The main idea of this this excerpt from “Fort Greene Dreams” is how Nelson George’s transition to Fort Greene,his experiences in what became a Bohemian for his generation and how he learned to value success as a whole rather than a one hit wonder. Nelson grew up in the working class neighborhood of Brownsville. He lived in public housing and was no stranger to the projects. This excerpt from “Fort Green Dreams” describes the time in the spring of 1985 where he felt he started writing his most notable works. One day, he got a call from young filmmaker he had recently befriended. His name was Spike and he had called Nelson to congratulate him about his a piece he wrote for the magazine called “Voice”. At some point in the conversation, Nelson told Spike that he was moving from Jamaica, Queens to Fort Greene, Brooklyn. This transition had many benefits for him: his train rides to the city would be much shorter, he would be returning to a place he had heard of since he was a child and he would be living right around the corner of Spike Lee. But what he didn’t know is the impact it would have on his whole career.
This was, as he described it himself, the “end and the beginning of two eras”. Nelson was living in a spacious duplex with wooded floors, exposed bricks and a backyard. He started living with an optimistic stride. He would go out to catch shows, buy vinyls, wine and befriend young artists. Moving to Fort G, allowed him to have a better interactions with people who are just starting their careers and most of them would seek Nelsons help. Nelson would gladly help and as a result he was the wind beneath many of their wings as they rose to fame. Some of his friends included: Spike Lee,Thulani Davis, Lester Bowie, Cecil Taylor, Chris Rock,Living Colour’s Vernon Reid and many more. After his success with “Shes Gotta Have It”, Fort G became known as a home base for his generation. It was almost a paradise for young aspiring artist- a bohemian.
Moving to Fort G not only changed his environment but Nelson began having revelations. He looked back at where he started, looked at where he was and realized he had done what most of the people he had grown up with only dreamed of doing. He had come a long way from sharing a cramped room with his sister to now living in a spacious duplex by himself. But the most important revelation he had at Fort Greene was that he learned what kind of person he was. He realized he was a mentor and very much like his mother a teacher. He helps young artists around him. He hangs with them, writes about them and introduces them to other people. As he described it, he was a “one man network for people”. Because of his contacts, he was able to connect different artist and their chemistry would create brilliant pieces of work. He also witness the rise and how quickly many artists would burn out. From the start, he never wanted to create one piece of work that would stand out but a series of work that would touch upon culture, lifestyle and everything else that was around him at the time.
