Nae Nae playing Halo - March 1, 2008

As he is sitting on a chair designed for video gamers he is playing with one of his older friends Josh 25. Nae Nae is 14 years old and he comes to his brothers house every weekend to stay. This is Nae Nae’s star place. He sits in front of a flat screen TV with hundreds of video games. His favorite game is Halo.

Nae Nae is officially one of the guys and he “kicks ass” against anyone who plays him. He is one of the top players in the Halo world. I am sitting on the couch behind him where he normally sleeps when he stays with his brother. You could say that this house is a get away from his normal space. Nae Nae has confessed to me that his main space is a trailer that he stays in with his mother and other brother.

I am recording all of Nae Nae’s actions as he plays Halo. He is not aware of my presence because he has not taken his eyes of the TV in the last 5 hours. It is 3:16 p.m. March 1, 2008. Right now he is taking a break eating a bag of chips. He is wearing baggy jeans and a blue and white stripe hat around his curly dark hair. Around his neck he is wearing a long silver chain with lettering at the end of it that I cannot read from this distance.

As he is talking to Josh he is telling him about one of friends being surprised about the awesome set up he has with his xbox at his brother’s house.


Nae Nae jumps up from his seat everytime he defeats a character in the game, his words of choice during this session is:

“Dude”
“Oh my Godddd”
“Suck on that dude, suck on that!”
“F**king retarded”
“Dammit man”
“Take that son!”


Nae Nae uses curse words freely in this area. I don’t know if he acts like this in front his mother or around others, but it seems like this is his true self when he is hanging out here.

Nae Nae is wearing an ear piece where he can communicate with other Halo players. He makes fun of them as he plays saying things like, “I f**ked your mother last night biotchhhhh” Although I find it rather funny, it still fascinates me how close of friends he is with his brothers roommates. They are all 10-12 years older than him and he acts just like them. Nae Nae right now as he is playing, teaches Josh some awesome moves to use when playing Halo.

Whenever he does mess up in the game he is very dramatic about it….”What the hell!!! Come on!!!” As he tosses the controller on the ground and then quickly goes to pick it up and continues playing.

I look around at Nae Nae’s space and there are beer cans and garbage from take out everywhere. The house his brother lives in is very nice however the basement is definitely the area that is used for boys to be boys. There is a separate room right off the other where Nae Nae’s brother (Kevin) and roommates smoke….and I don’t mean just cigarettes.

Nae Nae does have a bed of his own at his brothers house, but he prefers to sleep on the couch in the basement where the TV is.
His friends do drink and smoke in front of Nae Nae and although his brother is responsible enough to be sure that Nae Nae will never drink or do any drugs, I feel like this will one day influence him to do so. Nae Nae definitely does look up to his brother hence why he spends all his weekends here.

I haven’t sat down yet to talk to my informant face to face. I felt the need to observe him first. Watching him play Halo was a perfect look into his adolescent world. He plays xbox about 10 hours a day when he is with his brother. All the roommates play against him. When he is here he escapes his other world. The other world of poverty. His brother works and helps pay for some of his moms bills. Having Nae Nae here is a way of helping Nae Nae have some kind of entertainment.

When observing the space alone, there are take out boxes of Chinese food and pizza everywhere. There are beer bottles and empty cigarette boxes all over the floor. In this space Nae Nae feels comfortable and free to be himself.