There’s a few quotes that you could use to sum up this interview. I’ll pick a recent line from Jay-Z off his album, 4:44. “I’m trying to give you a million dollars’ worth of game for $9.99.” This is more than an interview, this is a corner class, this is Jay Morrison, young Malcolm. This is how we “Buy Back The Block.”
Three Seeds | The Root
Before you can really grasp this concept, you must first understand the man behind the movement, Jay Morrison. A young hustler born in Somerville, New Jersey, with drug routes going through Baltimore, New York and Nebraska by the age of 16. Jay knew he had a skill and talent for sales, but a conversation with OG Kenny Bird, in Baltimore, made him question what he was doing for the first time. During this conversation, the OG told him “you can buy all the cars & jewelry you want, but God ain’t making no more land. Man can always make more material, but whoever owns the most land wins.” That was the first seed that was planted in his mind when it came to buying real estate and investing. Even after this first seed was planted it still wasn’t enough to get Jay out the game, as he went right back to the streets to hustle landing him back in prison. During this stint in a New York prison, that first seed planted by the OG stated to grow in Jay as he read up on as much real estate as possible.
Shortly after his release Jay was back in the streets hustling as the second seed was about to be planted by his mom. Jays mother came to him looking for help buying a house and asked him for three stacks (three thousand dollars). Having that in his shoe box Jay loaned her the money to purchase the house in 2000. By 2003 it went up in value to 100k, she sold it for 97k and gave Jay his share which was 33k off the 3k he loaned her initially. This would be the second seed planted with the third seed coming from Antoine Thomas, a men’s group Pastor. After getting the 33k from his mom for the house, Jay went back to the streets where he flipped his money while still on Parole. Now looking for a job, Antoine Thomas referred him to a mortgage company since Jay had a slight background in real estate from his studies in prison. The class taught not just about the loan process, credit and becoming finance able, but it opened his eyes to a whole new world. A world that he thought was simply for rich white people, but he found out it was for the young and the future. I’m 2005 Jay received his real estate license. With money already saved up from hustling in the streets he continued to do what he always did, flip bricks, this time in the form of houses and blocks.
Buy Back The Block Tour
Fast forward twelve years later and now Jay is the OG on the corner giving out game thru his national Corner classes which is a part of his Buy Back the Block Tour. While on tour traveling to 25 different cities Jay is holding corner classes in each city. The classes are open to the entire community for free and you can learn about real estate, mortgage and other ways to not just put our money back in the community but to invest, profit, and help build the community all in the same process. And if you want to learn more and get more in depth with real estate you can sign up for the Jay Morrison Academy online.
This is a real school with real courses with various curriculum ranging from beginners’ courses to real estate investors courses. At the Jay Morrison Academy, you can get one on one coaching, attend boot camps and corner classes. There’s even a credit to cash classes where you learn how to leverage personal credit into business credit and use the business credit on a new business with no tax returns and no income tax. There are classes in Atlanta on Thursday and Saturday while over 7k students currently taking online courses with 24/7 access & enrollment.
Educational Disconnect
When asked, “why isn’t financial literacy and real estate more of a focus in the American educational curriculum?” Jay responded, “schools intentionally leave this out of their curriculum. Because if all the poor and middle class knew how easy it was to start and obtain wealth, that would take away from the wealthy. So, they keep the poor and middle-class people as the working class by not properly educating them.” “The less we know means more workers and tenants.” This is the reason Jay is so intent on giving this info and game back to us with over 900 crash course corner class videos on YouTube.
Young Malcolm | Colin Kaepernick
Jay Morrison today is striving to follow the footsteps of Malcom X. Growing up Jay idolized Malcolm, he followed his words and teachings very closely. In Malcolm’s “Ballot or the Bullet” speech Malcolm expresses his skepticism that voting will bring equality for African-Americans. He said, “the government is responsible for the oppression and exploitation and degradation of black people in this country.” While diagnosing the problem Malcolm never really got to expand on this statement as far as coming up with a solution. In Jay Morrison’s bestselling book titled ‘The Solution’ Jay provides is with just that a solution. Political Oppression vs. Political Power Economic Exploitation vs. Economic Literacy Social Degradation vs. Social Elevation In this Best seller, Jay goes in depth on how we can overcome these obstacles that have been forcibly placed in front of us.
With Jay being not just a sports fan but also a friend of Colin Kaepernick we also touched on Colin’s current situation and how Jay felt about it. Jay started off by saying, “it’s blatant that he’s being black balled” and I couldn’t agree more. In case you missed it during the 2016 NFL season Colin Kaepernick found himself woken up when he read Malcolm X’s biography. After doing more research and with all the police killings Colin felt like standing and pledging allegiance to the American flag was wrong because of all the injustice that was going on in America. Colin decided as an act of protest against police brutality and injustice that he would take a knee during the national anthem in order to shed light on the problem. A lot of people took this act of protest as disrespect to the troops of America and that wasn’t even the case.
Now Colin Kaepernick is no longer in the NFL and after leading his team to multiple playoff appearances, a Conference Championship and Super Bowl appearance there’s really no other explanation as to why except, he’s being black balled. Jay then spoke about the current infrastructure of the professional sports, mainly football and basketball. Saying if the NBA, which is composed of 74% black players and 23% white players with the owners being 90% white. If the numbers were reversed and white players were the majority with 90% black owners, would they continue to play for us or start their own league? He then quoted Jay-Z saying, “financial freedom is our only hope.” If blacks were to create our own, leagues, award shows etc we would be in a more powerful and prosperous position. We’re always the talent and employees and never the owners and bosses. But buying back the block is a start. It’s a start to us owning our own while also owning ourselves and not being owned and still enslaved to white supremacy any longer. Buying back he block is more than a neighborhood trend, but it’s also a start to blacks being the owners and not just the players.,
Buy Back The Block | the Seed
Now at this point I’m sure you’ve heard the term “Buy Back The Block.” Whether it be through social media or the hit Rick Ross single featuring Atlanta rappers 2 Chainz and Gucci Mane, where the lyrics and content are focused on blacks and Africans in America buying real estate and property in their own neighborhoods to build it up. Well what you might not know is the person who’s behind the “Buy Back The Block” movement and creator, Jay Morrison.
Written by: Brandon Lucas
