Tuesday, June 19, 2012

PERSONAL E-MAIL to the SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR of XXL MAGAZINE



     Hello Miss Amy Linden, how are you? -(Good I hope!) Let me sincerely introduce myself to you...my name is Kong, as in King Kong...lol...yes, it's my real name. Kong Moc to be exact. I am a 28 yr. old Chinese male who was born from Laos, came to the United States when I was 4 years old and lived in Brooklyn for most of my life..nice to meet you. I got your e-mail address from Michael Sayed. -(He works for Sahadi's in Brooklyn.) He said that he briefly mentioned me to you...you know, put in a good word; reference...and so, here I am. I know that you're the Senior Writer at XXL magazine...one of my favorite magazines! Like I said, pleased to meet you. I am an ex-employee of ICAP a.k.a. Garban Intercapital LLC/ ICAP Northwest. I was a Money Market Broker in the Fed Funds Dept. of the world's largest money brokerage firm. In other words, I'm a broker who helps buy and sell money for bank traders.

     To be totally honest with you, I guess I'm here to sell myself to you as a future co-worker...but most importantly, as a person. You see Amy, I LOVE to WRITE...and I LOVE MUSIC...knowing that you are my only hope of fulfilling my passion(s), I'm forced to tell you a story based on my own personal life. The following is real and I apologize if I come on too personal or too strong but I hope that you are...you know, cool and understanding.

     I am a World Trade Center survivor, we were in the 25th floor in the first Tower that got hit. I saved a copy of a letter written to my family, friends, and loved ones right after the incident but I have yet dare to read it again. My company: GARBAN -at the time, relocated to one of Bloomberg's office buildings -(one of the many refuges for 9/11 survivors) and then to an abandoned warehouse along the lower West Side Highway. Finally, we found a permanent home in Jersey City at Harborside Financial Center. As you and I know, after 9/11...the economy, business and financial world has been sluggish. Two of my co-workers, Dennis and Maria were laid-off after the tragedy and now, fast forward two years later...last Tuesday March 9th...I was laid-off by my company. My boss called me into his office while I was eating lunch and told me I was laid-off. I was to receive a severance pay until April 23rd and my medical insurance will end on April 30th. Today is Sunday, March 14th. I woke-up today around 9am and did some apartment cleaning. After that, I headed out to the gym to work-out. Upon returning home from the gym, I get an e-mail from an ex-co-worker -(who shall remain nameless) at around 1pm. The following is an unedited version of what was written to me:

The following is an unedited e-mail that I received:

Hey kong whats up. I wasn't sure which email was yours so I sent to all of the above. 
I wanted to let you know that you might have a case for wrongful termination against IXXX. RXXX fired you just so he could hire jXXXXXX back. since Feburary jXXX was emailing him asking him for her old job back. He could not do anything because we had no room for her. then near the end of feb, he told her he had to make room for her to come back. if gXXX didn’’t come back he could have hired her ,but with him back he had to get rid of a comparatable salary to bring her back. so he gets rid of you, and tells everyone that we are getting a new broker on monday but I know its her. I saw him send a email to her saying she was going to sit next to bXXXXXXXX. You have a series 7 and she does not. the only reason she is coming back is because she is bored at home and tells rXXX this all the time. she doesn’’t need this job you did. come monday everyone on the desk will see what rXXX did was f*cked up. I think you should do something about this. The fact that he re hired her is proof of discrimination on iXXX against you. its not like they hired a broker who is bringing in any account to replace you. You should try to pursue this before its too late. If you talk to a lawyer about this I am sure you will have a strong case. If I can get copies of the email it will be even stronger case against RXXX. Who is the mastermind behind this. His feelings for jXXX influenced him on this, she lives close to him and she visits him on weekends. Don’’t let this slide Kong you were f*cked over by RXXX and IXXX you cant let this go.Your case can be why did IXXX fire you, a broker who has a series 7 to re hire a woman who does not even have an acount to bring in? just because ross is infatuated with her you lost your job to her!! I will try to hack rXXX' emails from the last 2 weeks if you want. You can sue IXXX or threaten to sue and they will pay you money to avoid the bad publicity. If you don’’t want to do anything, that’’s up to you. I can call sommeone at eXXXXXXXXXX if you want to meet someone there. Either way let me know. Just don’’t say you got it from me or they will fire me. I think what you should do first is talk to a lawyer about this. or at least call rXXX and tell him you are thinking of going public with what he did. He knows what he did was wrong and would hate to read about it in the post.  
call me and let me know what you think later dude


     It’s exactly 11:56pm and I’ve been thinking long and hard about what I should do. But knowing myself, I could not go on for the rest of my life knowing that I lost my job of 4 & ½ years to discrimination. Earlier, I spoke to my best friend Peter Sayed -(Michael’s older brother) and he told me his guidance counselor from the State University at Albany -(my college!) is going through a similar situation and he has hired the "best lawyer in New York" in that particular field. I just got word that the guidance counselor will provide me with all the necessary information about his lawyer by Monday morning.

     Amy, I originally planned to write a brief introduction of myself to you but I’ve decided to fill you in and give you some insight on what I am going through at this very moment in my life. Writing gives us a chance to express ourselves and I would love to tell you when I first heard Kurtis Blow and The Fat Boys...how I was mesmerized by the dopeness and politicalness of Public Enemy and Ice-T... or how I danced, along with my childhood buddies in a Talent Show contest in junior high school trying to imitate Scoob & Scrap Lover -super-dancers extra ordinaire for the one and only, Big Daddy Kane. I would also like to get into the Golden Age of rap...’93 - ‘96...when Wu-Tang, Tupac and Biggie, Snoop and Dre, Nas, Mobb Deep and Jay-Z all help rule the rap kingdom. I would love to get into who’s the best producers out there right now? -Timberland vs. The Neptunes vs. Dr. Dre?? Or who’s the best rapper 50 Cent vs. Jay-Z vs. Nas??? "I can go at Nas and Jigga, both for the throne" -50 Cent.


Amy Linden - music journalist & senior contributor for The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Vibe, People, Entertainment Weekly, The Source, XXL, Village Voice, etc.

     I want to also tell you that I was a guitarist in a hardcore punk band called Overpower when I was 19 but decided to quit the band in pursuit of an education. Can you believe my band played a show and opened for The Beatnuts and Da Bush Babies at La’Mours in Brooklyn from back in the day?! The band eventually became Shutdown and they have put 2 full-length albums out on Victory Records. After I graduated from college, I contemplated on re-joining the band but with loans to pay, I decided on pursuing a career in the financial world. Although I have a great opportunity to make lots of money,  money is not of utmost importance to me. I rather be happy in life and deep in my heart, I know my "passion" lies in writing and music.

     One of my dreams has always been to write editorials and/or review albums for a hip-hop magazine and I would love to get into it with you but my mind is totally consumed with this wrongful termination case that I may be involved in. Amy, I am just a down-to-earth person who is petrified about what’s going on but knows he has to remain strong, focused and composed in order to fight the system. After all that's said and done, I am not totally writing this to you in hopes of getting my so-called ‘foot through the door’ but I hope I can also get to know you at least as a person and hopefully, as a friend and possibly -a mentor, because Michael told me that you were "maaad cool". Some feedback is much appreciated but at your time and leisure -of course!

      By the way, can you believe my girlfriend’s name is Amy too?! She is 1/2 Hawaiian and 1/2 Puerto Rican and is a struggling part-time model and fashion designer who was the lead girl in the 112 feat. Supercat "Na, Na, Na" video. In order to make some extra-cash, she also does the guest list -(doorgirl) for celebrity parties for such artists like P. Diddy, Usher, Kelis, Jay-Z, Britney Spears, The Neptunes. Reason for me telling you all this? That the hip-hop culture has affected me one way or another and I've always seem to have some sort of ties to it. And since I love to write, I was born to write for a hip-hop magazine!!


     Again, being that I am a total stranger to you...I would like to apologize if this e-mail was too personal. I am hoping for a reply but only at your earliest convenience. I will keep you posted on what's going on if you're interested...if not, have a great day and keep smiling. Thank you so much for your time, I hope to hear from you soon. Take care.




[UPDATE: Amy provided a heart-felt response and advised me that the media industry isn't what it use to be and is on a downward spiral — perhaps due to the emergence of the internet (magazines, newspapers and publications are slowly being phased-out) — regardless, my contact w/ her was definitely a life-altering/life-changing moment in my life...an experience that I will always cherish and respect. In hindsight, the corporate world is synonymous with profit and greed — proving that no one in the corporate industry should be trusted!]

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