrests Fantine, but, Madeleine step in, tells Javert to hop off, and start to give Fantine a lil TLC. When Javert figure out Madeline's real identity, Javert cuff him right in front of Fantine. Girl wigs out so hard, she up and dies. By the way, Valjean's real identity only hit da streets cuz he wanted to save somebody's life. Thankfully, ain't no cell can keep dat boy, Valjean, down. Dude swings back to town to save Cosette from dem hater Thenardiers, who been treatin her like sh*t fo years. Valjean drop some fat stacks, buys her off em, and chunks deuces to Paris. Things aight in Paris fo a lil while, but when Javert hear that Valjean back in town, Val and Cosette gotta pack their sh*t and lay low in a convent. Years later, a dude named Marius peep game at a dime and immediately falls balls-deep in love! And, what do you know? It's Cosette, all grown up. Lookin good, girl! Look what he said bout dis girl — "The woman whom he now saw was a noble, beautiful creature, with all the most bewitching feminine outlines at the precise moment when they are still combined with all the most charming graces of childhood — that pure and fleeting moment that can only be translated by these two words: sweet fifteen." Ugh! Marius try to holler at a girl, but Valjean moves they asses outta there before a brotha can get his mack on. Marius gets a tip about Cosette's new digs and they eventually meet and confess they love fo each other. 'Cept, Valjean ain't down wit that. And, with all da political unrest goin down in the streets, Valjean decides it's time fo them to roll out to England. Marius gets so tore up dat he ain't gonna be with his baby dip, that he decide he don't give a f**k no mo and gonna join da revolution. When Valjean figure out dat Cosette and Marius are in love fo real, he can't let loverboy get his ass murked, so he straps up and joins the fight, too. When da rebels find out that Javert a royalist snitch, they give Valjean the job of ghostin his ass. But, Valjean — bein a nice dude and all — just lets him walk away. Lata', Marius get pretty messed up and Valjean gotta carry his ass through some boo-boo sewers to get him help. Valjean runs in to Javert again, and Valjean finally like, "Aight, aight. You can arrest me. Just let me drop this dude off at his crib, and make one last stop at my pad." Javert oblige a brotha, but start losin his sh*t when he realize he compromising everything his life stood for, and straight ends it. Marius heals up and him and Cosette get hitched. S'all good, right? Nah. Not in this f**kin book. Valjean tells Marius about his crimin days, and Marius start givin Valjean the cold shoulder. Our boy gets da hint and stops droppin by. Dat little sh*t Marius got no idea it was Valjean that saved his ass in that sewer. With nothin left to live for, Valjean start wastin away, hops in bed, and doesn't ever leave. Lata', Marius conversatin wit Thenardier when brotha finally recognize dat da only reason he alive is cuz of Valjean. Plus, Valjean the only reason he wit Cosette now. Oh yeah — and Valjean left em mad bank. Feelin like a real assh*le, Marius and Cosette swing over to Valjean's spot and forgive him. Now, Valjean can die in peace. Man, this book is straight relentless — gnarly prisons, po girls turnin tricks, disease wastin everybody! V-hug gonna lay out da worst that life's got to offer, and he throws out his biggest beefs in the preface. "So long as there shall exist, by reason of law and custom, a social condemnation which, in the midst of civilization, artificially creates a hell on earth, and complicates with human fatality a destiny that is divine; so long as the three problems of the century — the degradation of man by the exploitation of his labor, the ruin of woman by starvation, and the atrophy of childhood by physical and spiritual night — are not solved; so long as, in certain regions, social asphyxia shall be possible; in other words, and from a still broader point of view, so long as ignorance and misery remain on earth, there should be a need for books such as this." So, three big things he buckin — rich people takin advantage of da workin man, women starving to death, and little kids drownin in a dark world dat ain't got no hope. In short, Hugo wagin war on a society that's f**kin over its peeps. In fact, that's one of Hugo's main jams in this big-ass book: Society got da power to completely wreck somebody — and not only their body, but their soul, too. Whether it da big house dat turn Valjean into a stone-cold gangster, or da poverty and shaming that make Fantine turn to a life of hookin — society burnin everybody. Like Valjean himself say, "The prison makes the convict. Make of this what you like. Before prison, I was a poor peasant, unintelligent, a sort of idiot; prison changed me. I was stupid, I became wicked; I was a log, I became a firebrand." And, lemme tell you a lil somethin, man — society didn't break no regular erryday thug. Valjean is hella swole, man — fo real. On page 90, it even say he got the got da strength of four men. He still ain't got nuttin on deez guns. Don't hate. But no matter how jacked Valjean be, he still ain't got da muscle to flex with a broken system. Hugo's book ain't all bad, though. For Javert's ice-cold justice, there's Myriel's mercy. For Thenardier's greed, we see Valjean's willingness to give away everything — even his life. And, fo all the darkness that society can drop on a brotha, there's also light. We got da power to lift each other up and redeem erry brotha and sista with love and kindness. Valjean and Cosette reppin this idea perfectly: "He loved, and he grew strong again. Alas, he was as frail as Cosette. He protected her, and she gave him strength. Thanks to him, she could walk upright in life; thanks to her, he could persist in virtue. He was this child's support, and she was his prop and staff." Valjean try to make this same point to a bunch of hoods while they gardening. "One day [Valjean] saw some peasants busily pulling out nettles; he looked at the heap of plants, uprooted, and already wilted, and said, '…If we took a little time, the nettle would be useful; we neglect it, and it becomes harmful. Then we kill it. Men are so like the nettle!' After a short silence, he added, 'My friends, remember this: There are no bad herbs, and no bad men; there are only bad cultivators." As all my well-read ballas know, my number one motto is "Don't Judge a Book by its cover." Y'all know I'm all about that. But, lemme leave you with my number two motto, which "Les Mis" perfectly reppin: Don't ever underestimate yo own power and how much of a difference you can make. If you let anger, hatred, and injustice keep you down, ain't no tellin what kinda harm you can do. But, if you let love and light guide the way, then the world's dark side can't touch you. You got da power to cultivate good in da world. Use it. Thanks for keepin it real with me, my well-read ballas. Sparky Sweets out! Peace!
