This distant memory that popped into my head the other day is definitely worth writing about. I met Tanto Blacks before he was even Tanto Blacks! His name was Tommy back then and meeting him was of no consequence until one day, he got famous and then I was like “HEY, that’s Tommy!”
WAY back in the day, I think it was in 2009, I knew a Spanish Town family. There were four brothers in that family and I dated one of them for a brief time until (of course) he did something stupid which landed him in the comical “dating and relationships” section of this site. Regardless, if I had not dated the brother I would have never met Tanto Blacks in his original form of Tommy.
One night I was staying at the family yard in Spanish Town and was fixing to go out to a street party late in the night. While getting ready at the house Tommy showed up to join us at this party. I was introduced to him as he stood in the doorway of the room I was getting ready in and he nicely responded to the introduction in his gruff speaking voice. He was pleasant to me but kind of a hot head with his brothers and I found it very entertaining. His personality seemed like he was a boss and the black sheep of the family. Nonetheless, he was super courteous in my presence.
The night of the Spanish Town street dance, myself and three of the brothers set out on foot in the dark. We walked on roads and cut through empty fields and yards to reach our destination and I remember when walking in dark grassy areas, Tommy would step in front of me with his cell phone flash light and simply say, “mind yuhself, mind yuh step”, while pointing out dents in the ground where I could trip or twist an ankle. His politeness with me was such a contrast to his gruff nature with his brothers. I was still entertained.
The day after the street dance all of us spent a good part of the day at the family yard. Tommy didn’t live there but he did come back there the next day. At that time he was aspiring to be an entertainer of the dancing variety. I seem to recall that he was part of a dance group and he had come by that day to show off a new costume his dance group was going to wear at an upcoming performance. I don’t know the details of it but I remember clearly that Tommy was an entertainer. Who knew then that he’d become who he is now?
As “out in left field” as he appears in this interview from a few years ago, I can tell you that’s how he was in REAL life even before he was famous. I guess it’s just his nature, seems he was destined for entertainment LOL.
Anyway, this was just a cool little story I recently recalled. I have never seen Tommy again after those days in Spanish Town but I did see him perform as Tanto Blacks on a much bigger level many years later.
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