Tommaso Corvi-Mora is pleased to present Alvaro Barrington: Garvey 2: THE REUP.

 

Marcus Garvey X Christopher Wallace aka Notorious BIG an imagined conversation

 

Garvey: Chance has never yet satisfied the hope of a suffering people

 

The Notorious B.I.G.

Uh, a nigga never been as broke as me, I like that

When I was young I had two pair of Lee’s, besides that

The pin stripes and the gray (uh-huh)

The one I wore on Mondays and Wednesdays (uh)

While niggas flirt, I’m sewing tigers on my shirt

And alligators (uh)

Ya wanna see the inside, huh, I see ya later

Here come the drama, oh, that’s that nigga with the fake, uh huh (blaow)

Why you punch me in my face? Stay in ya place

Play ya position (uh), here come my intuition (uh-huh)

Go in this nigga pocket

Rob him while his friends watchin’

That hoes clockin’ (uh), here comes respect

His crew’s your crew, or they might be next

 

Garvey: If the Negro is not careful he will drink in all the poison of modern civilization and die from the effects of it.

 

The Notorious B.I.G.: 

After realizin’ (uh-huh), to master enterprisin’ (uh-huh)

I ain’t have to be in school by ten, I then (woo)

Began to encounter, with my counter-parts

On how to burn the block apart, break it down into sections (oh, yeah)

Drugs by the selections

Some use pipes (oh, yeah), others use injections (oh, yeah)

Syringe sold seperately (uh-huh), Frank the deputy (uh-huh)

Quick to grab my Smith & Wesson, like my dick was missin’ (alright, alright)

To protect my position, my corner, my layer

While we out here, say the hustlas prayer (yeah)

 

Garvey: Let the sky and God be our limit, and Eternity our measurement. There is no height to which we cannot climb by using the active intelligence of our own minds. Mind creates and as much as we desire in nature we can have through the creation of our own minds.

 

The Notorious B.I.G.

If the game shakes me or breaks me (oh)

I hope it makes me a better man

Take a better stand

Put money in my moms hand

Get my daughter this college plan, so she don’t need no man (uh)

Stay far from timid

Only make moves when your heart’s in it

And live the phrase, “Sky’s The Limit”

Motherfucker, see you chumps on top

 

Sky is the limit and you know that you keep on (ooh baby)

Just keep on pressin’ on (gotta keep pressin’ on)

Sky is the limit and you know that you can

(Gotta keep movin’, gotta keep pressin’ on)

Have what you want, be what you want

Sky is the limit and you know that you keep on (ohh, gotta keep pressin’ on)

Just keep on pressin’ on (gotta keep pressin’ on)

Sky is the limit and you know that you can (yeah, ooh)

Have what you want, be what you want (whoa ooh, yeah)

Have what you want, be what you want (oh, whoa, yes)

 

Alvaro Barrington, October 2022

 

The gallery is open Tuesday to Saturday, 11 am to 6 pm.

For further information or photographic documentation please call 020 7840 9111 or email tcm@corvi-mora.com