[Houston rapper Chamillionaire, whose Mixtape Messiah 6 is in stores now and LP Venom will be out soon, was kind enough to keep a diary of his trip to Washington, D.C. for Barack Obama's inauguration last week. Rocks Off is glad he's feeling better, too. Today: Leaving Houston from an auspiciously named airport.]
Photo by Massa Mohawk
How i
ronic. You have to be able to see the humor in the fact that I was flying out of an airport with the same first and last name as the person that the world was about to see stripped of his presidency. George Bush Intercontinental Airport was packed full of tourists rushing to catch their flights. It seemed like a mixture of mostly African-American and white people who were all taking their kids and family members to be a part of history.
I made it to my gate in perfect timing to see the seven-foot-tall NBA star Dikembe Motombo Board the plane. On the way to Washington I sat in first class seat 1A next to a talkative grey-haired white man who told me that I was crazy for wanting to visit Washington, D.C. at a time like this. He said that there would be too much traffic, and too many blocked off streets, and too many crazy people. I think he was correct about everything except the crazy people part.
What I don't think he understood is how strong the sense of pride and excitement there would be for the election of the first black president. This would be a moment in history that millions of people could only be a part of once in a lifetime. There's nothing really crazy about that. He told me about the millions of dollars spent and the thousands of TV screens that would be set up for viewing of the inauguration. He probably would have been in my ear the entire flight if it wasn't for the UGK albums that I loaded into my iPod before I left home.
Tomorrow: Arriving in D.C. and scoping the scene.
