. . . . the peacock Puppetmathers spit look at these rappers how I treat em but Jerzy knew the Puppetmathers had censored himself—such was his brilliance & the enormity of his vision! — Jerzy didn’t need to contact the martyr Suge Knight to know that the original filecard in PuppetMathers’ vast word-warehouse must have read look at these niggers—a lyric he would reinstate with high pomp and ceremony when the Wars had ended victorious, & all Blacks who had not Whitened were vanquished———more collabs were comin: Tyler the Creator feat. Taylor Swift/T.I./Whoop Goldberg/Busta Rhymes… Mobb Deep feat. Jeff Bridges/Rick Ross/Karl Lagerfeld & Kanye West… 5 °Cent feat. Katy Perry & Russell Brand/Chris Brown/Jerry Seinfeld. . Wiz Khalifa feat. Pharrell/Paul McCartney/Nicki Minaj/Selena Gomez/Drake/T.I./Matt Damon. . Nas/feat. The Mumford Brothers/Snoop/Jeff Bezos/Betty White. . MIA feat. AKON/Gwyneth/Jay-Z/Skylar Grey/Sasha Grey/Reese Witherspoon/Homer Simpson/5 °Cent/Drew Barrymore. . Gwyneth Paltrow feat. Dre/Eminem/Chippy D/Lupe Fiasco/Bruno Mars/Nancy Grace/Cher Lloyd it
filled
him
with
DISGUST
he wanted to set
fire to the
Plantation
he wondered when Suge Knight was gunna
call
CLEAN [Rikki]
Dead Starfishes
“I
know we’re gunna find our boy — gon find him today!”
Larry Fishburne was in high spirits. He & Douglas had just come from lunch at Ago; they thought they’d drop into the Ooh Baby production offices unannounced & give Antwone a hard time. Fish (not Fishburne) was deep in the throes of casting, which made the 
s even more impishly rambunctious.
Of course, all of the interns, gofers, staffers (especially Brando Brainard) were thrilled to see them. Their good-time energy boded well. They broke into Fish’s casting session, intimidating whatever hopeful happened to be in the hotseat.
Which in this instance was Rikki.
“We’re just busting our friend Antwone’s balls,” said Fishburne to Rikki. “We know you can take it — we just want to see if he can.”
Antwone smiled, surrendering to the high-voltage hijinx. Douglas crept up behind Fishburne and stage-whispered to Rikki, as if inviting him into their special confidences. “We’re just taking the piss. Ever heard that phrase, Rikki?”
He couldn’t believe — didn’t, actually — any of this was happening.
“It’s veddy British,” said Fishburne, “for ball-busting.”
“My wife uses it all the time,” said Douglas.
“Is she a ball-buster?” said Fishburne.
“She’s Welsh, what can I say?”
The director got the boys to settle down, which they did, mindful of the auditioner’s nerves. There were two others in the room, casting people, both with big grins. One manned the camera while the other sat next to Fish, taking notes after each aspirant left the room.
“And by the way,” said Fishburne to Rikki. “I’m Fishburne, he’s Fish. Just so nobody’s confused.” Then he winked at him.
The scene they were in the middle of took place just after the boy almost takes the two grifters for 5K at a rigged bingo game. They outwit him but are intrigued. Who IS this young flimflammer? They take him to a steakhouse, where he has a long, moving monologue about his life as a foster child. The casting gal had been reading the lines of other characters, but Fishburne & Douglas insisted on jumping in.
Rikki read it through, & the director told him to do it again, but “a little lighter on your feet.”
Michael Douglas (!) said, “That one was for free, because my uncouth friend and I rattled your cage. For which we apologize.”
“Yes,” said Fishburne, in earnest. “We were taking the piss out of our friend here, not you.”
Rikki began the monologue, & had a good feeling in his stomach. When he reached the end, Douglas read his line:
FALCONER (DOUGLAS)
Well now, that’s a helluva moving story, kid. But how do we know it’s true?
SLOOP (FISHBURNE)
He’s right. How do we know?
JEROME (RIKKI)
You don’t.
(Beat)
And why is that a problem?