When I finally had enough money and a plan for getting out of the hood, I chose a place that had the following:
- Cheap rent
- Safe neighborhood
- Near freeway
- Quick access to groceries and fast food
- A place where my enemies would be unlikely to visit
That was what I wanted in an apartment.
Thankfully, I was able to find that. However, if I didn’t find something that fit my needs – I would have been ok sacrificing quick access to groceries and fast food.
I grew up going to the grocery store once a month when the food stamps come in. I could have continued the same tradition of shopping for everything once a month.
With that said, I’m going to talk about why I had those requirements and my recommendations if you’re ready to get out of the hood
Cheap Rent
This was the most important requirement I had for moving out of the hood. See, a lot of people talk about making it out of the hood but very few talk about staying out of the hood.
It’s easy to move out of the hood, over-extend yourself, and then end up right back in the hood.
And, while that might not sound like a big deal, you’ll now have a harder time surviving if you move back. Why? Well, that’s because you spent time outside the hood and gained a completely new perspective on life.
Maybe you stopped looking over your shoulder every place you go. Maybe you started walking outside to places more. Or Maybe you’ve simply grown as a person.
Unfortunately, the hood is very good at spotting when someone is different. And if you can’t act the part (or take certain risks) to fit in, you can become a target quickly.
So, for me, I knew once I moved out of the hood – I needed to try my best to avoid being forced to move back.
Having cheap rent allowed me to feel comfortable that I’d be able to sustain living out of the hood.
Safe Neighborhood
This one is pretty self-explanatory.
I did not want to move out of a hood I was familiar with to end up in another hood that I knew nothing about.
So how did I decide if a neighborhood was safe? I looked for a couple of different things:
First, lots of retail businesses with a mix of local and national chains. I primarily looked for national chains such as Chipotle, Chic-Fil-A, and Target.
I felt like if an area had those, it had to be relatively safe.
Second, White American families. Where I grew up, I only saw white people at school and working for a business in my area. I didn’t see many white American families in my neighborhood.
My grandma said when she moved to that area around age 32, she was one of the only Black Americans on her street. By the time I came into the picture, there were no more White Americans. I knew that I wasn’t smart about the world outside of the hood so I put my trust in the thought that White Americans with families would probably do research on a good place to raise their kids.
Quick Freeway Access
I needed to be near a freeway as a safety net just in case I chose a bad neighborhood or needed to be somewhere quickly.
Being landlocked was too high a risk for me at the time. I couldn’t risk not being able to get to another city quickly.
Close To Groceries & Fast Food
This was one of my requirements that wasn’t necessary but made life more enjoyable for me.
For the first time in my life, I was grocery shopping for the week instead of the month. I had options. I had freedom.
It was also nice to have a lot of options for fast food. I got fat for sure but was able to try different things and learn what I liked (or disliked).
A Place Where My Enemies Would Be Unlikely To Visit
I’ve never been a bad guy or one to make enemies but somehow the hood finds a way to give you enemies. But I’m not perfect and definitely earned some of those enemies – especially from the boyfriends of girls I used to mess with.
I needed to live in an area where my enemies would be unlikely to visit/hang out in big numbers.
The neighborhood I moved to had a very popular mall nearby. It was 35-40 minutes away from the hood but my enemies would still occasionally visit the mall to shop.
Between rarely ever seeing them and them shopping with 1 or 2 other people – I felt confident that I could fight well enough to have no problem 1-on-1 and run fast enough to avoid getting jumped by 2-3 people.
Nowadays, fighting is replaced with shooting. So if you can avoid your enemies entirely, that’s the path I’d recommend.
