PROLOGUE:
METHOD TO THE CAT-NESS
Heads’ve been calling me crazy since primary school, and though I can see how they’d reach that conclusion, I honestly don’t think it’s fair. Truth is, at some point during my childhood probably around eight or nine, I simply got sick of all the adults around me steady fronting, and trying to put positive spins on shit I wasn’t trying to hear. So I just promised myself that no matter my life played out, whatever I became, I’d never sacrifice one piece of my true spirit in the process, and wind up some terminally lost, broken shell of the man I could’ve been, like so many tragic mopes.
I think most kids make themselves similar promises, but as the pressures and responsibilities of adulthood slowly take hold, preserving one’s true nature often gets lost in the cracks, and small chunks of our souls gradually decay and whither away, like dead leaves on a forgotten tree, deep in the forest.
Me though, I am not like the others. Wildcat never loses his sight—for this creature, keeping my whole, authentic self fully intact always takes priority over everything—financial opportunities, romance, even my physical well-being sometimes takes a backseat—though these things probably should take higher priority, for whatever reason they just don’t, and never will.
This is the path I’ve chosen to explore, which I’m now doomed to follow all the way home, till my grave—there ain’t no alternate route. Perhaps there once was, but I missed my fork in this road, years ago—probably around the time I streaked a Blue Jays game at the Skydome and set a record for the longest run, but that’s a whole next story.
Point is, that childhood promise was where the first seeds of my self-perception as a free, independent creature were planted, fostering a natural evolution into the Wildcat I am, today.
Around puberty’s when I started not respecting rules no more, and grew into such a wildly rambunctious, troublesome teenager, that I soon consumed every ounce of my Mom’s and Step-pop’s energy and attention, for about a decade. And I gotta say, that whole exasperating, reckless rollercoaster ride was lots more fun for me, than it was them.
But the following isn’t a series of stories chronicling my turbulent adolescence, as I’ve already written plenty about that, both through MC Wildcat raps, and next projects that may still someday drop.
Rather, this collection is a meditation on my toughest struggles, biggest triumphs, and overall wildest adventures throughout my twenties. Cuz though my teenage years were a surreal whirlwind that I look back on with deep fondness, truth is I was super relieved to hit twenty, and finally put that whole frenzied, chaotic, disastrously misguided little saga behind me, once and for all.
Yet despite my purest intent to curb my wildness and have a more stable run, shit was hopeless—the universe had next plans for the Wildcat, as my real prowling adventures were, alas, just about to pop off—with a ferocious vengeance.
Enjoy,
Adam “Wildcat” McNally
