Grilled Out
How I Got To Shine
Story : Krystal Sipp + Illustration : Min Lee,
YO! Youth Outlook, Jun 16, 2004
http://media.youthoutlook.org/images...rill-large.jpg
Having grill (gold teeth) is something that I have always wanted. When I was little my family and I went to Mississippi for a family reunion. Two of my older cousins, who were about 16 and 17 at the time, had a mouth full of grill. My cousin, Will, had top and bottom from fain to fain, with crushed diamonds. JR just had four open faces with JR carved in his grill. Ostentatious is the only way I felt after I seen their grill shining. Since then, I have always wanted to have grill of my own. At that time, I could not have any grill because my grandparents weren’t going for it. They would say: “I am not giving you no money for no gold teeth and you ain’t gone spend no money on none.” Thinking to myself: “One day I will shine (when your grill is bling blaw.)” You really don’t need gold teeth to shine, but when you do have them – it's just like putting the icing on the cake.
I have heard this phrase quite often: “It is unladylike for women to have gold in their mouth,” but they just be hatin.
There are all different types of grill, depends on what you want. Top or bottom, fain to fain, you can get your named carved in, diamonds, crushed diamonds, your birth stone. Most important is to decide what kind of gold you want – yellow gold, white gold, 14k, 16k, 18k or maybe platinum. Your grill can be pull outs or cemented in – when they are cemented in, the dentist usually puts them in. Make sure where you are going to get your grill from is offical (make sure it is real gold). Some people be out their mind – when they get grilled out, it looks like they should have left them out.
To me it is normal for females to have grill. Why not? When out in traffic I see about five females daily with all types of grill, weekly about 25 females that are grilled out. More ladies are getting grilled out than what you would expect now-a-days, from the age of 14 to 34. If I was to count off the top of my head, I know about 15 females who have grill. I have heard this phrase quite often: “It is unladylike for women to have gold in their mouth,” but they just be hatin'.
I get a lot of different comments from people about my grill. Some say that my attitude changes when I put my grill in. However, that is not true. I’m just Killa-K. I got the name from my cousin Janea, she is Suga Nay and I am Killa-K and together we are ABB (All ‘Bout Benjamins). Most of my family and friends say they like me better without the gold. My eldest siblings tell me that if I want to get a good job, I need to lose the grill. I tend to get more male attention when I smile ‘cause of the grill. They tell me, “You doin' it with all that gold in your mouth. You s*** hittin' (when your grill is reflecting off the sun).”
When I was ready to get grilled out I went to go see J.C., the gold teeth master, in downtown Oakland on 20th and Broadway. Someone refered me to J.C., they said he does good work and that he will hook me up. When my brother and I arrived I already knew what I wanted, four open faces on the top. He said $190 and that I could pick them up tomorrow after 3:00pm. Before leaving I got fitted (when they take the mold and you bite down on it so they can get the shape of your teeth) for my four open faces and left a $100 deposit. I came back the next day after 3:00 p.m. and paid the rest of the money. J.C. asked me “Do they fit?” and handed me a mirror. When I looked in the mirror, I thought to myself “Damn, I’m shining.”
Krystal, 18, is an intern at YO!
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