Frankie Faison: Henry 'Pop' Hunter

Code of the Streets

Henry 'Pop' Hunter

Cornell 'Cottonmouth' Stokes: What's your name again?
Luke Cage: Luke
Cornell 'Cottonmouth' Stokes: Luke. Mmm, old school. Biblical. I'm all about the old school. You know that eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth kind of thing. Fire and brimstone. See back then do someone wrong, wasn't no beggin' and pleadin'. Just took care of it. Handled your business.
Henry 'Pop' Hunter: What about turning the other cheek?
Cornell 'Cottonmouth' Stokes: Jesus saves. I don't.

Cornell 'Cottonmouth' Stokes: Something real about a razor.
Henry 'Pop' Hunter: You should let me use my clippers. You gonna bump up.
Cornell 'Cottonmouth' Stokes: Nah. Doesn't have the same feel. The clippers are idiot-proof. That's what's missin' nowadays, Pop. Attention to detail. Everyone wants things fast, quick. Me? I like to take my time.
Henry 'Pop' Hunter: Time is a luxury most... working-class men cannot afford.
Cornell 'Cottonmouth' Stokes: True. Time is precious. Shouldn't be wasted. Mmm. A good razor shave is like a vacation to me. It's incredible how few people take advantage.
Henry 'Pop' Hunter: It's a lost art.
Cornell 'Cottonmouth' Stokes: Exactly. That's the problem with these youngsters. They want it all. But they don't wanna put in the work. They'll rob... lie, cheat, steal, just to get what they want. Damn shame if you ask me.

Luke Cage: After what I did at Genghis Connie's for the first time in a long time I felt at peace.
Henry 'Pop' Hunter: Mmm-hmm.
Luke Cage: I made a decision when I got back to the crib. I'm done running.
Henry 'Pop' Hunter: Boys run. Men stand. You're a man.
Luke Cage: I am who I am. Or maybe I have a chance to find out who I could really be.

Henry 'Pop' Hunter: I didn't have one single skill when I got out. I could've gone back to the streets.
Luke Cage: But you weren't that guy anymore.
Henry 'Pop' Hunter: I wasn't and I'm not. And that's what I go through every day. Trying not to be that person.
Luke Cage: I'm not that guy either.
Henry 'Pop' Hunter: I thought you was innocent, Shawshank.
Luke Cage: I ain't guilty. But I ain't innocent either.

Henry 'Pop' Hunter: The whole neighborhood is yapping about how Zip and two goons got the beat down at Genghis Connie's last night.
Luke Cage: [Attempts nonchalance] Hmm. I heard it was four guys.

Luke Cage: So that's how it works? Those thugs shake people down? They work for Mariah or Cottonmouth?
Henry 'Pop' Hunter: A little bit of both.
Luke Cage: They related? Aunt and nephew?
Henry 'Pop' Hunter: Cousins. Their grandma was Mama Mabel.
Luke Cage: Who's Mama Mabel?
Henry 'Pop' Hunter: The devil's ex-wife.

Henry 'Pop' Hunter: It's not too late for Chico.
Luke Cage: Pop, stay out of it. Some people you just gotta let go.
Henry 'Pop' Hunter: I can't just turn my back on him. You used to find people, right?
Luke Cage: That was a long time ago.
Henry 'Pop' Hunter: It ain't exactly a skill you lose. Look, this place is Switzerland. If we can find him before they do, maybe I can set up a parley with Cottonmouth.
Luke Cage: I don't think so, man. I'm sorry, Pop. I can't do it.
Henry 'Pop' Hunter: Hey. Yes. You are sorry. Now, I hadn't seen Reva since she was five. So when she comes home with a convict husband and a shaky-ass story I ain't ask her no questions. And when that same well-read ex-con comes back wanting to be paid in cash and lifting up refrigerators like they're empty cardboard boxes, I just nodded my head again. What did you tell me about keeping your secrets? That I owed you one. Well, time is due. I'm collecting.

Luke Cage: So you're saying Kenyatta is better than Easy Rawlins?
Henry 'Pop' Hunter: I ain't saying all that. I'm just saying Kenyatta's my favorite. He took the fight to the man... in the streets by his self. Just like somebody else could if he wasn't sweeping hair and washing dishes.
Luke Cage: Don't start, Pop.

Luke Cage: Eh, I just never got into Donald Goines.
Henry 'Pop' Hunter: Are you crazy? Donald Goines was a street poet.
Luke Cage: I didn't say Goines isn't. But Walter Mosley, George Pelecanos?
[clicking his tongue]
Luke Cage: Boom.
Henry 'Pop' Hunter: I bet you're into Richard Price.
Luke Cage: I dig Price. Dennis Lehane, too.
Henry 'Pop' Hunter: What about Chester Himes?
Luke Cage: Without question. My biggest beef with Donald Goines is that he wrote about criminals and he died like one.
Henry 'Pop' Hunter: You don't have to get all Fox News about it. Goines invented Kenyatta, the best black hero this side of Shaft.

Cornell 'Cottonmouth' Stokes: Thanks for the shave, Henry. I'm loyal to my people.
Luke Cage: You're forgetting something, Mr. Stokes.
[indicating a piece of paper on the wall]
Luke Cage: Unless your last name is Corleone, Shaft, or Riley... you owe my man $25.
Henry 'Pop' Hunter: Don't worry about it, Cornell.
Cornell 'Cottonmouth' Stokes: Nah, it's all good. Tone, pay the man.

Luke Cage: They ever come at you sideways?
Henry 'Pop' Hunter: No. This place right here is Switzerland. Everybody knows that. Where you from, Luke?
Luke Cage: Chicago.
Henry 'Pop' Hunter: You ain't from no Chicago. Where are you from, really?
Luke Cage: Savannah, Georgia.
Henry 'Pop' Hunter: All right. Country boy. You know how the wind feels fluffy, like you could stuff it into a pillowcase right before a big thunderstorm?
Luke Cage: Mm-hmm.
Henry 'Pop' Hunter: Harlem's the same. Trouble smells a certain way. You can... touch it.
Luke Cage: Cottonmouth.
Henry 'Pop' Hunter: He's gonna fall behind lookin' for Chico. That's the way that works. Ain't no secrets uptown. I mean, you could set a watch by the way that shit will play out.

Henry 'Pop' Hunter: I got caught with a gun and a bag of money. Kept my mouth shut. Went on pause for ten years. My woman was pregnant when I went in. I haven't seen her or my son since he was 13. I have this nightmare that one day, he's gonna come to the shop ask for a cut, sit in my chair and I'm not even gonna know him.